Rosalind Nashashibi: Toning Exercises
Rosalind Nashashibi Bachelor Machines Part I 2007 Video still Courtesy the artist and Harris Lieberman Gallery New York
Glasgow-raised, London-based artist Rosalind Nashashibi gained considerable international attention at the 2007 Venice Biennale, with subsequent hits at the Berkeley Art Museum and Manifesta 7. This weekend offers the final chance to catch her Western Canadian premiere in a show at Presentation House Gallery.
In this Vancouver show, Nashashibi continues her tradition of using film to capture the tone, rather than the narrative, of a place. Where before Nashashibi applied this strategy to Scottish rummage sales and Palestinian mealtimes, she now focuses on an Italian cargo ship and a New York police department.
Rosalind Nashashibi Bachelor Machines Part II 2007 Video still Courtesy the artist and Harris Lieberman Gallery New York
Bachelor Machines Part I shows various sailors aboard a cargo ship at meals, at rest and at work. Extended shots of the ship itself and the surrounding ocean underline a mood of alternating isolation and conviviality that Nashashibi suggests might be specific to male-dominated environments. Eyeballing similarly shows police interacting just outside their precinct doors, with shots interspersed of architecture detail.
All in all, Nashashibi’s work is far from seductive or easy. But such a tack ably serves in examining the structures, both technological and societal, that shape our everyday realities. (333 Chesterfield Ave, Vancouver BC)
Rosalind Nashashibi Bachelor Machines Part I 2007 Video still Courtesy the artist and Harris Lieberman Gallery New York
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