Old Powerhouse


DATE
Wednesday August 30, 2017 - Saturday October 21, 2017

Michelle Weinstein Summer Residency and Exhibition

Residency: August 8–31

Exhibition: August 30–October 21

Artist Talk and Closing Reception: Thursday, October 19, 2–5 PM

Guest Curated by UBC CCST program graduate Kristine Olson

Old Powerhouse is an experimental artwork that centers upon two architectural forms: the pyramids of Ancient Egypt, and an electrical powerhouse located on the University of British Columbia campus. In the artwork they are both encountered as monumental projections of history, and used to question the invisible forces that shape the production of the tale of western civilization. Rather than traditional narrative form, the work proposes an alternative historical model; an abstract dialogue describing massive energies, condense and diffuse.

Composed of a large pyramidical form, an animation which uses the chaotic logic of the internet, and steam, the work brings a dynamic questioning to the processes within the gallery — are they enacting the slow deterioration of a ruin, or the messy first stirrings of life? It is an embodiment of our own strange historical moment; old gods of energy and light groaning, perched between giving life and destroying it.

Michelle Weinstein is a graduate of the MFA program at UBC, as are two of her three collaborators: Eric Angus, Daniel Phillips.
With collaborative assistance from: Andrzej Bochnacki, Eric Angus, Daniel Phillips
And a special thanks to: Josephine Hass, Henry John, Chris Mills, Shannen Muhl, Jag Sharma, James Torcov,  the employees and engineers of the UBC Powerhouse.


The North View Gallery is open 8–4pm Monday–Friday and 11–4pm Saturday, and is located on the Portland Community College campus. For more information please visit their website.