A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe: An Intergalactice Reading Room
by Véronique Sunatori
Curator: Jaclyn Quaresma
September 13, 2019 - December 8, 2019
A single artwork and an accompanying reading room together compose the exhibition, A Little Larger Than The Entire Universe: An Intergalactic Reading Room. The artwork, It Will Come Like a Wave (2018) by Japanese-Quebecois artist Véronique Sunatori, consists of multiple wooden platforms that when placed together create a landscape.
| Image | Véronique Sunaroti, It Will Come Like A Wave (detail), 2018. Installation.
It Will Come Like a Wave (2018) is as much as an inward landscape as it is an otherworldly garden. Veronique, who is currently living in Toronto, Ontario was inspired by the Zen gardens of Japan. Like traditional zen gardens, this one has elements of water, stone and plant-life. These elements combine to create the essence or feeling of nature, but not to recreate nature itself.
Each time Véronique offers the viewer something recognizable she places another object a little more real or a little less fake nearby. This landscape has been designed to provoke deep reflection and meditation.
Situated alongside It Will Come Like a Wave is a collection of science fiction compiled in an intergalactic, intersectional, trans-inclusive feminist reading room. These stories make space for open, lively worlds beyond the one we inhabit and help us to reflect upon our own. A Little Larger Than The Entire Universe: An Intergalactic Reading Room offers multiple imaginaries that speculate the possibility of manifold futures. It Will Come Like a Wave plays host to writings that reconstruct the present, imagining what may come from environmental, social and political change in the future.
The artwork arrives in Durham after being exhibited in Montreal, Mississauga and Toronto. Each version of the installation varies from the previous: the arrangements are altered to suit their current location. In this way, the unfolding landscape is the same and utterly different for each iteration. Navigating through the garden causes one to slow their pace, to acknowledge the vulnerability of the fabricated environment in the Gallery, of our greater environment, of oneself, and of each other. It is for this reason, that we are honoured to pair Words Aloud Words and Storytelling Festival with A Little Larger Than The Entire Universe.
A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe is presented as a part of the Words Aloud Words and Story Telling Festival.
The opening reception took place Friday, September 13, 2019 from 6 - 8 PM.
Events
September 13, 2019
6 - 8PM
Opening Reception
7PM
QUIET RURAL READING RIOT
Reading Series of Children & Youth
October 24, 2019
6 - 7:30 PM
RURAL READING RIOT
This free program will start off with a tour of the current exhibition. We will then settle into the reading room to discuss "It Can Grow!" by Trish Salah from the anthology MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE: Science Fiction and Fantacy from Transgender Writers ed. by Cat Fitzpatrick and Casey Plett, while we munch on some goodies!
October 25, 2019
2 - 3:30 PM
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS: SQUISH
Inspired by our current exhibition, we'll be squishing along and having some fun with fast drying clay, dyes and plants!
November 1, 2019
10 - 12 PM
WORKSHOP with Buddy Wakefield
READING with Alicia Elliott
At The Harmony Centre, Owen Sound
November 1, 2019
1:30PM
PERFORMANCE with Prufrock Shadowrunner, Lishai Peel, and Buddy Wakefield
At M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre
November 1, 2019
7:30 PM
At The Harmony Centre
Bus pickup:
6:15 PM
Durham Town Hall
6:40 PM
Williamsford Pie Company
Return:
Bus will depart from the Harmony Centre in Owen Sound at 10 PM
November 2, 2019
10 - 12PM
WORKSHOP with Charlie Petch
At Durham Town Hall
November 2, 2019
2 - 4PM
WORKSHOP Prufrock Shadowrunner
At Durham Town Hall
November 2, 2019
7:30 PM
PERFORMANCES by Coco Love Alcorn, 'yes' the poet (estefania alfonso falcon), and Ruth Daniell
At Durham Art Gallery
Bus pickup:
6:15 PM
The Bayshore Community Centre
6:40 PM
Williamsford Pie Company
Return:
Bus will depart from the Durham Art Gallery at 10 PM
November 3, 2019
9 - 12 PM
WORKSHOP with ‘yes ‘the poet
At Coffin Ridge, Annan
1PM
PERFORMANCES by Greg Santos, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, and Charlie Petch
At Coffin Ridge, Annan
Bus pickup:
11:10 AM
Durham Town Hall
11:35AM
Williamsford Pie Company
12:00 PM
Bayshore Community Centre, Owen Sound
Return:
Bus will depart from Coffin Ridge Winery in Annan at 4 PM, stopping at the Bayshore Community Centre, Williamsford Pie Company & Durham Town Hall
November 14, 2019
6 - 7:30 PM
RURAL READING RIOT
This free program will start off with a tour of the current exhibition. We will then settle into the reading room to discuss "Né łe!" by Darcie Little Badger from the anthology Love Beyond Body, Space and Time: An Indigenous LGBT Sci-fi Anthology ed. by Hope Nicholson, while we munch on some goodies!
November 22, 2019
1 - 2:30 PM
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS: SQUISH
Inspired by our current exhibition, we'll be squishing along and having some fun with fast drying clay, dyes and plants! This fun class is all about creative exploration.
