Group Exhibition at EMMEDIA

Group Exhibition at EMMEDIA

March 7th to April 6th, 2024

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 12PM to 6PM

Opening Reception on Thursday, March 7th, 2024 6PM

Free Admission

Particle + Wave 2024’s group exhibition features 4 unique artworks by Jose Macasinag, Ahreum Lee, Mark Werklund and Kirk Werklund and Dylon Klemen-Hurrell. Held in EMMEDIA’s main space from March 7th until April 6th, this year’s exhibition will charm and excite, inviting the community to view and engage with the blend of analog and digital media. Come see what we have in store, for a limited time, and join us for our Opening Reception on Thursday, March 7th at 6:00PM to meet the artists and have drinks and snacks. This is a free event, open to the public, and will be held at EMMEDIA’s main space, 2005B 10 Ave SW.

That Happened? by Jose Macasinag

About the Work:

"You have died and find yourself kindly embraced by the Universe. Before returning to the stars, you are given another chance to reflect on your beloved life. During this time, reminisce about the way you've spent your time, embracing both joys and challenges."

That Happened? Is an interactive installation that welcomes everyone to gently cuddle with the Universe and watch clips of their recent existence. It aims to remind us that, regardless of the circumstances of our corporeal life, we are peacefully united and returned to stardust. Observe the scale of your presence in comparison to its immenseness; our physical stay in the world may be short, but everything we do matters and is remembered. Having learned this now, ask yourself: During your life, have you been loving and kind in the same way the Universe loves us in the end?

About Jose Macasinag:

Jose, a queer Filipino artist based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary), engages in interdisciplinary exploration, encompassing painting, sculpture, and experimental time-based projection mapping. His work draws inspiration from themes of nature, sustainability, and posthumanism. Independently, he installs temporary site-specific art, creating experimental "animated murals'' across the Calgary area. Jose has been involved with the development of public art installations for Chinook Blast, N!ght L!ght, and STEPS public art.

Gui the Ghost by Ahreum Lee

About the Work:

Gui, the Ghost is a text adventure and RPG-styled survival game inspired by Korean folklore called "Cheo-Nyeo Gui Shin." It is a single-player game where the player takes the role of a deceased young woman trapped in "this world." As players investigate what happened to Gui and collect the memories of Gui’s “beforelife” throughout the game, Gui will unlock new abilities by becoming more transparent until she eventually can disappear forever. The game was designed with deliberate retro aesthetics, such as vector graphics, ASCII, and pixel art.

About Ahreum Lee:

Ahreum Lee is a musician and interdisciplinary media artist from Seoul, South Korea, currently based in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal). She is interested in examining socio-political issues that have been embedded in technologies used every day, such as Google Maps, Predictive Text Algorithms, and AI virtual assistant voices. She uses a range of media including video, audio, performance, 3D-printing sculpture, 3D rendered images, stock images from online and web art. She was a finalist for the Emerging Digital Artist Award at EQ Bank and Trinity Square Video (Toronto) in 2019. She has exhibited and performed in Montreal at Arsenal Art Contemporain Montréal, Fonderie Darling, Ada x, Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, as well as Third Shift Festival (Saint John) and Axis Lab (Chicago). Additionally, she has participated in the Emerging BAiR program at Banff Art and Creativity Centre and the Impression Residency Program at Musée des Beaux-arts à Montréal.

Socratic Dialogue Machine by Mark Werklund and Kirk Werklund

About the work:

The Socratic Dialogue Machine is an interactive microfiche machine that simulates Socratic dialogue with the user via selectable options and pre-programmed responses. The simulated dialogue covers topics of nostalgia, obsolescence, and the relationship between technology and its creators. New technologies are grafted onto the all-but-obsolete microfiche in an effort to bring new life to it, allowing it to directly prompt the user to navigate their own opinions of the topics through a Socratic sandbox experience. 

The 40+ year old Vantage III microfiche sits on top of a school desk of similar vintage. A custom interface is mounted on the desk. By interacting with its arcade buttons, users will choose answers to questions displayed on the microfiche screen. The machine uses an internal light source to display the messages on the screen as it would have when originally in use. When buttons are pressed in response to questions on the screen, two stepper motors, an Arduino and a RaspberryPi move the glass bed that holds the microfiche dialogue, advancing the Socratic conversation.

Instead of using technology as a content-agnostic communication platform in which the medium becomes the message, we directly curate the experience to demonstrate how technology can thoughtfully be constructed to build a more personal and (hopefully) worthwhile experience. This in itself, is a reflection of art's effectiveness over open, but thoughtlessly created technologies.

About the artists:

Mark Werklund

A sculptor with decades of experience in fabrication and creating original, innovative artworks using found objects, antique electronics, and mixed media. Mark has a passion for exploring the aesthetic, historical, and cultural dimensions of everyday materials, and transforming them into new forms of expression and interaction. His sculptures range from small-scale to large-scale installations, and often incorporate sound, light, or movement. Mark has exhibited works in various galleries and festivals, and received positive reviews.

Kirk Werklund

As a previous software developer working on conventional user experiences, Kirk is taking some time to explore technology's potential to create worthwhile experiences by experimenting with its ability to augment our environment and the way we perceive reality, for better or for worse.

This project creates a dialogue on this topic with its audience (quite literally), and invites them to participate in a more active role in this discussion.