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Althea Thauberger

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Althea Thauberger (born 1970, Saskatoon, Canada)[1] is a Canadian visual artist, film maker and educator. Her work engages relational practices rooted in sustained collaborations with groups or communities through social, theatrical and textual processes that often operate outside the studio/gallery environment. Her varied research-centric projects have taken her to military base, remote societies and institutional spaces that result in performances, films, videos, audio recordings and books, and involve provocative reflections of social, political, institutional and aesthetic power relations. Her recent projects involve an extended engagement with the sites of their production in order to trace broader social and ideological histories.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Biography

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Althea Thauberger currently lives and works in Vancouver, where she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia.[7]

Thauberger obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at Concordia University in 2000 and went on to complete her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria in 2002. In 2009–2010, she studied at the European Graduate School as a PhD candidate. Before Thauberger's professorship at University of British Columbia, she had taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design,[8] Simon Fraser University,[9] and University of Victoria as a sessional instructor, and was invited to teach at Akademie výtvarných umĕni v Praze (Academy of Fine Arts, Prague) as a guest professor,[10] and at Concordia University as a visiting professor.[7][11]

In 2003, Thauberger was awarded a Vancouver Arts Development Award and was a regional finalist for the Sobey Art Award.[12] She was also the recipient of British Columbia's most prestigious annual awards for the visual arts, VIVA award in 2011.[13]

In 2009, Thauberger travelled to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on a Canadian Forces Artists Program assignment. While there, she produced the collaborative work Kandahar International Airport (2009), in which twelve female soldiers portray themselves as themselves on the grounds of this Afghan modernist architectural icon from the 1960s.[14]

Major works

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Preuzmimo Benčić (Take Back Benčić) (2014)

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Set against the highly complicated political and economic context of the former Yugoslavian state, on the site of Benčić, the former worker-managed factory in Rijeka, the fifty-seven minutes experimental film is a socially engaged and layered documentation that offers an idiosyncratic approach to the investigation of the complexities of expressing labour, the revelation of boundaries and social class, and the exploration of alternative models of governance.[15]

Thauberger initiated the film as a framework for continuing a critical and generative dialogue about the multiple values of the factory, the restructuring of Rijeka's political economy, and the paradigms of cultural industries. She worked with sixty-seven local children performers who are divided into the roles of “artists” or former workers who have been permitted to temporarily re-occupy the complex, and “mayors” who discuss their own plans for its regeneration. By using children as her cast, Thauberger is able to conjure an inviting illusion of play whilst still encouraging scrutiny of the larger issues underlying the project and the potential socioeconomic failures related to creative regeneration.[15][16] Preuzmimo Benčić, is akin to 20th century forms of radical theatre, such as Bertolt Brecht’s Lehrstücke or techniques within Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. In both forms, there is no division between the actors and the audience and play-acting is employed as an instructive process.[17] Thauberger sees the explorations of the relations between work, art and play as the fundament of this project, and her experience of working with children as mutual empowerment process that invokes imagination, wonder and empathy.[18][19]

Marat Sade Bohnice (2012)

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Thauberger produced Marat Sade Bohnice in collaboration with Akanda, an experimental theatre company in Prague. The forty-seven minute film centres on the staging of the decommissioned waterworks and laundry facilities of Bohnice, another post-revolutionary institution and the largest psychiatric clinic in the Czech Republic. It consists of filmic documentation of the Bohnice psychiatric hospital performance as a reenactment of Peter Weiss’ 1963 play Marat/Sade, as well as documentation of Thauberger's interviews with Bohnice patients and staff. As Thauberger brings various threads together—particularly as she includes hospital staff and residents in the work—she inserts a raw humanism into her deep-time inquiry of mental illness, pointedly linking Marat's revolutionary apprehension to growing contemporary cynicism about institutions. Marat Sade Bohnice approaches philosophical and art histories, questions art's agency and its role within therapy, as well as troubles the systems of human (un)freedom.[4][20]

Notable exhibitions

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Her work has been presented at the 17th Biennale of Sydney;[21] National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa;[22] The Andy Warhol Museum,[23] Pittsburgh; Guangzhou Triennial, China;[24][25] Manifesta 7, Trento, Italy;[26] Exponential Futures at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver;[27] The Power Plant, Toronto;[28] Vancouver Art Gallery;[29] BAK—basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht;[30][31] Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin;[32] Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany;[33] Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax;[34] Singapore History Museum; Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver;[35] Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp; Berkeley Art Museum;[36][37] Insite, San Diego/Tijuana;[38] The Polygon Gallery, Vancouver;[39] White Columns, New York;[40] Seattle Art Museum;[41] and the 2012 Liverpool Biennial.[42] Thauberger participated in the 2014 Biennale de Montréal.[43]

