“Cool Story Bro.” Gallery Exhibit for Artcite Inc.’s International Fringe Festival

February 22, 2012 – 10:00 am

Creation Of The: “Victim Blaming T-Shirts” from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.

Poster for the 2011 IVFF

In the summer of 2011 I curated a store-front gallery exhibit  for Artcite Inc.’s International Fringe Festival titled “Cool Story Bro.” The transient gallery space was located at 410 Pelissier St. in Windsor, ON.

VISUAL FRINGE is an Open, unjuried and curated off-site exhibition; mixed media site installations, interventions and performances Exciting and cutting edge contemporary art by local and international artists coming to a downtown storefront near YOU!

Fringe Performance Festivals have been entertaining audiences for over 50 years, beginning with the original festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1947. Over the past 20 years, the Fringe movement in Canada has grown to 18 festivals, and Canada now enjoys more Fringe Fests than any other country in the world!

Artists from Windsor and surrounding areas, including the Detroit area, exhibited their artwork in non-traditional, storefront venues. - Artcite Inc.

“Cool Story Bro.” refers to the catch-phrase that is often seen on t-shirts that are marketed to young men between 18-25 years of age and are often associated with “Bro” culture. This is a very “college” influenced culture, even though many are not in college. This culture is often associated with violence and aggression, wether through video-games, sports/fighting, or aggressive language and mannerism.

My new works in this exhibit try to examine and put into context, the kind of consumption of all kinds that is epitomized through the “Girls and Guns” fetish, which mixes gun and military culture with bikini model aesthetics that work to please the male gaze. While the women  in these works take often aggressive poses and carry weapons, which in itself is empowerment, the context of the work neutralizes amy of these qualities.

Many of the works also deal with rape culture and sexual assault. The works titled “Victim Blaming T-Shirts” and the “Cool Story Bro.” Series featuring Anthony Weiner, Arnold schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, all men who were involved in “sex scandals”, with some aspect of harassment and all with a vehement campaign of victim blaming.

The ”Victim Blaming T-Shirts” were also inspired by the recent cultural movement to end “slut shaming” and “victim blaming” especially through global “Slutwalks“. The shirt design was inspired by a trip to Toronto where there are many novelty item shops that sell various “saying” shirts and sweaters. Through this medium, sexism, racism and other prejudices are often reinforced through irony, though the praxis of the culture that consumes these items do not so easily appear ironic.

My hand drawn Facebook ads work to highlight the highly individualized marketing found on the internet and social media. When discussing the work, I emphasize the idea that this “Bro” culture that I focus on is in many ways constructed in order to make this group more uniform in its consumption patterns; extreme hetero-normative behaviour, hyper gender binary, a desire for “masculine” body sprays, gums, clothes, alcohol, video-games, and etc. all work to create a culture that is easier and much more efficient to market to. The fiscal advantage to “group-think” mentality, with many side effects that result in alienation and violence.

View of "Cool Story Bro." gallery exhibit featuring works by Stephen Surlin. 2011

"Victim Blaming T-Shirts", Commercially made white cotton t-shirts. 2011

"Cool Story Bro" Series, C-Print on paper. 2011

"Those Girls Can Shoot My Gun Anytime" & "What Good Is That In The Kitchen?", Acrylic paintings on canvas. 2011

"Untitled (If I tell you I have to kill you)", Video collage of sourced video and images. 2011

"Facebook Ads", Pen on paper, 2010

"Hamburger", Oil stick on unprimed canvas. 2011

"Crushed Can", Oil stick on canvas. 2011

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Uncategorized, Painting, Installation, Curation, Drawing, Conceptual, Activism, Design, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

“Hell Is Other People’s Money” Group Exhibit @ Common Ground Gallery

February 18, 2012 – 3:46 pm

During May of 2011 I was given the opportunity to curate a gallery exhibit at the Common Ground Gallery, located in MacKenzie  Hall in the Old Sandwich Town region of Windsor, Ontario. With my involvement in the MayWorks Festival planning committee, I was assigned to curate a labour/economics themed exhibition. The space was paid for  by Artcite Inc. for the exhibit.

