KURTIS LESICK | PROBLEMS WITH HISTORY
All we know, or can imagine, or can aspire to exists only with reference to the past. It is the template with which we structure our ideas, the sounding board which makes sense of new and novel experience and the line of trajectory that tells us who we are. The past is real, it is tangible, finite, lived, and experienced.
History, on the other hand, is not. History is authored. It is grounded in the word--mired within the complexities of language, either written or spoken. While it takes as its subject of study the human past, its object of study, its focus of inquiry, are the words of those relating an experience. History is about perspective, interpretation, politics and intention. History then, while being critical to our undestanding of the past and our rationalisation of the present, also becomes a dangerous commodity, a shadow of the truth, a means to justify, manipulate, and propel those who can control its representation toward their goals.
PROBLEMS WITH HISTORY is a reminder that any one history can never be trusted. Instead the word of history must be met with a critical eye and ear, always to be deconstructed, reassembled, and taken apart again in a constant state of rationalisation that challenges our nacent intentions and our will to (mis)interpret.
Whether in painting or installation work, PROBLEMS WITH HISTORY shamelessly datamines contemporary popular culture sampling archival materials, photocopied images, diaries, books, the internet, audio repositories and other forms of documentation. These elements are broken down and recontextualised into narrative and documentary conversations between the artist and viewer. Each piece is meant to blur the line between painting, collage, story-telling, documentation, experiential environment, dialogue and critique.
BIOGRAPHY
Kurtis Lesick is a polymedia artist, painter, writer, researcher and creative consultant. His
work integrates over ten years experience as an archaeologist and anthropologist in Canada,
England, and Mexico, and blurs genres between painting, video, digital media (web, mobile, gaming),
installation and performance. Much of his work hinges on the exploration between the physical,
tactile world and the creation of social knowledge. Kurtis’ current focus is with fragmented
narrative, immersive interactive experience and issues in historical process.
Kurtis was born and raised in Calgary, Canada. He did his undergraduate at the University of Calgary followed by a Master of Philosophy in Archaeology and Prehistory at the University of Sheffield in Sheffiled, England. Kurtis has worked with several leading organisations including Alberta College of Art and Design, Canadian Heritage, National Film Board of Canada, Horizonzero.ca, Banff New Media Institute, and Union of BC Performers. He has spoken internationally on a variety of topics in social theory, cultural criticism, and philosophy, and has published on the materiality of gender, cultural resources in Canada, and prehistoric ‘design’.
EXHIBITIONS
-2007 - Problems with History (Element 12), Perfomances and Audio/Video Installation at ‘Open Spaces’,
the Banff Centre, Banff, Canada.
- Art Walk, Group Show, The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada
2006 Ghosts of Industry, Locative Media Installation, Banff New Media Institute, The Banff Centre, Banff,
Canada.
- Art Walk, Group Show. The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.
1st Anniversary Group Show. The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.
-2005 - Adieu, Public Art Project/Installation. Commissioned by The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary,
Canada.
- Say Goodbye, Curator. Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.
-2003 - Warhospital: Paper Interactions, Interactive Project Lab, Banff Summer Arts Festival, The Banff
Centre, Banff, Canada.
SELECT LIST OF INTERACTIVE/DIGITAL MEDIA WORKS
-2007 - (November) Problems with History (Element 12) - Interviews, performances, and audio video installation conducted/installed at the Banff Centre, Banff, Canada, that explores the creation, exchange and
destruction of history.
-2007 - (September) Lines of Communication (Analogue Dialogue 2) - 6 X4 foot canvas, communication wire and paint installation/public art project installed at the Ruberto Ostberg Gallary, Calgary, Canada.
-2007 - (in progress) In the Shadow of Progress (multi-platform digital documentary) – personal and subjective explorations of life in the industrial north using web, email, terrestrial phone and locative/timeaccessed mobile media. Developed for the National Film Board of Canada.
-2006 - Ghosts of Industry (Locative Media) - location driven outdoor audio and video installation over
PDA/ I-Pac and GPS.
-2005 – Ongoing Technosaurs/C.I.E. – branded multi-platform educational participatory narrative for ‘tweens’. Coproduced with RocketFuel Inc. and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Funders: Canada
New Media Fund; Virtual Museum of Canada.
-2003-04 - Warhospital (web documentary) – intimate observations on life at the largest Red Cross war
casualty facility in Lokichokio, Kenya. Project Developed for the National Film Board of Canada
with the assistance of the Interactive Project Lab.
-2001-04 - Ghosts of Industry (ghostsofindustry.com) – experiential documentary of the industrial ghost town of Bitumount in northern Alberta. Collaborators: Jeff Dawson, Wayne Dunkley, Leonard Paul.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2007 - First Place - “Pitch-it”, Kidscreen Summit, New York. Project: Technosaurs/C.I.E.
2006 - Telus Innovation Fund. Project: Technosaurs.
2005 - Canada New Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, Project:Technosaurs.
- Virtual Museum of Canada Investment Program. Project:Technosaurs
2003 - Interactive Project Lab, Prototyping Grant. Project: War Hospital
2001 - Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund. Project: Ghosts of Industry.
- Telus Television Fund. Project: Ghosts of Industry.
- Alberta Historical Resources Foundation, Media Grant. Project: Ghosts of Industry.
RESIDENCIES
2007 Thematic Residency/Co-production Lab: Almost Perfect. Projects: Problems with History (Elements
12 and 13). The Banff New Media Institute, The Banff Centre, Banff,
Canada.
2006 Thematic Residency/Co-production Lab: Almost Perfect. Projects: Ghosts of Industry (locative
media); In the Shadow of Progress. The Banff New Media Institute, The Banff Centre, Banff,
Canada.
2005 Self Directed Residency. Project: Technosaurs. The Banff New Media Institute, The Banff Centre,
Banff, Canada.
2003 Interactive Project Lab. Project: Warhospital. The Canadian Film Centre (Toronto), The Banff New
Media Institute (Banff), and Institut National de l’Image et du Son (Montreal).
Panels, Presentations and Delegations (Select list):
2006 Digital Media 101: The Value of Digital Media. Banff New Media Institute, Accelerator Program,
Banff, Alberta.
The casualty of War Hospital: Observations for a conflicted documentary genre. Presented at
Interactive Screen, The Banff New Media Institute, Banff, Canada.
Electronic Entertainment Expo. Western Canada Delegation. Los Angeles, United States.
PANELS PRESENTATIONS AND DELEGATIONS (SELECT LIST)
2006 - Digital Media 101: The Value of Digital Media. Banff New Media Institute, Accelerator Program,
Banff, Alberta.
- The casualty of War Hospital: Observations for a conflicted documentary genre. Presented at
Interactive Screen, The Banff New Media Institute, Banff, Canada.
Electronic Entertainment Expo. Western Canada Delegation. Los Angeles, United States.
2003 - WAR HOSPITAL: a Study in Being Human. Presented at “IPL day” at the “Festival international
nouveau cinema et nouveaux medias”, Montreal, Canada.
- WAR HOSPITAL. Presented at Cyberpitch, the Banff Television festival, Banff, Canada.
2002 - Web Visualisation and the First Philosophy of History. Presented at Interactive Screen, the Banff
New Media Institute, Banff, Canada.
2001 - Recontextualising Digital Media: Lessons from Material History. Presented at Unforgiving Memory,
the Banff New Media Institute, Banff, Canada.
LINKS
CONTACT SHEET OF SHOW (Photos by Inger Marthe Skyberg)