Germaine Koh: League Nanaimo
Nanaimo Art Gallery, Nanaimo, BC - To Oct 5
Led by Vancouver/Salt Spring Island– based artist Germaine Koh, League Nanaimo is an exhibition and public program that takes the architectures of sport as its visual starting point. As in most sports, a league or governing body both sets and enforces the rules. Governance in this instance is not by a city council, but by Nanaimo’s participant citizenry. They are the ones who decide the terms of engagement and the desired outcome.
In a nifty bit of exhibition design, entrance to the gallery displays proceeds along a narrow corridor, similar to the tunnels athletes pass through on their way to the arena or stadium floor. Upon arrival, visitors are met not with a raucous audience but with an array of recognizable shapes and colours that bring to mind the surface of a hockey arena and/or a basketball court. Objects in the sculptural vignettes at times bear a striking resemblance to weapons gladiators used in the days of Ancient Rome (in one instance, a civic traffic arrow attached to a broomstick becomes a javelin), while other vignettes appear closer to rainy day board games.
One such “board game” is Swatches. Attached to the wall is a stack of six metal shelves. Players divide among themselves a selection of 2 x 3 inch paint swatches and take turns placing them. During the installation of the exhibition, Koh saw me sifting through the swatches and asked if I’d like to play. “How does it work?” I asked, and Koh replied, “It’s simple. You go first.”