“Sergio Forest, one of the volunteers for the non-profit gallery, explains the gallery started as a kind of grass roots movement twenty-six years ago, supported by the Art Gallery of Windsor and Artcite. The intention was to support local talent by offering affordable, high quality studio space to burgeoning artists. While it is still mainly local multi-media artwork that is to be found on Common Ground’s walls.” - Windsorite.ca

Artcite Inc.’s MayWorks 2011 is based in the May Day labour celebration. The events are in solidarity with workers and labour rights as Artcite’s website describes:

“Artists, workers, and students have met over many months to organize a collection of exhibitions, projects, events, a rally and a parade, to celebrate our creativity as a community, our dedication to the values of workers’ solidarity, social justice and human rights.

The various activities will highlight our support for our city and our history of solidarity, concern for social justice and our tradition of labour arts.” – Artcite Inc. (artcite.ca)

Sartre - No Exit by A.R.T.

The theme for the show was inspired by my interest in existential theatre and literature and it’s examination of the individual and their connection to society. This is exemplified in Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit” from 1944. The play revolves around three main characters who discover their situation is the result of “sinful” lives and that they are in “hell” which is simply living with “other people” for eternity. This is where the play’s most famous line comes from, “hell is other people“. I used this as the conceptual context for the exhibit, calling it “Hell Is Other People’s Money”.

The title is referring to the complexities of human interaction, especially within the context of contemporary economics. The tensions, fear and struggles found in a seemingly perpetual era of economic crisis.

After developing the theme I made a priority of including one of my colleagues, Teresa Carlesimo, who had recently created a work called “The Room” or “Waiting Room”. This work, which acts as a contemporary view of the  type of “non-spaces” that we inhabit, also emphasizes the connection to Sartre’s theatre production.

Teresa Carlesimo's "Waiting Room"

Later I found several more artists for the exhibit that could work within the theme. The participating artists were: Marcy Boles, Mike Ngo, Rachel Chausse, Teresa Carlesimo and Stephen Surlin.

Marcy Boles’ installation is a pseudo-historical devotional collection of materials of traditionally female labour that often involves a type of pain that Boles herself feels in her repetitive auto-motive factory job. The anti-arthrital braces are Boles’, which are beside the etching tools she used to create the printing plate in the installation.

Marcy Boles' installation.

Marcy Boles' installation detail.

Mike Ngo’s installation is a colaborative piece between him and the Campus Community Garden at the University of Windsor. Ngo collected buckets of compost from the gardens pile, which is for sale, and used one of their organic tomato plants for the installation. The tomato plant is a very charged icon for the recent economic histories of Windsor/Leamington region of Southern Ontario, along with it’s tumultuous colonial history with Spain and other countries.

Mike Ngo's installation.

Mike Ngo's installation detail.

Ngo also had a shelf installed with information and a donation jar for the CCGP in the space.

Rachel Chausse’s work featured a colour photo of a miniature model that she made which was then printed large. The photo engages with the complex and painful histories of Leamington’s tomato industry which often advantages from the exploitation of migrant Mexican workers who are caught in racial tension and resentment form local population who greatly advantage from the industry.

Rachel Chausse's large scale photograph.

Stephen Surlin had a varying collection of works including paintings, text based/interactive and new media works. All of Surlin’s work deals with the intricacies of contemporary consumer culture/identity, the spectacle of politics and the “battle” with depression and suicide that many people face.

Paintings by Stephen Surlin

A reflexive moment with Surlin's internet based paintings.

A look at the didactic work by Surlin which encouraged participation from the patrons.

The beginning of the artist talks (from left to right): Mike Ngo, Rachel Chausse, Stephen Surlin, Marcy Boles

After a moment to allow the attendees to view the exhibit, Susan Gold-Smith, one of the Artcite Inc. planning committee members, introduced the artists and gave a brief word on the history of the MayWorks Festival.

Surlin beginning the interactive question of "what scares you about the economy?"

After the talks, I began the discussion of “What scares you about the economy?” to bring to the fore some of the anxieties that cause tensions between individuals and groups. The black board I created includes text and diagrams that compare the salary of artists and government spending on the arts and etc. The audience began shouting out ideas and I wrote them down and tried to keep the discussion going.

The black board after the discussion. Filled with the anxieties and fears of the individual in response to the economy.

The discussion was intense and varied, and sometimes comical. Though this was a kind of therapeutic purging of collective dis-ease that was focused on in the exhibit in varying ways.

Read More »

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Activism, Conceptual, Curation, Design, Installation, Interactive, Painting, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

MayWorks 2011 Booklet Design for Artcite Inc.

