Kelly Mark: White Cube, White Couch

If you have ever wondered what it might take to watch 170 films and television programs in one sitting, grab a couch seat (open a beer and light a cigarette, if the artist has her way) and get ready for a 2-hour onslaught of condensed and commercial-free viewing in Kelly Mark’s video installation REM. The feature-length film work, compiled from late-night cable TV sources over a 4-month period, is the latest in Mark’s trademark application of artful endurance, irreverent time wasting and fine-tuned conceptual technique. Skeptics may snigger: Since when is watching television art? But Mark’s carefully edited sequencing of mass media images into a new, non-linear narrative structure strikes at the critical heart of longstanding issues surrounding mechanical/digital reproduction. REM—which is also part of Mark’s touring survey exhibition, “Stupid Heaven,” wrapping this week at Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery in Halifax—joins selected recent works in a solo exhibition that opens the relaunched and expanded exhibition space of Lawrence Eng (formerly Tracey Lawrence Gallery) in downtown Vancouver. (1531 W. 4th Ave., Vancouver, BC.)