EXERCISES IN NAPERY / Karen Zalamea

Fsebruary 18 – March 7

Karen Zalamea
"Exercises in Napery", 2007
Video
5:04 minutes

Karen Zalamea's video, Exercises in Napery , is an intensive study of napkin folding as a militant task, demonstrated as a fast-pasted instructional video.   In the first part, instructions alternate between text and action, inducing a sense of temporal anxiety.   Through visual acceleration, part two is a task-based performance that further punctuates the time and skill pressures on the producer, referencing assembly line production and slapstick.   The final part is a stop-motion animation, where animated napkins take on a life of their own, emphasizing the invisible nature of labour practices.

Biography

Karen Zalamea was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Art at the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design (Canada) and at the Edinburgh College of Art (Scotland). She is currently working towards her Masters of Fine Art in photography at Concordia University in Montréal, Quebec. She has exhibited in Canada, the United States, England, and Holland.