Nancy Nisbet: The Exchange Project - Aug. 2006
This project exchanges the studio for the roads, truck stops, border crossings and cities of North America. Through the untidy weaving of politics, surveillance technology and identity construction this performance engages critique. Over time and with the combined effort of exchange participants, resistance, solidarity, and artistic critique emerge. "At each scheduled stop on the route, the team parks the truck, lowers theramps, unloads at least half of the crates and invites viewers to peruse the goods. If a person happens to find something that tickles their fancy, they take it to the "mini house," temporary tech centre that operates on wireless technology, where the customer checks out the item while checking in something of theirs to replace their "purchase." Each item is tracked using RFID technology and logged into a database. In addition to the objectexchange, the customer also relays the story behind their giveaway object to the crew, which is saved as an audio file, and in exchange Nisbet tells them the story behind their newly acquired item, sort of like an anecdotal giftwrap."
Nancy Nisbet is a multidisciplinary artist with a practice that weaves connections between the political, the technological and the personal. Nancy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History & Visual Art at The University of British Columbia and is the recipient of the 2002/2003 Peter Wall Early Career Scholar Award. Nancy received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Photography in 2000 and holds a BSc. in Genetics(’91) and a BEd. in Secondary Education(’93). Now based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Nancy continues to push the boundaries of technology, politics, human interaction and identity while enjoying the beauty of west coast life.
