Suzanne Caines | Canada

Suzanne Caines (Canada) is a professional artist and graduate of the Chelsea College of Art and Design. Her work has focused, through performance pieces in public spaces, on manipulating fiction into reality, which leaves the viewer questioning their identity. Her work also reflects how memory exists in contemporary society, how we navigate these memories and separate fact from fiction. By creating a new identity for herself in her artwork she has been able to change how others perceive her. Meanings of our identities can be shifted and redefined in a post-modern setting. She has been exhibited in Canada and Great Britain. Her work was awarded with various art prizes, so in 2005 with the Canada Council Grant.

http://scaines.com/

Project: Conversations
Category: Video Performance
Period: July 2007
Event: Art Residency

My past work has focused on manipulation and interacting in social situations, which leave the viewer questioning my identity. I have done this by creating performance pieces. My work also reflects how memory exists in contemporary society, how we navigate these memories and separate fact from fiction.

With my project “Conversations” I am interested in understanding “locality„ in the Nodar area. What makes the Nodar area unique and how people living define their “local” culture. I will look at culture through consumerism. Through several performance actions in a variety of different retail outlets and other public locations the participants will be forced to question their daily routine. My project intends to cause a disruption in the everyday flow of events that force viewers to reassess their understanding of accepted codes of behaviour, value systems and social conditioning.

Through these performances I will also question how identity is constructed in today’s society and particularly in the Nodar area. I am also interested in what role consumerism plays in the public’s construct of their identity. These performances will also focus on the interplay between culture, identity and location.

The project will hopefully result in self-reflection and self-critical thinking about our identity. The final work will be presented as a multimedia exhibition. The video documentation of my performances will make-up the majority of the exhibition piece. I will also present photographs of the locations where I performed my interactions at which will be extended through sound pieces.

1. Video conceived and presented during the residency ("Split Pea Soup"):

2. Project's photo selection:

Photos by Binaural and Alicja Rogalska