February 12, 2012 – 10:28 pm

The front cover of the full colour, 6.5" x 8.5", 25 page program made for Artcite Inc.'s MayWorks 2011. The booklet featured a listing of all MayWorks events marches, and ad spots purchased by our generous sponsors and supporters.

I recently had the opportunity to intern at Artcite Inc. during the MayWorks 2011 events series.

“Artists, workers, and students have met over many months to organize a collection of exhibitions, projects, events, a rally and a parade, to celebrate our creativity as a community, our dedication to the values of workers’ solidarity, social justice and human rights.

The various activities will highlight our support for our city and our history of solidarity, concern for social justice and our tradition of labour arts.” – Artcite Inc. (artcite.ca)

I worked with Christine Burchnall and Bernard Helsing and a group of volunteer committee members to develop the contents of the program and the events that were to take place. I was also given the opportunity to curate a gallery show at the Common Ground Gallery in Windsor’s historic Sandwich Town. The show was called “Hell Is Other People’s Money”, referencing the most famous line of Jean-Paul Sartre’s play “No Exit”. I will be making a post on that show soon.

I used CS4 InDesign and Illustrator to create the layout for the publication and edit the contents.

The first pages of the book, featuring a statement from Artcite Inc. and a callender of events featuring photos from Justicia For Migrant Workers' (J4MW) march from Leamington to Windsor to demonstrate worker solidarity and protest the lack of workers' rights.

The program also featured a two page spread about the the play "Riveter" and it's cast from the Windsor Feminist Theatre.

The advertisement I made for the gallery show that corresponded with Artcite Inc.'s MayWorks 2011.

This ad is based on the American Repertory Theater’s production of Sartre’s “No Exit” in 2006.

No Exit revolves around three recently deceased strangers who find themselves locked in a drawing room. All have led extravagant, quasi-criminal lives: Estelle is a nymphomaniac who drove her lover to suicide when she killed their illegitimate child; Inez is a lesbian who drove her cousin’s wife to suicide; Garcin is a militant pacifist who betrayed his own cause and was shot while attempting to escape. Now all three are trapped together for eternity, prisoners in an endless love triangle that forms their own private hell. Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic thriller is part philosophical melodrama, part farce; Jerry Mouawad’s stylish production sets the stage in a maddeningly unstable world—where the three inmates must literally fight to retain their footing with every step. - A.R.T

Above are the ads for the show that I created in Illustrator CS4, based on the A.R.T. production of the play and it’s set.
The show featured works from Teresa Carlesimo, Mike Ngo, Marcy Boles, Rachel Chause and Stephen Surlin. All with works “inspired by the psychologies of late capitalism.”
By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Illustration, Press, Activism, Design, Digital | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

War, Depression, Suicide: A collection of new studio works

January 12, 2012 – 3:26 pm

War, Depression, Suicide: A Collection Of Studio Works from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.

“War, Depression, Suicide” is a collection of recent studio works I did for my independant studio course at the University of Windsor in mid 2011.

The works deal with an exploration of the themes of violence, especially as it is seen in war and internal violence, that for many, turns into a kind of self inflicted violence, the most extreme being suicide (particularly in the way it is so connected with the arts and artists).

A large portion of the works are inspired by my research into depression and suicide. I was very shocked by the amount of artists throughout history that committed suicide after various bouts of depression. This brought the subject closer to me as well because I have been in a depression before. When viewing lists of artists and performers with depression, I found that Conan O’Brian and Sarah Silverman, two of America’s most popular performers/comedians, suffered form depression at some point, inspiring me to make a PSA style poster.

The “Not Angry Enough” self portrait was inspired by my studies of African American civil rights leaders, their struggles, passions, and eventually their assassinations. The succession of violence in the years ’67, ’68 and ’69 give a chilling perspective on the prevalence of violence in the American ethos for most cultures, especially African American. My embodying of Malcolm X in the reproduction of Barbara Kruger’s “Not Angry Enough” is an attempt to create a layered and complex view of my identity.

The paintings suggests the subtle violence that is often masked in popular media, like the slaughter behind a “simple” hamburger or the environmental damage that comes with aluminum cans.

Another theme is the gender and sexuality that creates complex systems of meaning. The “girls” and gun phenomenon has greatly increased through video games with sexualized female characters like “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and viral media like YouTube, where one can find thousands of videos of women shooting guns for primarily male consumption.

