https://chrismendoza.ca Chris Mendoza Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:15:43 +0000 https://chrismendoza.ca en https://chrismendoza.ca/Home-Page Fri, 23 Mar 2018 13:50:09 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/Home-Page https://chrismendoza.ca/writing Thu, 25 Mar 2021 23:56:15 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/writing <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cc9e8a4d20f4124d4e0597400288dfd5ae34ebb31629c470db96a8c7482abadc/Chris-Mendoza-Press-Image-2-CC-web.jpg" data-mid="104476031" border="0" data-scale="60" alt="yet you dream in the green of your time (thesis writing)" data-caption="yet you dream in the green of your time (thesis writing)" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cc9e8a4d20f4124d4e0597400288dfd5ae34ebb31629c470db96a8c7482abadc/Chris-Mendoza-Press-Image-2-CC-web.jpg" /> Writing yet you dream in the green of your time Accompanying text for the exhibition of the same name that expands on the historical, aesthetic and experiential themes present in the the exhibition through four courses of reflection. 2020. notes from an encounter/ notes from an actionContributed text for the collectively produced book work accompanying the exhibition Perseids at Crutch. Edited and designed by Jordan Elliott Prosser and Chris Mendoza, featuring writing by Emily DiCarlo, Chris Mendoza, Brandon Poole, Jordan Elliott Prosser, Yuluo Wei and Fatma Yehia. 2019. About“yet you dream in the green of your time” Catalogue essay by Dehlia Hannah and Nadim Samman, Art Museum University of Toronto, 2020. Teaching and learning with Canadian art students in North Iceland: towards the Posthuman Article by Kathleen Vaughan, Education in the North, 2019. Reinterpreting the Process of Learning&nbsp; Article by Maggie Hope, The Concordia, 2018. InterceptInterview with Catherine McRae, interfold 12, 2017. https://chrismendoza.ca/About Wed, 21 Mar 2018 00:17:26 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/About <img width="1252" height="835" width_o="1252" height_o="835" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/094dcc41cdf3ed46cef1d62fb13b746e2befa8913bda020ccb413eaace66cd4b/dispicstill.jpg" data-mid="103804226" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/094dcc41cdf3ed46cef1d62fb13b746e2befa8913bda020ccb413eaace66cd4b/dispicstill.jpg" /> chris mendoza lives and works in Tkaronto/Toronto. chris’ work moves between performance, sculpture, image-based work, and writing as affective inquiries into belonging, inheritance, and embodied relations to place. chris values presenting work and performing both in and outside of formal art spaces—the former of which include the FOFA gallery (Montreal); University of Toronto Art Gallery; Craft Ontario; Crutch Gallery (Toronto); and the Icelandic Textile Center (Blönduós). chris holds a BFA from Concordia University and a Master of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto. CV &nbsp;︎ https://chrismendoza.ca/yet-you-dream-in-the-green-of-your-time Wed, 31 Mar 2021 19:38:35 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/yet-you-dream-in-the-green-of-your-time <img width="1500" height="844" width_o="1500" height_o="844" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/08adfc35f709b3bd91600deae2e099c03b0640fbc974e7e15aeda4f39bc61da4/web-edit-UTACchrismendoza2.jpg" data-mid="103884517" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/08adfc35f709b3bd91600deae2e099c03b0640fbc974e7e15aeda4f39bc61da4/web-edit-UTACchrismendoza2.jpg" /> <img width="1778" height="1000" width_o="1778" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a69f9ec9d11dcf21c580d049c5d2f1bbfd3ec0e8c191d752c1456e6158bcf477/webUTACchrismendoza1.jpg" data-mid="104703802" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a69f9ec9d11dcf21c580d049c5d2f1bbfd3ec0e8c191d752c1456e6158bcf477/webUTACchrismendoza1.jpg" /> <img width="1778" height="1000" width_o="1778" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aae2573c2ca0bcb43832f80b5f97e4f883e49e32b11eaaf7ef9981d918255de1/web-UTACchrismendoza4.jpg" data-mid="104703799" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/aae2573c2ca0bcb43832f80b5f97e4f883e49e32b11eaaf7ef9981d918255de1/web-UTACchrismendoza4.jpg" /> yet you dream in the green of your time (2020) In 1969 environmental activists from the University of Toronto staged a mock funeral for the don River to bring attention to its polluted state. The cast of the satirical procession ranged from Elizabeth