Exhibition streamed live from March 13 through July 6, 2020 and in-person in the Gallery from July 7 through August 28, 2020.
(Please see bottom of this page for safety protocols we have put in place during in-person gallery hours.)
stillnessence is a "chronophotic" installation in which Toronto artist John Oswald compiled hundreds of photographs of people, all taken from the front twice—once dressed and once naked. Grouped, superimposed, arranged in uninterrupted succession, these images are projected life-size onto the wall, resulting in a cinematic spectacle of a crowd whose transformation is so slow that it is at first glance imperceptible. The humanity is in constant revolution as individuals replace one another in a seemingly endless cross-fade. Regarding this work, Oswald has referred to an "ephemeral transparent community occupying a light fresco."
His term "chronophotics"—coined from the Greek "chromosomal" (time) and photos (light)—is a genre of still which are not quite still and movies which never move. The full-frontal perspective of Oswald's figures is a blunt, unencumbered presentation belied by the transitional gestures of the image that, despite its simplicity, complicates everything. Suddenly paradoxical and spiritual, the work displays humanity as both immobile and moving, fleshly and ghostly, unreally serene. Identity and existence are both presented as malleable and fluid and all surface differences—race, age, gender, size—blend into inconsequence.
John Oswald is one of Canada’s most internationally renowned composers, and arguably its most infamous one. Recently he’s composed a new work for super-sized sinfonietta, commissioned by Turning Point, for a series of concerts entitled Zappa Varèse Oswald, and Fee Fie Foe Fum, a new work for New York’s Bang In A Can All-Stars, commissioned by Koerner Hall’s 21C Festival. His 1989 album plunderphonic is on the short list for the Polaris Heritage Prize. He is currently mixing a transcription for live performance by rock nonet of the 1994 album Grayfolded commissioned by and featuring the Grateful Dead.
His multifaceted sonic clock, A Time To Hear For Here (2007), was created to be a permanent environment at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. As a visual media artist and chronosopher he continues to create large-scale chronophotic light frescos, and is best known for the series stillnessence — a four-stage retrospective of this work was presented last April at Artscape Youngplace in Toronto. In recent years the Ensemble Modern Frankfurt premiered his b9, a condensation of all nine Beethoven symphonies; with the bnotions technologists Watchbook, an e-reader app he designed, was launched; he toured the former superpowers America and Russia with the Bill T Jones & Arnie Zane Dance Company, and opened a bar in Toronto, Art and Drinks, which specialized in time-based images, conversations, and sounds, plus beverages. He also continues to regularly improvise music and dance.
He is best known as the the creator of the music genre plunderphonics, an appropriative form of recording studio creation which he began to develop in the late sixties. This has got him in trouble with, and also generated invitations from major record labels and musical icons. Meanwhile, in the ’90’s he began, with several commissions from the Kronos Quartet, to compose scores, in what he calls the Rascali Klepitoire, for classical musicians and orchestras.
SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR GALLERY VISITORS: For the first time since February 28, Hallwalls Gallery will be reopening for in-person visitors commencing Tuesday, July 7th, in accordance with NYS and Erie County guidelines for Phase 4 reopening of low-density art venues.
Although HARP artist-in-residence John Oswald’s video installation Stillnessence has been in place since March 13, with one of its two walls streaming live on our YouTube channel 24/7, the full impact can only be appreciated by immersing yourself in person in the darkened room with its two long walls of life-size figures and ambient sound. We have missed you all, and look forward to seeing you in person, eye-to-eye, and chatting from six feet away and behind our masks.
Gallery hours, as always, will be Tuesday–Friday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m., Saturday 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., and admission to the gallery is, as always, free of charge.
We will have two employees working per shift, with one (wearing a mask) always stationed at a table in the lobby just outside the gallery, greeting visitors and monitoring safety protocols. ALL VISITORS MUST WEAR A MASK UPON ENTERING THE LOBBY AND THROUGHOUT THEIR VISIT, OR WILL BE POLITELY REFUSED ENTRY. We have purchased and installed a locally handcrafted no-touch hand sanitizer dispenser in the lobby, and the Hallwalls employee on door duty will be regularly cleaning all door handles, public restrooms, etc. Generally speaking, it is rare that more visitors arrive at any one time during gallery hours than can be safely accommodated, but if they do, the Hallwalls employee at the door will limit entry to ensure safe physical distancing.
Finally, part of the installation is a 10-foot long church pew placed in the gallery so viewers can sit and watch the installation’s slow dissolves. Under the present circumstances, only two viewers may sit at any given time, one at each far end, unless the party of visitors is from one household and can safely sit together. We know these precautions may seem cumbersome, but experiencing the installation live is worth your effort and your time.
