G.Amani

2010-09-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

Stained

2002-07-27T13:59:00.001-07:00

In Iranian culture the use of henna has been documented as far back as the Ghaznavid Empire which existed from 975 to 1187. Henna is generally applied to the skin in intricate patterns that reference the artists own style as well as regional and cultural heritage, along with personal taste and social class. It is said the more intricate and darker the stain the more wealth and privilege is implied. It wasn't until European travelers chronicled their disdain for the practice, describing the stained hands and feet as dirty or filthy, that the art form fell from trend in common Iranian practices.

Henna is predominantly a feminine practice of ornamenting the skin in order to make it more sexually appealing. It is very difficult to apply henna to ones self, therefore the stain is often applied to the body by another person, in harems or womenʼs hammams (baths). Many Persian poets and painters have admired the beauty of hennaed hands and bodies. Traditionally meant for young women, at times, highly valued horses and dogs of high pedigree where stained red with henna paste and on the odd occasion older men.

Hanna not only has medicinal purposes as a pain killer, anti-inflammatory and natural sunscreen but is also used to ward off the evil eye when painted on before being betrothed, giving birth and even as part of preparatory ceremonies for war and rebellion.

My performance includes the preparation of the henna paste and the application of it to my body. The green mud covers all the areas of my body that I can reach. I stain my skin, then wash the mud off and reapply for a darker stain. This gesture is performed at a at a distance from my audience. In my own private space, I embody this ritual as an act of reclamation.

Others

2002-07-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

"The photograph is not merely a visual image awaiting interpretation; it is itself actively interpreting, sometimes forcibly so...." Judith Butler

As an extension of the work thisisaviolentgesture.blogspot.com, this double-sided educational poster is part of an ongoing investigation of highly employed Internet databases like Google and Wikipedia..

Photo by Francisco Fernando Granados

Photo by Anne Cottinham

Hammock Free School

2002-07-27T13:58:00.000-07:00


Visit Our Website

As part of my artist residency at The Hammock I facilitated a temporary free school in the Hammock community of East Vancouver. Hammock Free School was a laboratory of non-hierarchical collective art production. At the Hammock Free School one can freely and organically inform themselves through access to a variety of resources. Workshops, research groups, experiments, lessons, reading lists, instructions, discussion groups, open studios, presentations, and field trips, are some of the pedagogical tools we use to carry out investigations in knowledge production and distribution. Hammock Free School examines the relationship between social art practices, scholarship and the community with a focus on social practice, artist-run space and local experience, .

Watch Our Videos

The Hammock Artist Residency is the initiative of well known Vancouver based artist Heidi Nagtegaal. Since 2006, the Hammock Residency has invited and worked with a variety of artists, providing numerous resources to help artist realize their ideas. Located in East Vancouver, Hammock is a place that offers ” space to focus on the process of making art”. But more importantly the Hammock Residency, “is a community hub, happenstance event space and a good space to let things happen. It’s the spaces between the thoughts that inform the thoughts, and ultimately the art object.”

Hammock Free School took place at various locations in the East Vancouver area from May 25th to June 30th, 2011.

The Artist, Balcone and Hammock Artist Residency would like to acknowledge the City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia and ArtsBC for supporting this project.

This Is A Violent Gesture

2002-07-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

This work is part of an ongoing investigation of highly employed Internet databases like Google and Wikipedia.

http://thisisaviolentgesture.blogspot.com/

Google's policy states, "

Google search works because it relies on the millions of individuals posting links on websites to help determine which other sites offer content of value. We assess the importance of every web page using more than 200 signals and a variety of techniques, including our patented PageRank™ algorithm, which analyzes which sites have been "voted" to be the best sources of information by other pages across the web. As the web gets bigger, this approach actually improves, as each new site is another point of information and another vote to be counted. In the same vein, we are active in open source software development, where innovation takes place through the collective effort of many programmers."

All the following sentences are taken from Wikipedia.

The term [cyborg] was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. The cyborg is often seen today merely as an organism that has enhanced abilities due to technology. A cyborg does not require a stable, essentialist identity...as they subvert the idea of naturalness and of artificiality; the cyborg is a hybrid being. Cyborgs not only disrupt orderly power structures and fixed interests but also signify a challenge to settled politics, which assumes that binary oppositions or identities are natural distinctions. Actually those oppositions are cultural constructions. People should undermine these hierarchies by actively exploring and mobilizing the blurring of borders. According to some definitions of the term, the metaphysical and physical attachments humanity has with even the most basic technologies have already made them cyborgs. More broadly, the full term "cybernetic organism" is used to describe larger networks of communication and control. Haraway's conclusion: "We are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs".

