BRIDGET MOSER
Reference Materials
Bridget Moser, How Does It Feel, 2016 – Video HD, 9.34 Minutes
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OPENING: Saturday, 02 April 2016 – h 18.00
Performance Ore 19.30
04 April 2017 – 22 July 2017
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Curated by SIMONE MENEGOI
Artericambi gallery is pleased to present Reference Materials, the first solo exhibition in Italy of Canadian artist Bridget Moser. The artist will exhibit a series of new works realized especially for the exhibition: a performance that will be staged at the opening, on April 2, at 7.30 pm, and later presented as a video documentation; a new video work; and a series of photographs shot on the set of the video. The exhibition will be accompanied by a brochure featuring a conversation between the artist and critic and curator Simone Menegoi.
“Her work occupies the territory between prop comedy, experimental theatre, absurd literature, existential anxiety, intuitive dance, Dr. Phil transcripts, the internet, etc.” That’s how Moser introduces herself on her website (www.bridgetmoser.com) and, although in a nutshell, the description lists all the basic ingredients of her complex artistic formula (starting from humor). Trained as a visual artist, but with a background in dance and theatre, Moser has succeeded in blending her diverse interests into a performative work that, from wild and unpredictable acts lasting only few minutes, has grown into longer, more complex, theatre-like creations. Always alone in the scene, either in her live works or in those conceived for video, Moser interacts with mass produced objects meant as supports of, and aids for, the body (ergonomic chairs, travel pillows, sport garments) that acquire the stage presence of full-fledged characters – only to turn their back to her and drop her when she most needs them. She talks to her own recorded voice, jumping from topic to topic, and from tone to tone, as one jumps from link to link in a compulsive internet surfing. She alternates moments of alleged lyricism, set to the sound of tacky FM hits, to abrupt awakenings to reality – whatever one could possibly mean by that word.
While the way Moser plays with objects might recall Erwin Wurm’s (although charged with a psychological intensity that is lacking from the work of the Austrian artist), her way of speaking about contemporary society, especially the North-American one, makes her a kind of 2.0 Laurie Anderson, intoxicated by the language of marketing and suffering from chronic, social media-induced narcissism. And, whereas the brand of humour of Laurie Anderson in the 80s was weird, but gentle, Moser’s is dark, twisted, occasionally hysteric. A sign of the times?
For her first exhibition in Italy, the artist presents a new performance, a video and a set of photographs related to the video. With her typical irony, the artist describes the performance, currently still in progress, as being “like Einstein on the Beach but with more of a beach”, and she discloses that its props will include “a pop-up beach cabana, a pathetic reading lamp and a false window with an ocean view”. The video, entirely shot in a hotel room, marks the first attempt of the artist at staging a series of wordless actions, deadpan gags suspended somewhere between Samuel Beckett and slapstick comedy.
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Bridget Moser, Sympathetic, 2016 – Performance
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BIO
Bridget Moser (born 1986, based in Toronto) is an artist working predominantly in performance and video. Her work has been presented extensively in galleries and museums across Canada including The National Arts Centre and the Art Gallery of Ontario. She has presented projects internationally, including exhibitions in New York, Miami, and Rotterdam, and has been a resident artist at The Banff Centre, Canada, and at Fondazione Antonio Ratti in Como, Italy. She was selected by Daina Augaitis, Chief Curator and Associate Director at the Vancouver Art Gallery, to receive the 2015 William and Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Artists. Her work can be found in private and museum collections in Canada.
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(SINISTRA) Bridget Moser, Elsewhere, on a Hillside, 2016 – Chromogenic print, 12 x 16 inch / (SOPRA DESTRA) Bridget Moser, Kate, Diana, Kate, 2016 – Chromogenic print, 12 x 16 inch / (SOTTO DESTRA) Bridget Moser, A Terrible Worm is Born, 2016 – Chromogenic print, 12 x 16 inch
Bridget Moser, How Does It Feel, 2016 – Video HD, 9.34 Minutes
(DESTRA) Bridget Moser, The Mirror Has Two Faces (1), 2016 – Chromogenic print, 19 x 19 inch / (SINISTRA) Bridget Moser, The Mirror Has Two Faces (2), 2016 – Chromogenic print, 19 x 19 inch
Bridget Moser, Sympathetic, 2016 – Performance