Présences du littéraire dans l’espace public canadien - Singular: Fission/Fissions singulières

Hygiene series

Marie-Claude Langevin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:55:13 +0000

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Artwork creator(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Text author(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Text author(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Installation year:

2000

Remarks on location:

Men's washroom , level 2

Artwork description

Source: Photo provided by Adrian Göllner

Description:

Images installed in the bunker's toilets.

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Photo credits:

Text of the artwork:

The night has eyes

The walls have ears

Red comes in many shades

Text theme:

Danger of infiltration and espionage

Artwork theme:

Cold War

History

History:

Art exhibition: Singular Fission/fissions singulières, Diefenbunker Museum, Carp (Ottawa)

Event date(s):

2001

Dimensions

Height:

0.46m

Width:

0.53m

Other information

Artist's biography:

Adrian Gollner

Document(s):

Art Goes Underground

The Show That Came in From the Cold

Loose Lips Series

Marie-Claude Langevin — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:57:36 +0000

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Artwork creator(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Text author(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Text author(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Installation year:

2000

Remarks on location:

Rooms (402 A), (161 A), Engine Room / Machine room, medical clinic

Artwork description

Source: Photo provided by Adrian Göllner

Source: Photo provided by Adrian Göllnerr

Description:

Backlit posters with messages of warning and safety instructions.

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Photo credits:

Text of the artwork:

[Poster 1: Bunkroom, Level 4]

SPOT THE RED
Close ranks on communist infiltrators.

[Poster 2: medical clinic / medical center, level 4]

They walk among us.
The communist threat is real.

[Poster 3: Machine Hall machine room, Level 1]

Them in Europe. Us in Europe.
Tactical nuclear weapons keep Europe free.

Artwork theme:

Cold war

History

History:

AxeNeo7, an artist-run centre in Hull, Québec, presents the work of thirteen artists in the bunker as a way of exploring the perceptions of the Cold War and the Diefenbunker itself. Singular:Fissions ran from July 15 until October 31, 2000. Located twenty minutes East of Ottawa in the town of Carp is the Diefenbunker. Built in the late fifties and early sixties admidst Cold War tensions, this four-storey bunker would have housed senior government and military officials in the case of nuclear war. Now decomissioned, the bunker is the home of Canada's Cold War Museum and a popular tourist destination.

Event date(s):

2000

Dimensions

Height:

0.86m

Width:

0.68m

Other information

Note(s):

I created three different series for the exhibition: the Loose Lips Series, the Hygiene Series and the Civil Defence Series.

The Loose Lips Series is the first of three series I created for Singular:Fissions, an exhibition in a decommissioned Cold War bunker outside of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on the theme of fear and the Cold War. The series employs 1960's style hard-edge graphics in the creation of faux anti-communist propaganda. Placed at crucial junctures in the bunker, the back-lit posters cautioned bunker personnel that enemy spies are lurking. Most visitors took them to be original to the facility.

My artworks address particular contexts. Given a billboard on which to work, I designed mock advertisements; allowed to work in a military bunker, I made some propaganda. When faced with a conventional gallery space, I am inclined to play off the stylings of contemporary art. Within the above however, there are constants. I have an abiding interest in abstraction and the history of the last century. Of specific interest are those points where design and art cross, i.e.: the Bauhaus, the Soviet Avant-garde, and American industrial design of the 1930s. Stylistic references to these movements are referred to, coyly, to enhance my investigations into the Cold War, architecture and our consumer society. My intent is to satirize, but I hope I do so with a degree of subtlety. By closely emulating graphic styles and employing commercial production techniques, I am able to hide my own hand and create images that defy easy interpretation as art. The results are mildly subversive.

Adrian Göllner (2008). Adrian Göllner: Loose Lips Series.

http://www.adriangollner.ca/looselip.html

Artist's biography:

Adrian Gollner

Source:

1.Musée Diefenbunker3911 Carp RoadCarp, OntarioK0A 1L0613-839-0007 ou sans frais 1-800-409-1965info@diefenbunker.ca

Document(s):

Adrian Göllner : War & Peace : the Ottawa Artist Remembers the Cold War

Singular Fission/ Fissions singulières

Art et guerre froide

Art Goes Underground

Escape Fantasies. Survival in the Diefenbunker

The Show That Came in From the Cold

Civil Defence Series

Marie-Claude Langevin — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:47:45 +0000

Artwork identification

Alternate title:

Bus shelter poster series

Artwork creator(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Artwork creator(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Text author(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Text author(s):

Göllner, Adrian

Installation year:

2000

Remarks on location:

Three locations at the intersections of Bronson Avenue/Sunnyside; Main Street/Clegg; Smyth Road/Riverside Drive

Artwork description

Source: Photo provided by Adrian Göllner

Source: Photo provided by Adrian Göllnerr

Description:

Placed in bus shelter advertising cases in downtown Ottawa, the posters reflect the optimism sported in government-issued survival manuals on nuclear war.

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Photo credits:

Text of the artwork:

Be prepared

Text theme:

Civil Defence

History

History:

Singular Fission. (Summer and Fall 2000) A group of Gatineau, Quebec-based art collective called AXENÉO7 created an exhibition of Cold War-oriented art, photographs and sculpture which was put on display in various spaces throughout the Diefenbunker. It assembled an eclectic assortment of exhibits which were integrated into the standard tours of the facility. The artists involved included Kim Adams, A&B associés, Guy Blackburn, Josée Dubeau, Denis Farley, Adrian Göllner, Wanda Koop, George Legrady, Liz Magor, Sophie Ristelhueber, Jana Sterbak, Annie Thibault, Hiromi Tsuchida and Ivan Binet. A comprehensive, illustrated catalogue was produced.

Event date(s):

2000

Dimensions

Height:

1.68m

Width:

1.22m

Other information

Artist's biography:

Adrian Göllner

Source:

1.Musée Diefenbunker3911 Carp RoadCarp, OntarioK0A 1L0613-839-0007 ou sans frais 1-800-409-1965info@diefenbunker.ca

Document(s):

Singular Fissions. Art in a Cold War Bunker

Singular Fission/ Fissions singulières

Art Goes Underground

The Show That Came in From the Cold

Adrian Göllner : War & Peace : the Ottawa Artist Remembers the Cold War