Though, one of the most violent aspects of this online presence is the highly aggressive and objectifying language that can be found in the comments section beneath the videos. This is what inspired the title’s of the paintings.

The painting “Governer of Alaska” which features the clothing and gun of Sarah Palin adds a layer of meaning by making the methods of consumption appear more complex, rather than suggesting only the pornographic can deal with the complex gender histories with firearms.

The cropping out of the women in these paintings is to bring the focus onto the consumer rather than giving the ability to “scape-goat” the women involved; to think of the abstract systems involved in the consumption of this media.

The interactive installation “War Games” is meant to bring the viewer into the often passive viewing experience of war media. The theme of the apache helicopter is strong throughout because of two main connections. The recent popularity of WikiLeaks and the leaked helicopter footage mirrors the kinds of language and attitudes found in playing video games, especially ones that feature “Middle Eastern” conflicts like “Desert Strike: Return To The Gulf” for the Sega Genesis.

The Sega controller is attached to an Arduino that controls a Max/MSP/Jitter patch on a laptop. The arrow keys act as fast forward and reverse and the “A, B, C” buttons change to a random clip from a collection of reapropriated and manipulated material from the internet.

 

Death of a Salesman & ”This is the one he started before he shot himself”, Oil Stick on paper, 24″ x 36″

Depression: Conan O’Brian & Sarah Silverman, C-Prints on paper, 8.5″ x 11″

Serotonin, Norepinephrin, Dopamine (Mark Rothko, No. 8), C-Print on paper, 11″ x 17″

The 12 Signs of Depression (With the ones I am most afraid of erased), Graphite on stonehenge, 48″ x 60″

Self Portrait (Not Angry Enough, After Kruger), C-Print on paper, 36″ x 36″

Self Portrait (Not Angry Enough, After Kruger) Detail

Hamburger, Oil stick on raw canvas, 36″ x 48″

Crushed Can, Oil stick on raw canvas, 36″ x 48″

 

Hamburger & Crushed Can Detail

Governer of Alaska, Acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 60″

Those Girls Can Shoot My Gun, What Good Is That In The Kitchen, That’s A Weird Looking Kitchen, Acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 60″

Installation view of “War Games“, an interactive installation.

The Arduino based interface from “War Games” used to control a video playing patch in Max/MSP/Jitter with a Sega Genesis Controller.

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Conceptual, Curation, Drawing, Installation, Interactive, Painting, Photography, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

The “PSA” Shelf at Artseen 13: Shelf Life

November 6, 2011 – 9:15 pm

From March 19 to April 23, 2011, Artcite Inc. (One of Windsor, ON’s finest Artist Run Centres) held an event called Artseen 13: Shelf Life. Artice Inc. Describes the event as follows:

“The shelves flew off the shelves here at Artcite, as artists from the Windsor and Detroit areas picked up 23″ x 9″ pine shelves to turn into original works for ARTSEEN 13 – SHELF LIFE.

60 artists have hung their shelf-creations on Artcite’s walls, working the idea and the materiality of “the shelf” in a show that pushes the boundaries of the creative process:

Objets d’art, objets d’artiste, Duchampian “ready-mades” (that make ‘dada’ proud), SHELVED ideas! Think OUTSIDE the shelf! Think ON the shelf! Think ABOUT the shelf!”

-Artcite Inc.

I entered the show under the alias, PSA (Pertinent Social Action). A fictional activist group that works within communities to do actions and spread the often urgent and politically charged ideologies of feminist artists, including: Jenny Holzer, Adrian Piper, Barbara Kruger and The Gorilla Girls. I anonymously reproduced the works of these artists in a uniform format, similar to that of a public service organization.

The work included a poster with that text from a Barbara Kruger piece, two documents from The Gorilla Girls, a “Calling Card” from Adrian Piper and buttons with Jenny Holzer “truisms” on them. All of the  material was free to take. Though many of the audience members needed to be encouraged to take part of the piece with them.

PSA (Pertinent Social Action) from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Activism, Conceptual, Installation, Interactive, Performance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Make It Work: Creativity In The Great Recession @ SoVA Gallery

September 22, 2011 – 11:15 pm


I was recently a part of the exhibit Make It Work: Creativity In The Great Recession in the School Of Visual Arts Projects Gallery in the Lebel Building on the University of Windsor Campus. The gallery show was a response to “the great recession” that is currently upon us.

