Terminal will present the work of Jillian Mcdonald from October 1 – November 2, 2012 in its physical space in the APSU Woodward Library.
“I incorporate performance into videos, installations, and participatory artworks. My work examines popular film genres such as romance or horror in relation to their effect on audiences and devotees. Whereas earlier works deal with “celebrity” and the misplaced intimacy fans imagine with their silver screen idols, recent works focus on American horror films. Unlike contemporary horror film directors, I avoid extreme gore and violence in favour of stripped down narrative and archetypes. Research plays an important role in my work, and to that end my process includes reading film theory, watching popular films, and exploring fan culture.”
Hunger (2012) by Jillian Mcdonald from kate armstrong on Vimeo.
Bio:
Jillian Mcdonald is a Canadian artist who divides her time between New York and Canada. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Pace University, where she also co-directs the Pace Digital Gallery. In 2007 she ran a marathon. In 2011 she became a mom. Some of her favourite people are strangers, and she is deeply in love with the north, the ocean, and fog. Since 2006 she has watched an unhealthy amount of horror films, or a healthy amount, depending upon who you ask.
Recent solo shows and projects include Moti Hasson Gallery and Jack the Pelican Presents in New York; The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and Rosenthal Gallery in San Francisco; Hallwalls in Buffalo; vertexList Gallery and ArtMoving Projects in Brooklyn; La Sala Narañja in Valencia, Spain; YYZ in Toronto; Video Pool in Winnipeg; and Edge Media in Newfoundland. Group exhibitions and festivals featuring her work include The Edith Russ Haus for Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany, The Krannert Museum in Illinois; MMOCA in Wisconsin, The Whitney Museum’s Artport, Year Zero One in Toronto, Manifestation d’Art Internationale de Québec, 404 International Festival of Electronic Art in Argentina, The Sundance Online Film Festival in Utah, The Cleveland International Performance Art Festival, La Biennale de Montréal, ISEA in Estonia, and the Centre d’Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie in France.
Mcdonald has received grants from The New York Foundation for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts, Soil New Media, Turbulence.org, The Verizon Foundation, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Experimental Television Center, and Pace University. She lectures regularly about her work and has attended numerous residencies including The Headlands Center for the Arts in California, Lilith Performance Studio in Sweden, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace Program in New York, The Western Front in Vancouver, The Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, La Chambre Blanche in Québec, and The Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta. In 2012 she will represent Canada at the Glenfiddich international residency in Dufftown, Scotland.
Mcdonald’s work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art Papers, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Border Crossings, and The Village Voice, among others. A discussion of her work appears in several books including Better Off Dead, edited by Sarah Juliet Lauro, Stalking by Bran Nicol, and Art and the Subway by Tracy Fitzpatrick.
