Choice Interface Jeremy Pavka & Sean Procyk
In August 2015 Jeremy Pavka and Sean Procyk travelled to the Peace River Country of Northern Alberta to experience and document a range of off-the-grid living practices. Approaching the project from the framework of do-it-yourself instructional film-making, the two captured their activities within the land-based bush camp. By assuming the role of the amateur and attempting to reclaim autonomy through a process of practical learning, the artists had developed a process which reflects the stance that patterns of consumption have disempowered individuals from pursuing self-reliant practice and sovereign modes of being.
The works in this exhibition present their newly formed collaborative identity using moving image, installation and sound-based works.
About the Artists
Sean Procyk builds immersive, site-specific installations using reclaimed materials, light, sound and video. His work addresses notions of site-specificity, alternative living tactics and audiovisual musical performance. His work has recently been presented at Elemental Festival, Kagawong; Convergence Conference on Art and Technology, Banff; Factory Media Centre, Hamilton; Ingenuity Festival, Cleveland and Nuit Blanche, Toronto. He holds a degree in Fine Arts from McMaster University, a Bachelor of Architecture from Carleton University and a Master’s of Fine Arts from OCAD University.
Jeremy Pavka is an interdisciplinary visual artist based in Calgary, Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta College of Art + Design and has exhibited works across Canada, the Pacific North West, & Havana, Cuba. He has been in two television commercials but is not currently commercially represented.
About the Writer
Angela Marie Schenstead is an artist and writer, originally from Saskatchewan. She earned a Fine Art Diploma from Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton (2003), and a Bachelor of Fine Art in Ceramics from Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary (2007). She has been a resident artist at Medalta, Medicine Hat (2007); Bruno Arts Bank, Bruno (2011); and Common Opulence, Demmitt (2015). Her art work can be found between the pages of kimiwan ‘zine (issues one and seven), and she has written essays for Contemporary Calgary, Art Gallery of Alberta, and Studio Magazine. In 2012, she was included in the group exhibition Indigeneity, The Works Festival (Main Tent), Edmonton; and independently curated Fire which featured works by Brenda Draney and Jewel Shaw, Stride Gallery, Calgary. Since 2007, she has been a team member of Visual + Digital Arts at The Banff Centre, Banff–where she is currently based. She is also an avid hiker and yoga practitioner, and is happiest walking in the bush or swimming in fresh water.
Documentation by Yuula Benivolski