Althea Thauberger:
The Bear & not afraid to die

February 1 – 28, 2010
Thurs – Sun, dusk to 11pm
UVP Monroe Street
321 Montgomery Street
Syracuse, NY — [retired venue]


About the Work


The Bear
2006 | Total Run Time: 16:38

Set in Thauberger’s native British Columbia, The Bear is an illustration of the way banality intrudes into our fantasies about nature. We see the knotted roots of a tree in the Canadian Rainforest, and a black bear wandering in and out of the scene. An alert viewer will begin to suspect that something is amiss: the bear is not a bear at all, but rather a person pretending to be a bear. The Bear calls into question our relationship to nature and its inherent pleasures and dangers.

not afraid to die
2001
Total Run Time: 5:30
16mmm film transferred to HD video

Shot on location in the Northwest Rainforest Diorama of the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria (a reconstruction of the kind of forest which surrounds the city of Victoria), not afraid to die depicts a Gore-Tex clad girl alternatively waiting and snacking. Birds, passing airplanes, and a ‘voice of God’ a cappella song (sung by the artist) are occasionally heard.


About the Artist


Thauberger is a Vancouver-based artist who works in photography, film, video and performance. She completed a B.F.A. in photography at Concordia University in 2000 and an M.F.A. in studio art at University of Victoria in 2002. Her work considers issues of self-definition, alienation, community and coercion within “natural” worlds, and social/political structures. Works often involve short- and long-term collaboration and sometimes exist in the public domain. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at John Connelly Presents in New York; Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin; Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver; and Artspeak, Vancouver; among others.


About the Curators


Emily Duke and Cooper Battersby were selected as the first team to curate a series of projections for multiple UVP venues from February 1 – March 31, 2010.

Battersby and Duke have been working collaboratively since 1994. They work in printed matter, installation, curation and sound, but their primary focus is in sculptural video installation. Their work has been exhibited in galleries and at festivals in North and South America and throughout Europe. Duke received her B.F.A. from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and completed her M.F.A. at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Battersby received his diploma in computer programming at Okanagan College, and completed his M.F.A. at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Their work has won prizes nationally and internationally, and has been broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Bravo. Both Battersby and Duke currently teach in the Transmedia Department in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.