The Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) reopened on Sept. 28 with the launch of The Baroness Elsa Project.
The touring exhibition features the work of eight contemporary racialized, queer, trans, gender non-conforming and women artists in conversation with the radical art of dadaist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, otherwise known as the ‘Baroness.’
Dadaism—or dada—is an early 20th century avant-garde art movement that developed in response to the horrors of the First World War. It was an artistic challenge to capitalism, nationalism and other wartime ideals.
Fiona Wright, student and public programs coordinator at CUAG, described how important von Freytag-Loringhoven was to the world of dadaism.
“Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven was this one-of-a-kind, incredible firecracker of a human being who really embodied this avant-garde art movement called dada that was happening,” Wright said. “She really lived that as a poet, performance artist and sculptor.”
Ray Ferreira, a Black Latinx performer, is one of the featured artists in the exhibition.
“It’s interesting to think about this movement that was started during the first major imperialist war, while we are in the middle of a very different imperialist divvying up of the world,” Ferreira said in an email to the Charlatan. “[The] same fundamental contradictions [are] manifesting in and through different ways.”
Ferreira will be recontextualizing a section of her December 2019 performance piece “to spiral seems to be the only option” for CUAG’s exhibition.
The original piece was performed by Ferreira and was meant to represent the histories of those who jumped from slave ships on their way to North America and the Caribbean. The recontextualized piece will be a visual art representation.
“The two sculptures, painted wig heads dripping in rhinestones, provide a glittering refraction of some of the themes in the video’s text, and the two prints carry an echo of the text back into the water, albeit this time in a friend’s tub,” Ferreira wrote.
Saskatchewan-based artist Cindy Stelmackowich is one of the featured artists in the CUAG exhibit. She uses sculptures, installations and digital photography to investigate the relationship between art, science and our bodies. She also uses medical objects in her artwork.
Based on her research on the baroness and her anti-war sentiments, Stelmackowich created new artwork for CUAG entitled Shell Shock.
“The work that I created was based on this collection of world war one medical splints made of wire mesh that were used and created by the medical profession,” Stelmackowich said.
She added von Freytag-Loringhoven was good at questioning preconceptions of what art is.
“She was so effective with using found objects, of saying that this is a loaded object that could be art and throwing it back out to society,” Stelmackowich said. “It’s not just about laboring over making pretty paintings. It’s questioning the idea of what we call art.”
Stelmackowich said von Freytag-Loringhoven had notable thoughts on the war and how it intersects with the human body.
“She was very concerned of the effects of the trauma [the First World War] was going to have on society and its effects on the body,” Stelmackowich said.
Stelmackowich said she kept this in mind as she created art for the exhibition that aimed to show the effect of WW1 on the body.
“By reinventing a found object and making it something new, [my work] tells the politics of that object, the story of that object and forces people to reevaluate and rethink it,” Stelmackowich said.
The title Shell Shock was inspired by dada artists who had a fascination with shadows as part of their visual language. Stelmackowich also decided to light up her display which created 20 to 30 foot shadows behind her work.
This year’s Stonecraft Symposium, hosted by CUAG, will feature a series of virtual events in relation to The Baroness Elsa Project. The symposium is a free public event held annually at CUAG to foster discourse on the concepts presented by the artists featured in current exhibitions.
The first event will be a panel discussion on Oct. 7 with participating artists Dana Claxton, Wit López, Sheilah ReStack and Cindy Stelmackowich. This will be followed by a collage workshop led by Ottawa-based artist FEZA on Oct. 20 and a poetry and performance night featuring Ray Ferreira on Nov. 18.
The Baroness Elsa Project will conclude Dec. 5 with a digital portrait and walkthrough of the exhibition.
Featured image by Saarah Rasheed.
