Prairie Artsters was on a December hiatus because I was (and am at this very moment of writing) in the city of Berlin. A city that’s clearly changing, with a steady influx of immigration and cranes in the sky, nearly 20 years after the fall of the wall Berlin still remains one of the most affordable European cities to live in—and draws those who wish to pursue their artistic abilities without having to make a lot of money to survive.
While here, I caught up with ex-Edmontonian visual artist Claire McLarney—who, at this point last year was mounting her main room solo exhibition, Acts of Violence, at Harcourt House Gallery and working full time as a prepator for the Art Gallery of Alberta. Travelling and visiting Berlin this past summer, she decided to stay on to live and create here. Though she had to give up an increasingly promising existence, McLarney admits that otherwise she has felt no lingering attachment to the city she grew up in and the place where she completed her BFA.
Over beers and cigarettes in East Berlin, McLarney shares, “The day I got here my body responded to the city. This place just feels alive. After I left, I immediately missed Berlin.”
Working in documented transient states where the art produced exists only for short periods of time, McLarney feels she can work and live here more freely than before. She continues, “I don’t want to diss Edmonton, because there are a lot of opportunities there right now, but maybe that’s bullshit since everyone’s getting kicked out of their homes ... but Berlin is just a lot more open. Everyone is out on the streets and you never see the flickering of any televisions in any windows. People who come here want to actually do things, not just chase money.”
That approach to art and to life, about engaging and responding to your surroundings, was something she did not feel in Edmonton, or more fairly, perhaps did not have the time to feel between working full-time and personal distractions. The fact that McLarney has also been comfortably living off 500 Euros a month makes the priority of devoting more time to making art than to making rent a far greater possibility.
“I can do my work here and not get stared at or questioned,” McLarney states, acknowledging that she shouldn’t care if people stop and stare, but also pointing out that she has found Berliners to be more laid back and willing to have art be part of their daily lives. Art making and exhibition is far less alienated by the general population and in the media. There are also far more contemporary international exhibitions—at any given time, there are shows like the newly commissioned Jeff Wall prints and Roman Signor that are currently exhibiting in town along with emerging artists and acclaimed permanent collections.
Continues McLarney, “Every artist I know needs to make art or else they feel fucked up. It’s not like they always know what they’re doing, but they also don’t always need to be making objects. Art is about finding a way to respond to the world.”
First published in Vue Weekly, 2008. January 10 - 16, 2008.
6 comments:
i find these questions quite interesting; the person and the city. how different cities bring out different things in us. how some promote the absorption of the creativity of others. so much to do and see. and other cities can be kinda remote and make one feel creative inside. and some cities can encourage both. makes me remember the story of how David Lynch had been accepted to study painting in Austria under Oskar Kokoschka, but he left cuz it was too pretty and clean for him and it stifled him. he headed for Philadelphia.
I wonder how that all relates to the notion of not being able to respond while in the thick of things, if you're inspired or traumatized in relation to a city or a thing, but can't process the experience until removed, past, distanced and replaced by a new set of norms. are you then responding to the city you just left or the city you are now in? it must always be a bridging of both, trying out luck on the right combination of past and present.
how was lynchorama by the way?
yeah, yeah: all the possibilities, the radical agents, equations.
i thought 'Lynch' was great, despite weird local reviews.
amy - i've been meaning to write and tell you for the longest time that i stumbled upon your blog about 6 months ago when i was searching the web for images of some artists work (can't remember who now). anyways, i was so excited to see that something like this existed that i read right down to the bottom before noticing the name of who was doing all this wonderful writing! your blog is really, really great, and sorely needed too. it's also very nice being able to catch up on the happenings in alberta from over here. i'm so glad to hear that claire is doing well and that you yourself are over in berlin; it's a city that's been in the back of my mind for a while, but reading this post has me itching to go now.
take care! and i want to have beer with you the next time we're in the same city!
kirsten!
good to hear from ya. I thought you would be riding your bicycle all day long through them cobbled streets. or at least that stretch of cobbled streets. I for some reason don't have your e-mail (must have left it at da works) so you're going to have to write me (amyfung@fastmail.fm) as I want that beer.
I just heard kyla's visiting claire right now so maybe she can hook you up with a place to stay. my only words of wisdom: bring slippers.
kirstenmccrea@gmail.com works.
slippers, eh? is berlin cold...or really dirty?
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