Ice Follies 2008

Duncan Macdonald, Melissa Smith, Derek Knight, H. O. M. E. S: Expedition Model, 2008

Materials: Ice hut, fabrene tarp, and aluminum poles.

Duncan MacDonald, Melissa Smith, and Derek knight are a recently formed collective of artists from St. Catherines. For Ice Follies they created a research station in the form Im an inflatable iceberg. Their pseudo-organization, The Great Lakes Institute, officially proclaimed Lake Nipissing a great lake on February 23rd, 2008. This pseudo-scientific group create a socially engaged space we are viewers were encouraged to contribute to cultural, biological, and social experiments on a daily basis. Each participant left an object or a story or a comment in a large multi-layered filing cabinet. These momentos were later used to create statistics and research details for the group. The name of this work is H. O. M. E. S: Expedition Model. The acronym stands for: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior, and the station became a battered wind-blown example of what nature will do to scientific observers. Although it was removed in late March, the research station was meant to have an afterlife as a floating observation unit on Lake Ontario.

Artist Bio:

Duncan MacDonald is a contemporary interdisciplinary artist who works with audio, performance, video, photography, drawing, and diverse media to explore the uncanny and the commodification of the corporeal sensorium. MacDonald has taught at both The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and Brock University. He has taught drawing, foundation, art history, cultural theory, interdisciplinary studio, video art, intermedia, interdisciplinary workshop, sculpture, and audio art. His artworks have been exhibited, performed, and recorded throughout Canada, the US, Europe, and South America. Collaborators on this project with MacDonald, Melissa Smith, and Derek Knight work as artists and educators in the St. Catherines region of Ontario. Derek Knight teaches at Brock University and Melissa Smith teaches at Ridley College.