Call for Submissions: Just Act Natural

Open call for Undergraduate and Graduate student artists or artists with an Emerging creative practice interested in animal studies.
Artists are invited to submit up to 3 pieces of work for this interdisciplinary exhibition Just Act Natural to take place in June 2010 at Studio 22 Gallery, in Kingston, Ontario.

Deadline for submissions: January 20th, 2009.

In looking at animals, we have othered a creature that refuses to acknowledge that it is being othered. The curatorial premise of the exhibition Just Act Natural focuses on a developing interspecies dialogue, identifying the private lives of animals and respecting their public lives. Just Act Natural invites artists to explore the differences between instinct and intuition, to consider the ongoing tensions between spectacle and snuggle, and the answer to the question: “How do you get the animals to do that?” Artists are encouraged to incorporate a critical and contemporary analysis of animals and animality within art.

Submissions for 2 and 3 dimensional work, performance, audio and video work will be accepted, encouraging interdisciplinarity. The exhibition will include a reception featuring performance, film screenings, and artist talks on Friday, June 26th, 2010.

Submit for each proposed work (at a maximum of three works):
- up to 3 jpeg images of the proposed work (or relevant work)
- a description of the proposed work, including physical qualities, spatial and hanging needs, technical requirements, etc (max. 150 words)
- artist statement (max. 500 words)
- brief biography and/or CV

Please contact Lisa Visser (visser.lisa@gmail.com) if you have any questions.

Submissions will be accepted in email or mail format.
visser.lisa@gmail.com

341 Delaware Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6H 2T7

The exhibition Just Act Natural will coincide with the academic conference:
Animals and Animality Across the Humanities and Social Sciences
Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference, June 26-27, 2010, Kingston, Ontario

Posted on 8 Sep 2009, 08:45 by Lisa

I really hope no one is watching.

things of concern:
- lists, or the recent lack of
- emotional breakdowns
- cat and dog relations, and how to improve/aggravate them
- joseph beuy’s coyote and marina abramovic’s chicken
- WTF SRSLY
- the cat adapting from small town peacefulness to big city attitude
- how to say no.
- embracing opportunity

Posted on 7 Sep 2009, 17:08 by Lisa

until she told them the truth

Posted on 4 Sep 2009, 11:57 by Lisa

Can’t Hardly Wait.

I took a break from writing and now I’m back, in the interim the cat got sick and now better and we both wear masks around the house to protect ourselves from each others swine flu.

I’m moving to Toronto this summer. Leaving this for good.

I started writing a novel but got side-tracked and can’t seem to get back into it. I sew scraps together. I am mildly uninspired and spend a lot of time sleeping, I turned those crummy old jeans into a fashionable jean skirt, I made sushi and drank tea. I am reading six books at once and none of them have hooked me yet. I have a list of things I want to work on, hopefully before I uproot, but try to ignore the list and I just signed up for Twitter so I feel like a Twat instead. I never leave the house unless I have to and rarely are the reasons good enough. The weather is not quite good enough to use as an excuse. I finally cleaned the feral cat spray off my back door so we can let the air breeze through without cat urine seeping in.

I have a quilt on display at the AEAC and that is nice, professional lighting goes a long way.

Updating the website is on my list so it looks like I’m getting started.

Posted on 5 May 2009, 17:14 by Lisa

I’m only yelling a little bit

all. or. nothing.

There will be a new quilt soon, once I. Get. My. Shit. Together.
New hyena drawings about affection/aggression.

Thinking about leaving this place and starting in a new one.
Romanticizing being able to focus on Art. Living the Dream.

nothing special.

Posted on 23 Jan 2009, 09:50 by Lisa

Snakes in the Grass

I recently met a Polar Bear who turned out to be a Snake in the Grass. This is surprising because Polar Bears are supposed to be vicious (deliberately cruel, dangerous to people) but look sweet and are often featured in popular commercials. And snakes are just sneaky.

All this to say: is Goodness Elusive? Why do Bad Things Happen? Sometimes I would say: Karma. Other times: God Wills It. Semantics.

I’m still paying for my sins, like slapping Jason W. in the face on the school bus when I was eleven. I have metaphorically and also metaphysically been slapped in the face since then. 7 times 700.

I Believe that all things are connected and you can a) close a door and also b) close the window that opens because we’re all sorts of messed up and never know what is Good when it is suggestively breezing through.

In am optimistic for this new year. Resolutions for the New Year:
a) Construct a type of Lie Detector. Test it on the Cat.
b) Practice a greater degree of Discipline. This includes eating healthy snacks and moisturizing daily.
c) Say Goodbye, but not Forever.
d) Do Less. But also, More.
e) After this, not be so Passive Aggressive.
f) Be a better person. This includes getting enough sleep so I am not irritable, eating less sugar so I am not lethargic, and being Understanding and Forgiving even though I am worried that you may, in fact, be a very bad person. I saw ______ _____ with the Devil. Not pointing fingers and not spreading rumours. Or, rumours of rumours.
g) Pay more attention to the Cat. Possibly, brushing her often. Searching for the growing number of toys she has lost in the 17 months we have lived in this apartment.

John put some new art up on the site, and we seemed to have figured out the technical difficulties. Sorry if you were a victim of flashy gambling adds for a time.

