[PHOTO] A display of some illuminated pages of the 1901 science fiction apocalypse The Purple Cloud

[rfmcdonald]

This eerily lit display of pages from the 1901 science fiction apocalypse The Purple Cloud are part of Charles Stankievech's LOVELAND installlation. Canadian Art describes it as follows.

With conceptual ties to a monumental 1968 abstraction by American painter Jules Olitski and an obscure 1901 science-fiction dystopia titled The Purple Cloud, the work weaves an immersive narrative centred on a large-scale video projection depicting an ominous cloud of purple smoke drifting across a barren arctic landscape; the cloud moves slowly toward, and then rushes past, the viewer with visceral affect. Shot on the Bering Sea—a site of increasing international contention over massive oil reserves— LOVELANDdraws meaningful if cautionary connections between environmental extremes and complex fantasies.

The installation was on display in Charlottetown's Confederation Centre art gallery, as part of the Oh Canada exhibition.