Andreas Buchwaldt
Andreas Buchwaldt is a multimedia installation artist and freelance labour activist based in Toronto, currently completing his PhD in Visual Culture at The University of Western Ontario (UWO). A common theme running through Andreas’ practice is an interest in networks, exploring ways objects/sounds/people can interact within organized systems. These systems explore the possibilities and impossibilities of collective action. His research at UWO combines an examination of participatory archival strategies in contemporary art with the making of interactive archiving machines. For more information visit Andreas' website.
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US Elections 2020: Hiding in Plain Sight
Artist Statement: The Embassy Hotel, the building that housed the Embassy Cultural House (ECH), was demolished in 2009, just before Google Street View was able to document the site. If you go online all you’ll see is an overgrown empty lot with a 6ft surrounding metal fence. Andreas Buchwaldt's Return of the Embassy Hotel tells an alternate story by inserting an archival image of the building’s facade into its original location within the online panoramic mapping tool. To fight against government corruption that hides in plain sight community hubs need more than ever to be visible, be that in a physical space or a virtual one. The reinvigorated ECH project can be one of these hubs again, and we want to be seen. |