Posted on 4 Jan 2009, 08:02 by Lisa

I WANT IT ALL I WANT IT NOW

I want to turn this music up as loud as it will go. I want to be able to leave so you can miss me and our friendship will be stronger. I want to run into you on the street and I want to see you fresh-faced and open-eyed and eager and ready for anything. I want to wear matching mittens and laugh in the snow. I want to run around like a five-year old and care less about capitalism and conservatism. I want you to want everything that I want in a way that isn’t competition but complimentary. I want to talk about ideas over the first glass and I want to talk excitedly about music, art and gossip over the sixth. I want your opinion to matter because it is interesting and I like you. I want you to know that when I act crazy about you it is because I am crazy about you and it’s a good thing and I will take care of you and protect you. I want it to be okay when my cat sheds on your clothes. I want to want everything in that cliche way that people want things. I want the manifestation of everything I want to be in the form of you. I want spontaneity and structure in the same breath. I want to curl up by the fireplace and I want to feel the wind and make my eyes start to tear. I want to go away and come back a better person. I want to be a better person for you.

Posted on 21 Dec 2008, 08:49 by Lisa

I AM THAT GIRL

Last entry posted 9 weeks ago.

No one is perfect. I am sorry for everything.

New work coming soon, hopefully John and I can get some stuff posted over the next few weeks.
I don’t feel bad about loitering in a coffee shop as long as I am drinking something.

When I was younger we used to pray silently before dinner and every time I prayed it was the same thing
deargodpleaseblessthisfoodandblessusthankyoulisa
deargodpleaseblessthisfoodandblessusthankyoulisa
deargodpleaseblessthisfoodandblessusthankyoulisa
I would say it over and over again until it seemed like an appropriate amount of time.
sometimes I would add specifics, like:
and thank you for watching over grandma

dear everyone:
please love me. also, if you have any pull, please let me get in to the grad school of my choice, and let me live where I want to live, in bliss, with the love of my life, that is, my feline life companion.
and please forgive me for everything.
also, make the world a better place.
love, me.

Posted on 17 Dec 2008, 05:07 by Lisa

YOU CAN CALL ME SWEETHEART

I want you to tell me you were wrong.
I want you to stop talking so loudly and your laugh is terrible, just stop.
I want you to be there when I need you in a selfless way, and I will do the same.
I want to be able to let it all go. It’s gone. It’s let go.
I want you to recognize that this is all about you.
I want you to hold my hand when we walk and I want you to kiss me goodbye when you leave.
I want you to tell me stories that make me laugh the way it feels real.
I want you to respect me and everything that means.
I want you to not be afraid of love.
I want to stop thinking about that moment when you said whatever it is you said that made me want to believe in you.
I want to be able to believe in you.
I want to stop obsessing over the fact that I am still floundering.
I want to tell you what I think.
I want to be taken care of.
I want you to know that I am in control.
I want you to tell me you love me and can’t live without me.
I want you to recognize that this is real.

Posted on 10 Oct 2008, 06:54 by Lisa

Better Than I Deserve

Even though. it isn’t about you.
It usually is.

Although.

I am going to make a new history of my life, a web of connections and relationships. A visual network of who That Was (once) and Where I am going and What I Wished never happened. I will incorporate the Words I Wished Didn’t Exist, the Secrets that Aren’t really Secrets, the Alternative voice, the New Sins, the excessive Moralizing, the Lists of Things that Happened while you Were Away, the Lyrics that aptly capture that moment In Time, the soundtrack of my Life. What is going to happen, the future beyond that boundary and obstacle and the other future that is unlikely. Aging, falling in love and out again – almost immediately, Platonic love and love that is only implied but never realized. Love that survives, epic love, the love that will never feel the same.

Love.

Posted on 30 Sep 2008, 15:04 by Lisa

mostly, i worry a lot.

Things that I Worry About Right now:

- getting enough Sleep. I am tired Most Of The Time. In order to do all the Thing I Want, I need to sleep less. I am trying to calculate the most appropriate amount of sleep.
- Canadian politics.
- US Elections.
- decolonization.
- understanding Why I Never see you even though it’s possible to make the time, If You Were Going to Try.
- having one of those conversations or moments in your life when all of the sudden you get this nauseous feeling like You’ve Been Wrong, or Something has Happened. That has been flaring up over the past three weeks.
- being paranoid and then overcompensating by being apathetic.
- Telling you it’s OK when, Maybe, It Isn’t
- Maintaining a conversation with a person that I should dislike but just don’t. Also, Maintaining a conversation with someone who I can’t explain why I dislike.
- Being someone who dislikes people for no reason. I am a Bad Person.
- being a Bad Person.
- Doing this when I should be doing something else.
- You.
- Being a Responsible Person who Cares About Things
- Not Caring About A lot of Things
- Finishing the Readings.
- Choosing the appropriate Music
- eating Properly and exercising
- Not seeing my bank account balance decrease
- Having Strong Convictions that might leave you Behind
- Saying Sorry I yelled at You but I was Right, you know
- Morals.
- Being Tired all the time and Finally Discovering Coffee
- Being someone who drinks coffee

The thing that worries me most is that none of these things have to do with Art or Making Art. My art, specifically.

Posted on 27 Sep 2008, 11:35 by Lisa