FAREWELL, HELIOSHPERE!

FAREWELL, HELIOSPHERE!  is an
installation by Christine Canepa, and will be on view at Right Window through
June 2011. It is a cover of General Idea’s installation Fin de Siecle, which was on view at SFMOMA in 1993. Like a
musician covering another artist’s song, she has reinterpreted and rearranged
General Idea’s piece, as both a humble homage, and adding her own layers of
meaning. Replacing their 3 harp seals with a polar bear (another endangered
animal), she is considering their ideas about extinction and endangerment.
Endings have been a reoccurring theme in Canepa’s work. What happens to lives,
events, relationships, or matter when they are no longer in the present
temporal/spatial dimension is something she has explored in various bodies of
work over the years.  Sadly, polar
bears will be gone in 50-100 years, according to author Richard Ellis. Beyond
endangered, polar bears are facing imminent extinction.  It is time to say goodbye.
 
General Idea are AA Bronson,
Felix Partz, and Jorge Zontal. The latter two have since died from AIDS, while
Bronson continues to work as an artist.