I submitted two pieces for the show. The first is a video work entitled “Reruns” which feature some C-Span footage of Paulson and Bernanke discussing the need for a bailout in 2008. Though I added a laugh track to the banal scene, exposing the “comedy” of this “situation”. The rerun aspect relates back to the idea of “tired” plot lines being played over and over on our television screens. The recent economic decisions, especially made by the federal reserve (a private corporation, not a government branch) seem to take place on a stage far removed from “every day life” yet effect it so greatly.

The second piece is a painting work that I had done earlier entitled “Save”. A text based work modelled after the actual signage of local businesses, mainly gas stations, dollar stores and quick loan businesses. The seemingly discarded signage is placed in a glass case in the Lebel Building’s halls that resembles the many empty and neglected store fronts in Windsor’s downtown.

The exhibit was also in collaboration with the panel discussion INTERSECTIONS: Art + Economies which is described below. The discussions gave a lot of context to the works and framed them around a post-industrial phenomena that is gripping a large portion of Southern Ontario and the American Midwest, while at the same time, emphasizing the need for new creative economies. The talk featured two of my influential professors: Lee Rodney and Justin Langlois.

INTERSECTIONS: Art + Economies

While the idea of creative economies has become commonplace in large cultural centres, there has been less consideration of the possibilities and challenges of working in economically distressed cities that are at a distance from cultural capitals and the art market. Research into the trend of shrinking cities in recent years has drawn attention to the question of how to consider cities that are losing population and basic infrastructure. Possible answers to the problems raised by shrinking cities have not been coming from economists or politicians, but from artists, designers and architects.

Conventional logic dictates that artists and other creative professionals are drawn toward large established cultural centres to support their careers; however in recent years there has been a small but notable trend emerging in former industrial regions in North America where alternative creative communities have been organizing in places seemingly left behind by globalization. These artists, designers and architects share a concern for questioning the values of market-driven aesthetics and the conventions of artistic practice that are linked to large international centres. In contrast the emphasis in these regions has been toward articulating locality through new audiences. We will seek to trace some of the varied adaptive methods of artistic practice that are linked to smaller and informal economic arrangements that have emerged as big industry ceases to be the defining force within these regions.

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the School of Visual Arts we are hosting a panel discussion to address the intersection of art and economy as our region undergoes transition. Speakers will address what role the arts has had in shifting and redefining the culture of industrial cities struggling to survive in an information economy. To this end our two local panelists will be joined by two dynamic curators from other cities that have negotiated similar economic shifts – or are in the process of doing so. We plan to discuss a range of questions such as: What might locality and local production mean when two cities are located on an international border? What role do artists and grassroots organizations have in redefining local realities? How do ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural realities play out in negotiations of place and identity, and how can these negotiations posit new sorts of regional or global identities? And what might local mean in the Detroit-Windsor region, for example, where some creative practices are focused on audiences at the scale of the neighbourhood or even the block, while others seek audiences far beyond?

Gallery View of Make It Work

Reruns: Excerpts/Installation View from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.

Save By Stephen Surlin

Detail of Save

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Conceptual, Painting, Video | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Artist As Activist Projects: The Present And Future Of…

September 5, 2011 – 9:52 pm

My “Artist As Activist” series of works has made me re-examine my art making and social engagement with several strata of society. My recent travels and experiences have formed a lot of what I consider to be of importance in my dialogue with the world around me.

Explaining to the village who we are and why we are there

I have focused on the people I encountered in my travels to Nigeria, Africa leading me to create the Rechargeable Solar Powered Bag project. These works involved several stages of research and developement. I had to consult several people, especially Bob from Windsor Powerhouse to help with the electrical engineering work. I had the bag for the project donated by Ten Thousand Villages Windsor (where I used to volunteer). I spoke with many friends, family and colleagues over several months, bouncing ideas off them to develop my ideas.

My article in the Windsor Star

I stumbled on some of my most important research, found in Stuart Walker’s Sustainable by Design: Explorations in Theory and Practicewhere I learned several of my guiding principles for design.

Inventiveness Of Necessity
Sustainability demands resourcefulness and restraint. New solutions have to be found which require less.

Improvisation And Spontaneity
The constraints of limited resources at the local level in terms of materials, processes and tools, combined with a realization that most contemporary products are actually a physical manifestation of unsustainable practices, can create a liberating environment in which to reconsider the nature of objects.

