Exploring themes brought forth in writer Northrop Frye’s Words with Power, art collective Team Macho have taken over the AGO’s Weston Family Community Gallery, by building a series of studio structures in which both the artists themselves and the public will be invited to take occupation. The installation is open until April 20, 2012 and free to the public.
This excerpt from Axis Mundi: A DIY Guide by Ann Marie Peña, shads some more perspective on the group’s new interactive installation:
“.. The artists take their title and starting point from Northrop Frye’s notion of the Axis Mundi which forms “a vertical line running from the top to the bottom of the cosmos”[1], symbolically unifying and holding together our very existence in this world. Here Team Macho interpret and apply Frye’s idea of the Axis as an organizational system, using his descriptive and metaphorical subdivisions– the Cave, the Mountain, the Furnace and the Garden - to literally frame their own concept of idealized and accessible space. Frye’s idea of a layered universe here becomes the structure through which Team Macho decipher and mythologize their own process, giving the public an entry point into their world. For the Cave, the artists have sewn together clothes to create a soft, igloo-like structure that can be entered by crawling on all fours through a flap. Inside sit monitors, a VCR, stacks of 1980s and 90s video tapes, and flickering game consoles, creating a somewhat claustrophobic refuge for those needing a place to hide away. Alongside stands the Mountain, a structure reminiscent of an elaborate tree fort or wooden playground structure outfitted with drawing tables and seats. Through a series of ladders and platforms you can climb the mountain, a visual metaphor that can be read either as a journey to artistic enlightenment, or more cynically as a path of ascension through the pitfalls of the art-world ranks. Coated in black chalkboard paint that can be scrawled on and erased, the Furnace is a large imposing structure that is purposely uncomfortable and overly warm to sit in, especially when sitting alongside others. By contrast the final piece of the Axis, the Garden, is contemplative and beautiful. Entering through a rustic cabin-like door, the space inside is composed of long canvases of unfinished forests and delicate paper tree structures complete with fluttering leaves.
Traveling through and experiencing all four components, Team Macho draw reference to the different states of consciousness that they themselves experience in the making of art, as well as the interconnectedness of their – and by extension our - common experience. Like their peers before them, Team Macho highlight art-making as a heroic yet precarious pursuit, made stronger when others partake in the process. Through Axis Mundi they ask only that we join them on their journey, so let’s go along for the ride.”
The installation runs until April 2012 and is free to the public. There will also be a book launch in conjunction with the Axis Mundi installation for a new Team Macho monograph entitled The Merlin Years : The Art of Team Macho II. The book launch will take place at the Art Gallery of Ontario on Thursday, March 22 from 6-8pm with the artists in attendance for signing.
Check out photos of the finished installation below:
Detail of The Furnace section.
Detail of The Cave section.
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