Simcoe—romanticizing the early colonial river valley—to an industrial capitalist— pied for comic relief. As the narrative resurfaces every few years, the event has been used metaphorically to speak of the river’s “rebirth” from its modernist maltreatment and the stakes of its revitalization. Yet you dream in the green of your time, is a series of foraged gestures drawing from a critical visitation of the procession and the confluent settler imaginaries of Nature. Together these gestures stage an ecology in-between, a post-industrial river valley negotiating the city’s production of Nature, its dreams of green. Works in exhibition: yet you dream in the green of your time (video, 6min with custom bench made from salvaged furniture); A map towards undercurrents (debossed watercolour paper, foraged dyes, buckthorn berry wall painting); Victoria sandwich (salvaged furniture and folded image of the River/DVP); time capsule; artist’s choice (vinyl print). (photo documentation courtesy of Toni Hafkenscheid) <img width="1500" height="1030" width_o="1500" height_o="1030" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/769cb5e3ce63dd625ac5558bfa7f51f60cfbbfdc03b69ad1f973acc7553ff3a4/web-edit-0-Untitled-25.jpg" data-mid="104691432" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/769cb5e3ce63dd625ac5558bfa7f51f60cfbbfdc03b69ad1f973acc7553ff3a4/web-edit-0-Untitled-25.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1041" width_o="1500" height_o="1041" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7028c47ae029535eee4c123bde61bff1e16a1db2a8a27c9fd44b7c54df4ac359/web-edit_HAF9861.jpg" data-mid="104691437" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7028c47ae029535eee4c123bde61bff1e16a1db2a8a27c9fd44b7c54df4ac359/web-edit_HAF9861.jpg" /><img width="1500" height="959" width_o="1500" height_o="959" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/af98286509cd37fd2e3c53b7b11d5f4749df11b03e15f08cb08d24294d3c1c70/web-edit-2_HAF9849.jpg" data-mid="104691433" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/af98286509cd37fd2e3c53b7b11d5f4749df11b03e15f08cb08d24294d3c1c70/web-edit-2_HAF9849.jpg" /><img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/264517e9fa1485fe248ea650862f3fc8bcbc1920a4973db5103b6c5f02d8270b/web-edit_HAF9054.jpg" data-mid="104691436" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/264517e9fa1485fe248ea650862f3fc8bcbc1920a4973db5103b6c5f02d8270b/web-edit_HAF9054.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="2293" width_o="1500" height_o="2293" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ccc2d97d7986740f2fb54f499c2a06cdecb6c2dd868bdba579e82339b81fbbb5/web_HAF9049.jpg" data-mid="104703177" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ccc2d97d7986740f2fb54f499c2a06cdecb6c2dd868bdba579e82339b81fbbb5/web_HAF9049.jpg" /> https://chrismendoza.ca/one-of-two-paved-mouths Fri, 09 Apr 2021 01:57:45 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/one-of-two-paved-mouths <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7d02625b3216adff98ff36ab2a06c40defa1739240e732346526616dc9d38e0c/web-edit-perseids-C-Mendoza-Project-300dpi.jpg" data-mid="105888951" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7d02625b3216adff98ff36ab2a06c40defa1739240e732346526616dc9d38e0c/web-edit-perseids-C-Mendoza-Project-300dpi.jpg" /> one of two paved mouths (2019)one of two paved mouths, is a series of sculptural and performative interventions engaging the urban ecology of Toronto’s Leslie Spit. Drawing from both found, fabricated, and imagined materials echoing the history of the site and its contemporary recreational uses, the works explore vulnerability, and transmutation. Both materially and performatively they are also a return to the “centre” of gestures and images from a site that is built on the detritus of the city’s urban development. <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/35c464c85659af62c8d1dd4c430c8772194a9bcaa50b13415e6d68fac11eec80/web-edit-DSC_0532.jpg" data-mid="104700676" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/35c464c85659af62c8d1dd4c430c8772194a9bcaa50b13415e6d68fac11eec80/web-edit-DSC_0532.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9cbea85c9f715137b43d73771529f51713c99683420dc45a54ad4155d1999ff5/web-edit-DSC_0536.jpg" data-mid="104700677" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9cbea85c9f715137b43d73771529f51713c99683420dc45a54ad4155d1999ff5/web-edit-DSC_0536.