Integration Of Scales – Mass-Produced Plus Locally Made Parts
An important but little explored aspect of sustainable product design is a reassessment of our scales of production so that products can be made, repaired and reused within an industrial ecology of cyclic resource use at the local or regional level.

Elegance And Empathy Through Design
When developing products within the limitations imposed by locale, processes, techniques and human skills must be used imaginatively to convert often uninspiring or non-ideal materials into elegant forms that contribute in a positive way to our material culture.

"The Artist's Tools" from my Artist As Activist Exhibit

Then I began to prepare for my gallery show at the Lebel Gallery at the University of Windsor. The exhibit was titled “Artist As Activist”. The show went well and allowed me to get local press and interviews. This then led me to have a feature in VIEW magazine University of Windsor’s Alumni magazine.

For the future…

I will now be beginning another chapter in my “Artist As Activist” projects. I will be working quite closely with several Migrant worker, Farmer’s Union and community groups to the migrant worker population in Leamington, Ontario. First I will be focusing on bike safety, where I will talk about the needs of workers with the workers themselves and the community groups, then apply aspects of LED technology to add light to their bikes or walks.

From this I will make a short documentary and hopefully have a few design projects come out of my time working with these groups.

Check out this site to find out more information on my upcoming projects.

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Activism, Conceptual, Curation, Design, Digital, Illustration, Installation, Interactive, Painting, Photography, Press, Sculpture, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

VIEW Magazine Student Feature: Artist As Activist

August 22, 2011 – 9:51 pm

The above image is the interface for viewing the digital version of the publication. Which you can go to by clicking on the image.

     Stephen Surlin is searching for the right words. It’s not that he’s at a loss for them – he simply has so much to say, to do, and to achieve. It’s as though the bright and curious third-year student is breathing in potential and exhaling ideas.

Majoring in Visual Arts, Surlin is laying a broad foundation for his future, minoring in women’s studies and computer science. His ultimate goal is to take his passion for art, social justice and technology and fire these elements into a finished piece that inspires thought, social equality, and even sustainable products that benefit disempowered communities.

- Jennifer Barone

I was recently contacted by VIEW Magazine‘s editor, Jennifer Barone, to do an interview for VIEW’s first ever Student Profile section of their publication based out of the University of Windsor. The magazine’s website describes VIEW as the:

University of Windsor alumni magazine, connecting more than 60,000 alum with each other and their alma mater.

The alumni-campus relationship is central to the life of a university. UWindsor prepares its students to make their mark on the world; in return, graduates give back in multiple ways — as mentors, donors, and champions of the school. View builds on that relationship by sharing stories about the University that instill pride in its graduates.

The magazine has also brought recognition to the University, winning awards for its design and photography from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education.

I was very excited and proud to do the interview and feature. Barone had said her attention was first caught by my interview in The Windsor Star by Sonja Puzic titled University of Windsor artist’s gallery showing inspired by humanitarian trip to Nigeria. In the article, Puzic asked me several questions about my recent trip to Nigeria and how that experience led me to create several sustainable design and social justice focused projects using LED lights, rechargeable batteries and solar panels. VIEW magazine also used the photo that Dan Janisse took of me for that article.

Click here to download a condensed PDF version of the VIEW article featuring my works.

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Activism, Press | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Human Rights and Equality Art Show Hosted By The OHREA @ U of W

August 8, 2011 – 3:53 pm

I was recently enrolled in the art exhibit entitled A Celebration of Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility. The program booklet, a glossy full colour publication printed by the OHREA (Office of Human Rights, Equity & Accessibility) for the show, describes the event:

“[The exhibit] showcases the artistic talent and social conciousness of Windsor-Essex students. In commemoration of March 21st (The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination), this exhibit raises awareness around issues of discrimination and systemic oppression, while offering windows of hope.”

The booklet that accompanied the exhibit.

The event was co-ordinated by the OHREA and the organizing committee featuring Kaye Johnson, the director of the OHREA, Jasjeet Ajimal and others. The exhibit took place on March 21st, 2011 in the CAW Commons at the University of Windsor, Ontario. The exhibit was a judged competition featuring several judges chosen form community and a people’s choice award. In the “Message from the President” section of the book of the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Windsor, Dr. Alan Wildeman, addresses the  exhibit’s contents.

“Expression through art is a part of the human experience, and one of the most powerful ways in which aspirations for social justice have been presented… It is the goal of the [OHREA] to help us all gain awareness of the need for everyone to have dignity and to have opportunity. Supporting the advancement of human rights, equity and accessibility is the responsibility of all of us. The work of these students is an important part of spreading that message across the University of Windsor and our surrounding community.”

