Jan Peacock: Play/Byplay
November 2 – December 8, 2009
QueenSpecific
next to Dufflet Pastries at 787 Queen St. West, Toronto)
Play/Byplay is two screens, two views, two actions – one observed, the other performed. The observed action is two magpies at play in a tree, passing a twig back and forth to one another. The performed action, the “byplay” carried on beside the main action, is an animation of the artist’s hands recorded on a scanner, enacting this observed dance, calculating distance and orientation to mimic the motion of the birds.
Jan Peacock works primarily in video and installation, and has exhibited widely throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe and Japan. Her work is found in international public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Ludwig Museum in Köln. She has worked under numerous Canada Council grants and her work has received awards at the Atlantic Film & Video Festival, the Chicago International Film & Video Festival, and the Atlanta Film & Video Festival.
Jan Peacock is a recipient of the Bell Canada Award and the Canada Council Medal for her contribution to the field of video. She lives in Halifax, where she teaches at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
