Althea Thauberger: Northern

Additional Information

Other associated events: Central Gallery Opening Reception and Artist and Adjunct Curator talk Friday, January 18, 7:30 pm

As with previous works, Althea Thauberger's Northern (2005) involves performers, in this case tree-planters, playing themselves. Set in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, in an area that until recently was a protected wilderness preservation area, Northern is an allegory replete with figures representing death or unconsciousness and Lazarus-like resurrection or awakening. Northern's (un)natural setting combines a slash filled clear-cut site contiguous with magnificent alpine forest, the drama of both accentuated by the performers' choreographed actions and the camera's trajectory. Shot in one continuous take, the work's movement - from a scene of death-like slumber to an enactment of rebirth and collectivity recalling Géricault's Raft of the Medusa (1819) - directs our attention to the relationship between historical and contemporary depictions of the land and national identity, along with other related social and political themes. In a departure from earlier works, in which awkward charm combines with an alienating effect, here a tension between vulnerability and empowerment imbues the work itself with the urgency enacted by its young performers.

Althea Thauberger, Northern (Installation View), 2008.