Hook-ness
Hook-ness: a collaborative exhibition featuring the work of seven Vancouver-based designers who explore the complexities of ‘hook’. Each designer questions the conventions and assumptions of hooks – offering an array of new findings, interpretations and narratives.
When we first began discussion of hooks and hook-ness, there were a lot of obvious and common images. What seemed more important to me were those that occurred to us last: the least obvious hooks. The "oh yeah, I guess those are hooks too."
In the beginning, this project sought to give hooks names, or place them somewhere important in fictional time and place. Rather than attempting to assign importance to hook, these pieces work to highlight the existing importance of hooks in our everyday. Instead of having hooks stand out by being disproportionate or loud, I was interested in considering the significance the hook can take on in the mere absence from our daily lives. This series of a dozen unremarkable objects are instead made strange by a subtle subtraction of hooks, a loss of utility that shrouds the object in an air of unfamiliarity.
Exhibited at 221A Artist Run Centre, Vancouver, accompanied by artist talk, print and web catalogues. May–July 2010.
Dental floss
Elastic bandage
Pin-back button
Bra
Breadclip
Velcro wallet
Wrist watch
Cheese grater
Sealed jar
Bottle opener
Seam ripper
Diamond ring