Western Front: London Edition

Description:

Western Front participated in No Soul For Sale – A Festival of Independents at the Tate Modern, London. Organized by by artist Maurizio Cattelan and curators Cecilia Alemani and Massimiliano Gioni, No Soul For Sale was presented as part of the Tate’s tenth anniversary celebrations and invited over seventy international independent art spaces, not-for-profit organizations, and artists collectives to take over the Turbine Hall. 

As part of the festival, Western Front presented London Bureau—a paper replica of the historic Western Front Building that housed an exhibition of archival materials and works by Vancouver-based artists Sonja Ahlers, Lorna Brown, Aaron Carpenter, Kate Craig, Randy Lee Cutler, Paul de Guzman, Stan Douglas, Michael Drebert, Geoffrey Farmer, General Idea, Rodney Graham, Hadley + Maxwell, Allison Hrabluik, Instant Coffee, Will Kwan, Heidi Nagtegaal, Mark Soo, Kika Thorne, Ron Tran, Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby, and Ian Wallace.

London Bureau considered immaterial production and dissemination as an alternate exercise of power, employed print as a venue for long distance exchange, and acknowledged Western Front’s historical position as a pioneer in mail art, slow-scan and fax art initiatives. A number of artists were also invited to participate in the exhibition by submitting short videos via email that were accessible onsite.