Mercer Union
1286 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario
Date
Curator
Julia Paoli
Presenting a new commissioned project by Anne Low and Evan Calder Williams, this exhibition marks the duo’s first collaborative presentation in Canada. “The Fine Thread of Deviation” is made possible with Leading Support from Partners in Art.
Editors' Comment
Cultural histories of the screen, the silkworm and industrial sabotage combine in this dual exhibition featuring a suite of new works by textile artist and sculptor Anne Low and an impressive video installation in collaboration with artist and academic Evan Calder Williams. Loosely structured around an early 20th century workers’ strike at a silk garment factory—where a hyper-pink, chemical tracer dye was used by workers to halt production, the titular “fine thread of deviation” that separates the sanctioned actions of factory owners from those of frustrated silk workers—the exhibition is a labyrinth of visual, historical and material references. Purposely slow to unravel, at its core the project is about how humans interact with technology and the fears and excesses of automation, which are as ubiquitous now as they were at the height of the industrial era.