Joar Nango & Ken Are Bongo, Post-Capitalist Architecture-TV: Ravine Screenings
5 – 17 May 2022
in collaboration with
Toronto Biennial of Art (TBA) and Evergreen Brick Works
with the support of ArtworxTO
Sunday, May 15 2022: Screening of past episodes of Post-Capitalist Architecture-TV in the outdoor courtyard of 72 Perth Avenue, Toronto beginning just before dusk at 8:30 pm.
Monday, May 16 2022: Screening of newly commissioned episode of Post-Capitalist Architecture-TV in the Don Valley ravine just before dusk at 8:30 pm. Location of screening here: https://thegoldfarbgallery.ca/project/ravine-screening-location/
Joar Nango & Ken Are Bongo, Post-Capitalist Architecture-TV: episode 3, 2020, video still
Toronto’s ravine system was both location and subject for Joar Nango and Ken Are Bongo’s artwork Ravine Screenings jointly commissioned and presented by AGYU, Evergreen, and TBA.
Nango is an artist and architect and Bongo a filmmaker and producer who collaboratively produce Post-Capitalist Architecture-TV, a thematic video series exploring Indigenous architectures from Sámi fishing huts to their nomadic environments through to defining, questioning, and embodying decoloniality as a global manifestation. The TV series began in 2020 following Nango’s travels across northern Norway in an aging and modified cargo van as he interviewed Indigenous scholars, artists, and architects, staged performances for the camera, and held screenings for live audiences. Currently there are 5 episodes which address a variety of themes such as nomadism and flow, the resource economy, and decolonization and architecture.
Ravine Screenings built on Post-Capitalist Architecture-TV, producing a Canadian episode set in the Black Creek Ravine and the Don Valley. The TV episode continued the series’ variety show format, featuring interviews, performances, and screenings that encapsulate and document the research, artwork, and lifestyle of local artists and architects.
The production and ethos of the series as a whole is emblematic of Nango’s relational and improvisational approach to making artwork, which begins socially and then builds into a sharing of skills and the development of platforms for knowledge sharing. An engagement with Indigenous people in the region Nango is working is integral to his methodology, learning local histories through interactions with artists, writers, and architects. As such, Ravine Screenings developed and unfolded from May 5 to May 17 as Nango and Bongo explored the ravines and met locals. This production culminated in two events that took place at TBA’s Perth Street site and within a site specific installation and gathering space constructed by Nango in the ravine system in the Don Valley.
Joar Nango is a process-based artist, working within the provisional nature of sculpture, performance, and architecture. He is an artist, architect, builder, publisher, and host. He lives and works in Tromsø, Norway. He is Sámi, belonging to the Indigenous peoples from Sápmi, the traditional Sámi territory. He has exhibited widely, most recently presenting a large-scale solo exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall, Norway. He has participated in exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada, Tensta Konsthall, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens.
Ken Are Bongo is a film director, cinematographer, and editor. He comes from the Sámi village Guovdageaidnu and graduated from Nordland Art and Film School in Kabelvåg. He has been working in film and TV since 2006, and recently produced the short fictional film Wolf in 2018 which premiered at the Reykjavík International Film Festival. Other credits include Hvem ringer? (TV Mini-Series) (1 episode), 2020; Ara Marumaru (short) 2018; and Biegga savkala duoddariid duohken lea soames (short), 2007.
Evergreen’s Public Art program is a series of curated and temporary public art projects that respond to the Indigenous, cultural, ecological, and industrial histories of the Evergreen Brick Works site and surrounding ravine system. This project is made possible with the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
The Toronto Biennial of Art is Canada’s leading visual arts event focused exclusively on contemporary art from around the world. For 10 weeks every two years, local, national, and international Biennial artists transform Toronto and its partner regions with free exhibitions, performances, and learning opportunities. Grounded in diverse local contexts, the Biennial’s city-wide programming aims to inspire individuals, engage communities, and contribute to global conversations.
This event was financially assisted by the City of Toronto, the Government of Ontario, and the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.