Solo exhibitions

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Collections

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Thauberger's work is included in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada.[50]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Althea Thauberger". Canadian Art. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018.
  2. ^ Schechter, Fran (10 January 2013). "Madness in Prague". NOW. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  3. ^ Gaudet, Leanne (29 August 2017). "An Interview with Althea Thauberger". National Gallery of Canada. Archived from the original on 10 August 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Althea Thauberger: Marat Sade Bohnice". Simon Fraser University Galleries. Simon Fraser University. 2014. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Who Is It That Will Tell Me What I Am" (PDF). Gallery Fall 2018. Fall 2018. Southern Alberta Art Gallery. Fall 2018.
  6. ^ "Who Is It That Will Tell Me What I Am - Althea Thauberger". Southern Alberta Art Gallery. 2018. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Althea Thauberger". Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory. University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 28 January 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  8. ^ "Althea Thauberger". Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Course Outlines – Studio in Visual Arts II". Simon Fraser University. Spring 2018. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Students's projects of the Althey Thauberger's studio at AVU". Motto Distribution. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Faculty: Althea Thauberger - Artist in Residence, Studio Arts". Concordia University. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  12. ^ "Althea Thauberger" (PDF). Vancouver Art Gallery. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  13. ^ "Major Awards in British Columbia Arts Announced: Rodney Graham to receive Audain Prize Reece Terris and Althea Thauberger to receive VIVA Awards" (PDF). Vancouver Art Gallery. 19 April 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  14. ^ Brandon, Laura (2021). War Art in Canada: An Illustrated History. Toronto: Art Canada Institute. ISBN 978-1-4871-0271-5. OCLC 1345467347.
  15. ^ a b "Althea Thauberger: Preuzmimo Benčić (Take Back Benčić)". This Is Tomorrow: Contemporary Art Magazine. 2014. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  16. ^ Kazymerchyk, Amy (2015). "Workers Entering the Factory After Thirteen Decades". Blackflash. 32 (3): 36–45. ISSN 0826-3922.
  17. ^ "Althea Thauberger - Preuzmimo Benčić". Susan Hobbs Gallery. 2014. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  18. ^ Kilibarda, Konstantin (16 March 2015). "Work, Art, and Deindustrialization in Rijeka. An Interview with Althea Thauberger". LeftEast. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  19. ^ Preuzmimo Benčić : a film by Althea Thauberger. Thauberger, Althea, 1970-, Musagetes. Guelph. 2015. ISBN 978-0-9920366-5-2. OCLC 1050617503.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  20. ^ Mah, Justin (5 February 2013). "Althea Thauberger Focuses on Mental Illness in New Film". Canadian Art. Archived from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  21. ^ "17th Biennale of Sydney Report" (PDF). Biennale of Sydney. 2010. pp. 19, 64. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  22. ^ a b "PhotoLab 5: Althea Thauberger". National Gallery of Canada. 2018. Archived from the original on 8 September 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  23. ^ "The End - Curated by Eric Shiner - Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, February 2009". Aleksandra Mir. 2009. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  24. ^ "GZ Triennial: The Third Guangzhou Triennial opens from September 6th to November 16th, 2008". Guangdong Museum of Art. 2008. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  25. ^ "GZ Triennial". Art-Ba-Ba 中国当代艺术社区. 2008. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  26. ^ "Althea Thauberger, CA". Manifesta. 2008. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  27. ^ Brayshaw, Christoper (May 2008). "Exponential Futures". Border Crossings. 27 (2): 105–107. ISSN 0831-2559. ProQuest 215552685.
  28. ^ Tomic, Milena (2 June 2013). "Althea Thauberger". Art in America. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  29. ^ "Portraits in Time". Vancouver Art Gallery. 2013. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  30. ^ "Artist: Althea Thauberger". BAK, basis voor actuele kunst. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020.
  31. ^ "Althea Thauberger: Alone Again (In the Likeness of Life)". BAK, basis voor actuele kunst. 6 February 2007. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023.
  32. ^ "Artists - Althea Thauberger". Künstlerhaus Bethanien. 2005. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  33. ^ "Canada Dreaming". Kunstverein Wolfsburg (in German). 2006. Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  34. ^ Hammock, Virgil (29 September 2020). "The State of the Situation: Althea Thauberger at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia". Vie des arts. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  35. ^ Pakasaar, Helga (30 April 2005). "Althea Thauberger: 'A Memory Lasts Forever,' April 30-June 5, 2005, Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver July 14 - August 21, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC As part of the nationally touring Sobey Art Award exhibition". Galleries West. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  36. ^ a b Helfand, Glen (May 2005). "Althea Thauberger". Artforum. 43 (9). Archived from the original on 17 November 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  37. ^ a b "Matrix 215: Althea Thauberger". Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. 9 December 2004. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  38. ^ "Thauberger Althea - Murphy Canyon Choir". INSITE. 2005. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  39. ^ "Best of Vancouver 2017: Entertainment". The Georgia Straight. 20 September 2017. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  40. ^ "White Room: Althea Thauberger". White Columns. 2004. Archived from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  41. ^ Helfand, Glen (December 2003). "'Baja to Vancouver'". Artforum. 42 (4). Archived from the original on 17 November 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  42. ^ "Spotlight on: Althea Thauberger". Art Gallery of Ontario. 25 October 2011. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018.
  43. ^ Sandals, Leah (6 May 2014). "Biennale de Montréal Artists Announced". Canadian Art. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  44. ^ "Althea Thauberger | Pagal Pagal Pagal Pagal Filmy Duniya". Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. 2020. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  45. ^ Laurence, Robin (November 2020 – January 2021). "'Madiha Aijaz: Memorial for the lost pages' Althea Thauherger, Pagal Pagal Pagal Pagal Filmy Duniya". Border Crossings. 39 (3): 129–131. ISSN 0831-2559. ProQuest 2471876210.
  46. ^ "Althea Thauberger: The State of the Situation | Art Gallery of Nova Scotia". Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. 2019. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  47. ^ "Althea Thauberger". Susan Hobbs Gallery. 2012. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  48. ^ Dongois, Anne (4 January 2012). "Althea Thauberger". Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  49. ^ "Exhibition - Althea Thauberger". Künstlerhaus Bethanien. 2006. Archived from the original on 13 September 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  50. ^ "Search the Collection: Althea Thauberger". National Gallery of Canada. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
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