Stuff I Like: low tech art

Who says art has to be big budget or technically challenging to be interesting? Here's some art that turns what some may perceive as limitations into virtues through the use of innovative concepts or materials.

First off, what about the lowly and ubiquitous plastic bag? Combined with some tape, an exacto knife, and a subway grate, Joshua Allen Harris has used them to construct some pretty nifty creations that have a nice kinetic element through the use of wind generated by passing subways.


Vik Muniz is a Brazilian artist now living in New York. His practice has ranged widely, but much of his work has centered around creating images using unconventional materials such as spaghetti, sugar or thread. He has a website, but there's a pretty interesting video of him on TED that's worth watching if you have a few minutes:


Finally, I'd like to mostly save "green" and "eco" art for another post, but sometimes there's some crossover and really I couldn't resist including one here that is both low tech and, some may say, eco-minded. Mainly, I just like how the artist, Edina Tokodi, uses the oft overlooked and non-toxic material of moss to take advantage of some locations that most would consider marginal at best.
What else could you do with weathering plywood or pitted concrete? No video on this one, but she does have a website where you can view some images (link above), as well as appearing in numerous other blogs. I don't love all of her work equally, but where it succeeds, I think it's spectacular. Bye for now.

Budgeting for 2010 has started in earnest. All Provincial Direct Access grants are currently "frozen" until further notice and an expected 40% cut to the BC Arts Council budget is coming in September (not all of which will affect funding as the BCAC trimmed expenses through its own staff restructuring). This probably means our supplemental cheque received from BCAC in the spring is either all or most of the funding we will receive until 2011. Still, we don't rely as heavily on these annual grants as some other cultural organizations. The economic downturn has taken some time to reach us but we are in a good position to weather the storm. Tourism is actually up over this time last year and the BC Heritage Federation Conference generated a higher than expected profit. Remedial work done to the facility's boilers have seen our gas bills go down by almost 50% - a great savings that will, in part, help make up for the expected loss of traditional provincial funding.

Through meticulous financial oversight and by keeping expenses under control we should be in a solid position to come in on budget this year and start the new year with a positive outlook.