Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen “Space Fiction & the Archives”
Momenta Art
This event has ended.
The exhibition presents a short film titled 1967: A People Kind of Place and an archive of various documents and artifacts that are related to the undergoing immigration policy reform in Canada. The project is Nguyen’s thoughtful exploration of “the emergence of multiculturalism as state policy” through collecting, assembling, re-framing and interpreting the constellation of these materials.
The year of 1967 was Canada’s centenary, which engendered unparalleled optimism as the country unveiled ambitious projects showcasing its culture and history to the world. One of these projects was the construction of the world’s first “UFO Landing Pad” that was built in St. Paul. This curious construction was proclaimed a “symbol of Western hospitality” by Paul Hellyer, Minister of National Defense at that time. Space Fiction & the Archives is a focal point of the rhetoric and visual representation surrounding this curious structure and the kind of hospitality within the particular historical and spatial context of Canada in 1967.
Space Fiction & the Archives is not a specific critique of the city of St. Paul or the Canadian centenary. It rather looks macroscopically at incongruities and optimism that are reflected in the presented materials in an attempt to recognize the emergence of a new vocabulary defining belonging and co-existence, and the will to imagine a different geography of encounters.
Media
Schedule
from May 16, 2014 to June 29, 2014
Opening Reception on 2014-05-16 from 19:00 to 21:00