The exhibition in the Foundry Art Centre, Missouri, marks Campbell’s first international show and comprises a range of sculptural installations, photographic works, and video projections.
The overarching theme of the exhibition We Made (Pretend) Plans considers the ways that urban environments are manipulated and shaped. Her process of apprehending inscriptions and boundary marks found on site transpires into artworks which explore patterns of impermanence, perpetuated by technological developments in the production of space. The exhibition takes its somewhat playful title from Campbell’s practice of reorganizing spaces into performative zones, using codes such as floor plans and clearance zones.
Collectively, the works attest to a mapping of socially contentious zones. They invite viewers to examine the signs, patterns, and social behaviours that define cities which are in a state of rapid urbanization and continual transition, due in part, to the age-old relationship between capital and city building. Some of the works contemplate the contentious impact of rezoning, a municipal land-use planning tool, which has the potential to segregate certain demographics while inadvertently marginalizing or displacing others.
The impetus for this body of work is partly derived from investigations conducted by urban planner Kevin Lynch, as discussed in The Image of the City (1960), where he identified five elements common to everyone’s mental map of their city: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. In this respect, We Made (Pretend) Plans is an exhibition that pays tribute to the urban theorist and his belief that “the form of a city… must invite its viewers to explore the world.”
Gallery III of the Foundry Art Centre, 520 North Main Center, St. Charles, Missouri
Friday, May 31st – Friday, July 12th, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday, May 31st, 6-8pm
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Susan Campbell 