Inferno. Courtesy of the artist.
I’m sitting in the studio of multi-media artist Edwin Janzen in the Visual Arts Department at the University of Ottawa. Currently completing a Master’s in Fine Arts degree, Janzen has invited me into his workspace to talk about his thesis exhibition, Guys in Caves, currently on view at the Diefenbunker.
Surrounded by piles of video and audio equipment (and resisting the urge to play with the remote-control helicopter sitting in the corner), we spend some time talking about the Diefenbunker as an exhibition space and the militarization of art, language, and culture - from the Cold War to present day.
D: Thanks for having me here, Edwin. First off, I’d love to know how you landed the Diefenbunker as a site for your show, Guys in Caves. How did that come about?
E: It was a fortuitous string of events. I was TAing for a museum studies course where the professor invited local curators and directors of various institutions to come and give talks to the students. One of the speakers was Alexandra Badzak, who used to be the director at the Diefenbunker and now she’s director of the Ottawa Art Gallery. I asked her whether the Diefenbunker might be available to have an art show and she came for a studio visit, was intrigued by the work, and agreed to hold it there. The work has since changed a lot since what I had initially showed her, but many of the themes are still the same.
D: For someone who hasn’t seen your work how would you describe it?
E: In terms of the media that I’m using - it’s all over the place. There are video and audio components, an olfactory component, neon signage and plastic signage (door-name plates). There are four installations in this exhibition that cross over these different media.
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