Exchanging Presence

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About

In this exhibition the artist uses clay as a medium for connection and through wall painting and participatory action asks the viewer to consider what it means to be seen and to what degree one wants to make themselves visible.

Magdolene Dykstra uses clay as a medium for connection. The exhibition is comprised of two of her ongoing projects Gathering Presence and Exchanging Presence. Together, these works ask what it means to be seen and to what degree one wants to make themselves visible.

Gathering Presence is a mural of impressions. Magdolene employs assistants to laboriously paint the wall with their fingers. The painters press pigments made with clay oxides onto the walls, starting on the outside and working to create stalagmite and stalactite-like forms of varying densities and colours.

In a collaborative effort, the fingerprints of these racialized and queer painters accumulate to create a space where they can be seen, heard, and understood on their own terms. They are makers of the mark, not suffering the harms of being marked or being forced to mark under the control of others.

While Gathering Presence offers a record of the artist and assistants’ presence, Exchanging Presence is an open invitation for guests to make marks of their own. Magdolene makes space for audiences to contribute their own record of existence by leaving an imprint of themselves on a piece of clay.

In an instructional video, the artist describes how these remnants are created. Audiences are invited to follow along by pinching a small piece of terracotta off the clay mass on a table in the gallery and gently squeezing it between their thumb and forefinger to create an impression. It is then left in the gallery to be fired in the AGB pottery studio and added to a growing pile of clay pieces on the floor. In exchange for their indexical offering, participants are invited to take home pre-fired remnants from the installation – considering how much they want to offer, and how much they will take.

These take-away fingerprints are a tangible memory of a momentary connection. They represent generosity, reciprocity, and ask us to consider the obligation to the people around us – whether seen or unseen.

Exchanging Presence is a continuation of Dykstra’s attentiveness to the tension between individuality and collectivity, visibility and anonymity, impermanence, and the embedded potential for transformation. She creates openings for unity through repetitive actions. The individual marks on the wall and in the clay are small but in unison are grand. They boldly state, I am here; we are still here.

Links

• Exchanging Presence agb.life

Organizer

Art Gallery of Burlington

This Exhibition runs from Sept. 20 through Oct. 6, 2024.

The Art Gallery of Burlington delivers thought-provoking exhibitions, learning opportunities, and public programs that spark meaningful connections for people to learn, see, think, and make. We activate our collection of contemporary Canadian ceramics and explore the intersection of contemporary art and craft.

The AGB commits to fostering a fair, diverse, and inclusive environment where everyone is respected and valued, regardless of their background. We do not discriminate based on sex, age, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation or identity, disability, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, family status, or socioeconomic status. We embrace diverse life experiences and honour their value to our organization. We aim to set a positive example and promote best practices for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the not-for-profit sector.

The AGB is grateful to acknowledge that we are on Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the ancestral territory of many Indigenous Nations, including the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, and Métis peoples.

AGB Hours

Monday: CLOSED

Tuesday – Thursday: 10 AM – 9 PM

Friday – Sunday: 10 AM – 5 PM