Blood, Sweat, Tears

The exhibition Blood, Sweat, Tears is co-curated by Isabelle and Sophie Lynch, winners of the 2016 Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators. Blood, Sweat, Tears raises urgent, enduring questions about labour and the body. How is value created and extracted from labouring bodies? How can we re-think notions of work and productivity? How can bodies move and interact with space and materials? Through the work of contemporary artists working in drawing, video, performance, and installation, this exhibition focuses on the human body’s relationship to work and the subjective dimensions of productive and unproductive labour.

A marble rolls down a ramp and nudges a toy car. The car races down a tube, crashing into a chain of dominoes. The final domino falls and turns on a fan that extinguishes a candle. This is an example of a Rube Goldberg machine, a complex contraption that executes simple tasks in an overly complicated manner.

Kids (8 and up) will build a Rube Goldberg machine at AGG. The activity will be an exercise in working together and will engage with the themes of the Blood, Sweat and Tears exhibition, including notions of productivity and alternative ways of doing and making. All materials provided. Limited space. Register by contacting info@artgalleryofguelph.ca. Parents are encouraged to participate.

Image detail: Kerry Downey and Joanna Seitz, still from To Do List, 2012-14 (Single channel video; time: 17:26, featuring Jen Rosenblit)