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7bb8508a87747538da8ed6e103a81efd93840c169f85cb8eeede0a32bef26f3b/web-edit-DSC_0555.jpg" data-mid="104700679" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7bb8508a87747538da8ed6e103a81efd93840c169f85cb8eeede0a32bef26f3b/web-edit-DSC_0555.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f5a872e812ae58c53625a5ee0ae08ef37ce3687face3b973d1e7ad1fc5e02d89/web-edit-DSC_0580.jpg" data-mid="104700681" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f5a872e812ae58c53625a5ee0ae08ef37ce3687face3b973d1e7ad1fc5e02d89/web-edit-DSC_0580.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/30bbd3c4c6a76f0a6f33f33b7017c279231f4318582ce557db80fe8f6d5f2a5b/web-edit-DSC_0575.jpg" data-mid="104700680" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/30bbd3c4c6a76f0a6f33f33b7017c279231f4318582ce557db80fe8f6d5f2a5b/web-edit-DSC_0575.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/45622ef8b610a2dae99b0355b6de80f44ece9ffe82168bcb53d58b5b498e5806/web-edit-DSC_0542.jpg" data-mid="104700678" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/45622ef8b610a2dae99b0355b6de80f44ece9ffe82168bcb53d58b5b498e5806/web-edit-DSC_0542.jpg" /> (performance documentation courtesy of Brandon Poole) <img width="1111" height="1500" width_o="1111" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ee3747e20989e4819f7fd436d367754611e7358c107322d28a75bafa1425bdae/web-edit-Perseids-AlexWillms-9.jpg" data-mid="104700682" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ee3747e20989e4819f7fd436d367754611e7358c107322d28a75bafa1425bdae/web-edit-Perseids-AlexWillms-9.jpg" /> (photo documentation courtesy of Alex Willms)The exhibition of this work with Emily Dicarlo, Brandon Poole and Jordan Elliott Prosser at Crutch can be seen here. https://chrismendoza.ca/fjord-talks Thu, 15 Apr 2021 18:22:15 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/fjord-talks <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/26320173daee01d78fae792fa77eb31c2cc6c47afdd0c7f1b7d03f1c27fb0eb9/web-edit-still-4.jpg" data-mid="105377113" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/26320173daee01d78fae792fa77eb31c2cc6c47afdd0c7f1b7d03f1c27fb0eb9/web-edit-still-4.jpg" /> fjord talks (2018) fjord talks consisted in a series of performative readings primarily to plants—though not discounting contingent audiences—over the course of my time at the Textílsetur residency in Iceland. While simultaneously learning about the local flora and fauna through wool processing, plant foraging, and dye making workshops, I began a reflective process of reading the Canadian poetry that I had learned through my public education to the same Icelandic flora and fauna. At first the readings were a means to spend time in places I felt related to and clashed with these poems, some of which drew heavily on sublime nature imagery; to initiate and invite encounters; and to reflect on my position as a “Canadian” tourist. However, I also aimed to bring to the fore and think through the imported Nature in these linguistic representations of place that, especially in earlier forms of writing, intentionally invited a colonial way of “seeing” and consuming foreign ecologies, a Nature that I imagine left many of my listeners rightfully unimpressed. https://chrismendoza.ca/addendum Wed, 14 Apr 2021 21:37:13 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/addendum <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bcc467bac4031220d81e94e5f941fd8a613e88778c256ea25bd424e6d8a3703b/web-edit-0IMG_5607-1.jpg" data-mid="105284712" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bcc467bac4031220d81e94e5f941fd8a613e88778c256ea25bd424e6d8a3703b/web-edit-0IMG_5607-1.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/46d528a91e376b9a46d8f3eabbc7208755c80fd85b30fd6fe668dd071d8dc69e/web-edit-0IMG_5612-1.jpg" data-mid="105284718" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/46d528a91e376b9a46d8f3eabbc7208755c80fd85b30fd6fe668dd071d8dc69e/web-edit-0IMG_5612-1.jpg" /> addendum (2017) Drawing from The Centre for Oral History’s public interviews with residents connected to the neighbourhoods surround the Lachine Canal, addendum consisted in my daily interjection of citations from these interviews in response to Jenny Holzer’s projection work For Leonard Cohen. Holzer’s work, which was commissioned by Musée d’Art Contemporain, consisted in curated text from Cohen’s writings projected on the face of Silo 5, an iconic, abandoned grain elevator in Montréal’s Old Port. The citations aimed