Dr. Alan Wildeman
President and Vice-Chancellor

My section in the booklet.

For my contribution to A celebration of Human Rights… I exhibited my recent “Artist as Activist” works, including the Rechargeable Solar Powered LED Bag, the Untitled Photo works and the video Trying on Glasses. After the judging period was concluded I was awarded an honourable mentions award, presented by Kaye Johnson.

The letter signed by Kaye Johnson congratulating me on my award.

The CAW Centre at the University of Windsor, the Native Canadian drummers can be seen setting up on stage. The art works are setup all around the stage and chairs. My exhibit is at the booth under the banner.

A judge is looking at my booth, taking down notes.

My LED Lamp and "Artists' Tools" works.

Untitled (Not Seeing Nigeria) photo works on display.

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Activism, Curation, Installation, Press | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The Creation Of The Rechargeable Solar Powered LED Bag

July 29, 2011 – 10:17 pm

Rechargable LED Solar Powered Bag from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.

This video outlines most of the steps taken to create the second version of the Rechargeable Solar Powered LED Lamp in which I outline my influence that came from my trip to Nigeria with ACRT (AIDs Crisis Response Team) and the research I did upon return. I was especially influenced by the books Design Like You Give A Damn and Design For The Other 90%. The first book is made by architecture for humanity which describes the purpose of the projects/book:

“The greatest humanitarian challenge we face today is that of providing shelter. Currently one in seven people lives in a slum or refugee camp, and more than three billion people—nearly half the world’s population—do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. The physical design of our homes, neighborhoods, and communities shapes every aspect of our lives. Yet too often architects are desperately needed in the places where they can least be afforded.”

The authors of Design For The Other 90%, Cooper-Hewitt, describes the meaning of their publication as:

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

The reading of these two books really got me thinking about the global impact of design and the social inequalities that exist which are rarely being exposed in as complex and explicit terms as they are in these publications. Even though the idea of helping the internationally “less fortunate” is in the mainstream media, it is not presented in a way that allows the “average” citizen to take direct action, other than sending money.

I have also had an interest in Open Source technology and ideologies. This includes component electronics like cheap and easily accessible LEDs and batteries. This also brougth me to the Arduino as I described in the Rechargeable Solar Powered LED Lamp project.

“All of this research also led me to use the Lilypad Arduino, which uses waterproof circuitry and conductive thread in order to create simple/repairable/waterproof/wearable circuits, which also encourage young children and women to get involved in electronics, especially in the type of “traditional” societies I was working in in Nigeria.”

All of this research then lead me to one of the most influential works in my project Stuart Walker’s book Sustainable by Design which focuses on several guiding principles in order to achieve more sustainable design practices. A few of these principles are:

“Sustainable product design explores reuse of materials, re-manufacturing and product longevity. If we begin to create long-lasting, but repairable and upgradeable products made from reused materials and parts, we will have to reassess our ideas of products and the value and place of the ‘new’, the glossy and the perfect. A product which bears the marks of time and use and its own history could, potentially, have a richness lacking in many of today’s squeaky-clean but rather barren products; but to appreciate this richness we will have to readjust our value system and our expectations of product aesthetics.

Inventiveness Of Necessity
Sustainability demands resourcefulness and restraint. New solutions have to be found which require less.

Improvisation And Spontaneity
The constraints of limited resources at the local level in terms of materials, processes and tools, combined with a realization that most contemporary products are actually a physical manifestation of unsustainable practices, can create a liberating environment in which to reconsider the nature of objects.

Integration Of Scales – Mass-Produced Plus Locally Made Parts
An important but little explored aspect of sustainable product design is a reassessment of our scales of production so that products can be made, repaired and reused within an industrial ecology of cyclic resource use at the local or regional level.

Elegance And Empathy Through Design
When developing products within the limitations imposed by locale, processes, techniques and human skills must be used imaginatively to convert often uninspiring or non-ideal materials into elegant forms that contribute in a positive way to our material culture.”

I then began the work on the bag in order to improve on the design of the lamp in order to create the more versatile bag. The bag can be worn during the day to charge the battery and used during the night. Each element can also be removed and repaired if needed.

By Stephen Surlin | Posted in Activism, Conceptual, Design, Sculpture, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
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