An interface is a point of interaction between two systems or work groups. In the manufacturing environment, the interaction and coordination between a number of work groups communicate plans and control production activity. Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia is currently the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet. Cyberformance refers to live theatrical performances in which remote participants are enabled to work together in real time through the medium of the internet, employing technologies such as chat applications or purpose-built, multiuser, real-time collaborative software such as UpStage. In some cases cyberformance may be considered a subset of net art; however, many cyberformance artists use what is termed 'mixed reality' or 'mixed space' for their work, linking physical, virtual, and cyber spaces in manifold ingenious ways. The internet is often a subject and inspiration of the work as well as being the central enabling technology.Information art (or 'informatism' ) is an emerging field of electronic art that synthesizes computer science, information technology, and more classical forms of art, including performance art, visual art, new media art and conceptual art. Information Art often includes interaction with computers that generate artistic content based on the processing of large amounts of data.

Knowledge transfer in the fields of organizational development and organizational learning is the practical problem of transferring knowledge from one part of the organization to another (or all other) part(s) of the organization. Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Visual analytics focuses on human interaction with visualization systems as part of a larger process of data analysis. Its focus is on human information discourse (interaction) within massive, dynamically changing information spaces.

Imaging is the representation or reproduction of an object's outward form; especially a visual representation (i.e., the formation of an image). The use of visual representations to transfer knowledge between at least two persons aims to improve the transfer of knowledge by using computer and non-computer based visualization methods complementary. While information visualization concentrates on the use of computer-supported tools to derive new insights, knowledge visualization focuses on transferring insights and creating new knowledge in groups. Beyond the mere transfer of facts, knowledge visualization aims to further transfer insights, experiences, attitudes, values, expectations, perspectives, opinions, and predictions.

The Preservation Project

2001-12-17T10:05:00.000-08:00

Preservation \Pres`er*va"tion\, n. [Cf. F. pr['e]servation.]

The act or process of preserving, or keeping safe; the state of being preserved, or kept from injury, destruction, or decay; security; safety; as, preservation of life, fruit, game, etc.; a picture in good preservation.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

As an ongoing web-based photographic survey,these discarded plastic forms speak to our ideas of preservation as well as our relationship to our environment.

http://preservedshit.blogspot.com/

After Francis Alys: Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing

2001-11-26T18:09:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes making something leads to nothing, sometimes making nothing leads to something."
Francis Alys

Rotten Stoning

2001-10-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

Exploring the gestures and texts of critical race feminism with the change for interaction.

Hannah

2001-10-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

Experiments in collective darkroom photography.

Cyborg

2001-10-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

This work is part of an ongoing investigation of highly employed Internet databases like Google and Wikipedia.

Cyborg is a collaboration with Lancia Lefevbre.

GarageBand is a software application that allows users to create music or podcasts. GarageBand has a standard multi-track drag-and-drop interface where different (pre-) recorded sections, or loops, are strung together on separate tracks. The program comes with pre-made loops to speed up song creation. GarageBand uses two types of media: software instruments (either recorded from GarageBand or imported from MIDI files), and real instruments (either recorded or imported audio files).

Open Sound Jam

2001-10-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Experiments in collective sound making.
SoundJam from gamani on Vimeo.

Plant Adoption

2001-10-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Painted Dave

2001-10-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Stalking Stalkers

2001-10-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

Plucked

2001-10-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

In Farsi we have a saying, "kill me but make me beautiful".

As an endurance performance, I plucked individual hairs out of my entire face until all my facial hair was removed.

Impressions: Portraits

2001-10-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

This is a series of images that speak to the notions of mark-making using photographic materials. In examining the various connotation of the word "impression", I have asked numerous participants to impress themselves on a 4x5 negative. Intended to be printed as their portraits,I encourage the subject to develop an unconventional material relationship with the film that speaks to who they are. While all the images are different, it is the subtle nuances that stand out in the final collection of photographs. These works are hung so that the reflection of the viewer is seen in the high gloss of the mounted photographs.

Links

2001-09-30T16:51:00.000-07:00

http://thisisaviolentgesture.blogspot.com/

http://thingsimnotproudofhavingsaid.blogspot.com/

http://preservedshit.blogspot.com/

http://photostreamofconsciousness.blogspot.com/

Monuments

2001-09-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

Blueprint

2001-09-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

Blueprint No. 3 is part of a series of body photograms that speak to the corporeal relationships with photographic representations. Using cyanotype, rag paper and a tanning bed to documenting the performative process, this series speaks to alternative ways of mapping the female body.

100 West Hastings Block

2001-09-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

Works

2001-09-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

Stained

Others

Hammock Free School

After Francis Alys: Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing

This is a Violent Gesture

The Preservation Project

Plant Adoption

Impressions: Portraits

Rotten Stoning

Plucked

Blueprint

Sound Jam

Hannah

100 West Hastings Block

Stalking Stalkers

Monuments

CONTACT

2001-09-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

gamani80@gmail.com

NEWS

2001-09-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

STAINED
http://livebiennale.blogspot.com/2011/09/day-8-itinerent-panopticon.html
http://livebiennale.blogspot.com/2011/09/peotry-battles-drag.html

OTHERS
http://vancouverisawesome.com/tag/golboo-amani/

HAMMOCK FREE SCHOOL

http://www.heidi-nagtegaal.com/hr/index.cfm?pg=upcoming

CV

2001-09-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Golboo Amani

gamani80@gmail.com

Education

2010 BFA - Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design (Photography)

Group Exhibitions

2011

Stained 2011 Performance. LIVE Biennial, 221A Artist Run Centre, Vancouver B.C.