in both direct and playful ways to pose questions around access, commemoration, and the role of art in public space, initiating multiple dialogues onsite. For one evening of the intervention, the work was performed collaboratively with a group of graduate students from Concordia studying the global histories of deindustrialization. (performance documentation courtesy of Angie Arsenault, Holly Fedida, and Benjamin Montague) <img width="1500" height="2250" width_o="1500" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/10363b981d388bd6a399cd6f524515f6a26f6f7f15cdce723fef837b4771229c/web-edit-2-IMG_1222.jpg" data-mid="108859091" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/10363b981d388bd6a399cd6f524515f6a26f6f7f15cdce723fef837b4771229c/web-edit-2-IMG_1222.jpg" /> https://chrismendoza.ca/that-which-is-to-be-given Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:15:43 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/that-which-is-to-be-given <img width="1099" height="733" width_o="1099" height_o="733" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0349eb992e00b867033aff21c716b2dbbb899cf58c86fad622c04153b5255c80/web-edit-use-That-which-is-to-be-given-1-2.jpg" data-mid="105914996" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0349eb992e00b867033aff21c716b2dbbb899cf58c86fad622c04153b5255c80/web-edit-use-That-which-is-to-be-given-1-2.jpg" />that which is to be given (2017) This project began with repeated observations and actions in several public spaces and monument sites in Montréal, as well as reflections on the forms of address in these spaces. Using documentation from the actions a series of performances were developed engaging the George-Étienne Cartier monument, highlighting its embedded colonial and nationalistic rhetoric by playing with legibility-illegibility and engaging choreographies of territorialisation. A pair of textile banners were produced in parallel, picking up and breaking down found text in these spaces and that of election posters at the time. (performance documentation courtesy of Holly Fedida) <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fd732ec92d0b2905cc1aa520a4472f35e8ccd5f2eda5e06a78c0daf09bbc66c2/web-edit-13.1-Territorial-Pissing-II.jpg" data-mid="105915230" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fd732ec92d0b2905cc1aa520a4472f35e8ccd5f2eda5e06a78c0daf09bbc66c2/web-edit-13.1-Territorial-Pissing-II.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/19fb4b767cc527f9bc25fb35056582956e2028b8911b9654e543e6a146332716/web-edit-17-Territorial-Pissing-2-5.jpg" data-mid="105915233" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/19fb4b767cc527f9bc25fb35056582956e2028b8911b9654e543e6a146332716/web-edit-17-Territorial-Pissing-2-5.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fd3723c7d27ff97877bbf0aff18900b63909c51c72f9ce487870548ec3f4bdb9/web-edit-Territorial-Pissing-2.jpg" data-mid="105915234" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fd3723c7d27ff97877bbf0aff18900b63909c51c72f9ce487870548ec3f4bdb9/web-edit-Territorial-Pissing-2.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a559e0e5bcc393b6a86ec1e51ee1774b02f4c91ce9fbc4f38a45b468b6828912/web-edit-14-Territorial-Pissing-2-1.jpg" data-mid="105915232" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a559e0e5bcc393b6a86ec1e51ee1774b02f4c91ce9fbc4f38a45b468b6828912/web-edit-14-Territorial-Pissing-2-1.jpg" /> https://chrismendoza.ca/topos-a-gathering Tue, 20 Apr 2021 19:14:33 +0000 Chris Mendoza https://chrismendoza.ca/topos-a-gathering <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0647edd37d3d53cde0ed2610f0433227d903304c7949a0550db0e592f64a3eec/web-topos-3.jpg" data-mid="106121311" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0647edd37d3d53cde0ed2610f0433227d903304c7949a0550db0e592f64a3eec/web-topos-3.jpg" /> topos, a gathering (2016) topos is a performance that took place at the site of a former historical plaque along Montréal’s post-industrial Lachine Canal and consisted in the repeated action of drawing water and pouring it into a functionless vessel. This durational action that resounded along the adjacent leisure path lasted for four hours, until I could no longer support it. The extended exertion of the action drew on the Canal’s history as a site of labour and as an interface with the city’s water; its futility and spilling engaged a tension between historical relations and public commemorative space. (performance documentation courtesy of Sophie Pineau)