Hit List via Akimbo

This is a bit old but I printed it out and saved it because I liked it so much...thanks  to Elizabeth Zvonar for offering up her thoughts.

via akimbo 

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Hit List

Elizabeth Zvonar

Artist
Vancouver

Elizabeth Zvonar has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as the Contemporary Art Gallery, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, Artspeak Gallery and Western Front Gallery all in Vancouver; Cohan and Leslie, New York; Sign Gaienmae Gallery, Tokyo; and at Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Belgium. In 2008 Zvonar was the inaugural artist at the Malaspina Print Research Residency and an artist in residence at the Banff Centre for Cosmic Ray Research (a thematic residency led by Janice Kerbel). On Time, her exhibition of sculpture and collage, is currently on view at the Contemporary Art Gallery. She will be included in the upcoming Mercer Union group exhibition Days of the Eclipse, opening in late January 2010. Zvonar lives and works in Vancouver.

1. Manners & Memory

As the years pass, I am increasingly aware of how very impressed I am when I have social encounters that I come away from energized simply because those I am interacting with are polite. Not in a mannered or calculating way but from a place of personal confidence and thoughtful sincerity. These are highly attractive and productive ways of being that have more to do with being self aware and cognizant of the symbiotic nature of the world we live in together, than with who you know and where you went to school. The importance of memory makes good manners richer. Too often I am equally stunned by civil encounters that preference social amnesia as a method of navigating the real world, the art world, and the world of simple daily tasks that require routine interactions. I am acutely aware of my surroundings and am aware that as individuals, our lives are complex but like it or not, we are all in this together. Here’s to counteracting the death of civility through conscientiousness, generosity, gratitude and being open.

2. Feminism

Feminism never went away and now it really is on the vanguard of social consciousness. Each decade or so, feminism’s definition becomes more expansive and inclusive making for a stronger foothold on culture. Like any good philosophical, social, and political moment, feminism is constantly evolving and redefining itself, and more people are embracing this as a social movement. Kate Davis and Faith Wilding’s The Long Loch, Where Do We Go From Here (coming up April 2010) is a project that asks the five Ws of feminism, rooting its past to make a path for its future all in conjunction with CCA Glasgow and the Glasgow Women’s Library. For some fresh perspectives on the subject, their project, the Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics reading room will be available online any day now through a yet unreleased blog tentatively titled Lines of Flight in Art and Politics.

3. Intuition/Clarity

I have spent a lot of time watching and learning from others and I have come to realize that the act of observing coupled with an attention to listening are two skills I have honed over the years that are integral to a keen sense of intuition. Intuition never fails but only educated intuition can give a deep sense of clarity. I love it when people say what they mean and mean what they say. There is integrity in clarity of thought and value of meaning and when it comes from a place where a person is confident and happy with who they are, it makes for potential in culture.

4. Hearing

I have a rotating list of favorite stations and podcasts to listen to including the recently added Feminsting and the always educational This American Life. One of my recent favorites for awesome playlists in VanCity has got to be, without a doubt, Radio Zero; listen live on Fridays on UBC’s radio station CiTR. Want to travel far away? Try Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 and if you don’t like her selections, try another DJ from the BBC Radio 1, the choice is extensive.

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