Others: Nationalities (from http://thisisaviolentgesture.blogspot.com) 2011 Poster. I (Heart) Canada & Canada (Heart) Me, SWARM Festival, 221A Artist Run Centre, Vancouver

After Francis Alys: Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing 2011 Performance. Under Covers, ArtBank, Vancouver B.C.

The Preservation Project (from http://preservedshit.blogspot.com) 2011 Postcards. Vancouver: A Pretty Shitty City, ArtBank, Vancouver B.C.

2010

Plant Adoption 2010 Installation. Backyard Music Festival, Hammock Residency. Vancouver, B.C.

Tiffed 2010 Performance, Installation Lido Gallery, Emily Carr University External Photo Grad Show Vancouver

Impression Series (Portraits: Lancia, Helen, Anne, Pirooz, Mayan) 2010 Silver gelatin on aluminum

& (Transcriptions: I, ii, iii, iv) Black & white negative film with typewriter ink Curated by Liz Magor Concourse Gallery, Emily Carr University. Graduation Exhibition, Vancouver B.C.

Blueprint Test No.2 2009 Cyanotype on rag paper VSAG, Emily Carr University, Winter Salon, Vancouver B.C.

Hanna 1, 2, 3, 4 2007 - 2009 Silver gelatin Concourse Gallery, Emily Carr University, Free Candy, Vancouver

Blue Print No.3, 2009 Cyanotype on rag paper Concourse Gallery Emily Carr University, Body Bodice, , Vancouver B.C.

2009

Blue Print No.3, 2009 Cyanotype on rag paper Concourse Gallery Emily Carr University, Analogue: Panchromatic Pleasures. Vancouver B.C.

Curatorial Work

2011

Under Covers, ArtBank, Vancouver B.C.

Pretty Shitty City, ArtBank, Vancouver B.C.

2010

ECUAD External Photo Grad Show, Lido Gallery, Vancouver B.C.

2007

Uprising Books, Rise to the Most High Community Art Show, Toronto Ontario Co-Facilitator

2006

Uprising Books, Embracing Roots Community Art Show, Toronto Ontario

2005

Thymeless Bar, Kaleidoscope: A Community Art Show, Toronto Ontario Co-Facilitator

Awards/Grants/Fellowships

2009 Christopher Foundation Scholarship

Residencies

2011

Hammock Residency Artist in Residency, Hammock Free School, Vancouver

Publications
2011
Dong, Chun Hua Catherine & Rzepka,Ek, We Give a Shit Because We Care (Vol. 1 of An Encyclopedic Introduction to the Fulfilling Science of Excrement). Unit/Pitt & Publication Studio Vancouver ( 2011): 14-16.

Reviews
2011
Cottinham, Anne. The Opening, http://vancouverisawesome.com, Aug. 25, 2011
Klassen, Lois. Poetry Battles - The Drag, http://livebiennale.blogspot.com, Sept. 23, 2011

Related Professional Activities
2010

Cheaper Show Cashier & Art Handler, Vancouver

Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival, Toronto

LIVE Procession of Performing Circles by Glenn Lewis. Contributing Artist

Western Front Event Staff

2009

Kristina Lee Podesva, Artist Assistant, Vancouver

WOO –Emily Carr University, Alternative Programming Facilitator

2008

Centre A, Contributing Artist, TentEvent: Generating Exchange, Vancouver

2006

Rococo Ltd., Toronto, Ontario Advertising, Promotion & Catalogue Photography

Concept development, Shoot and Edit Fall/Winter Line

Rococo Ltd., Toronto, Montreal Photographer Toronto & Montreal Fashion Week

Rococo Ltd., Toronto, Ontario Advertising, Promotion & Catalogue Photography

Concept development, Shoot and Edit Spring/Summer Line

2004

York Region School Board, Art Workshops, Markham Ontario

Golboo Amani

2001-09-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Golboo Amani, a graduate of ECUAD, is an interdisciplinary artist working with photography, installation, and performance. With a focus on process and research, Golboo’s practice fits within the discourse of knowledge production and distribution, utilizing the Internet and search engine results to highlight ways in which language and gestures become dominant tools of informing and imagining the world.

This summer G. took part in the Hammock Residency’s Backyard Music Festival with her Plant Adoption installation and intervention. G. Amani’s recent works include Cyborg, a collaborative performance intervention involving, video projection, experimental sound and Internet generated media as part of a photography exhibit within a commercial gallery space. Curated by Liz Magor, G.’s Impression Series exhibited at the ECU's Graduation Exhibition, involves various experimental processes to collaboratively produce photographic images. Currently, Golboo is working with Internet found material in her blog works; http://thisisaviolentgesture.blogspot.com - highlighting the top image hit for various words as provided by Google Image Search as well as http://thingsimnotproudofhavingsaid.blogspot.com - extracting problematic, often oppressive, dialogue and discourse within virtual public spaces if popular news websites .