OBORO thanks Su Schnee and Bryan Mulvihill for all their work in the production of this exhibition, and its board of directors, staff and myriad collaborators for their ongoing support and involvement.
Presented one year after the death of Daniel Dion, artist and cofounder of OBORO, this exhibition traces the poetic portrait of a visionary artist who has had an undeniable impact on the cultural milieu and on a diverse range of artists. Going back into the personal archives of her life companion, Su Schnee, the cofounder of OBORO, has assembled a selection of works and objects that exemplify Daniel Dion’s unique practice. With the assistance of several members of OBORO’s “extended family,” Schnee and Bryan Mulvihill, a long time friend and collaborator, have posthumously created two works conceived with Dion, one of which is the centrepiece of the exhibition: a mobile tea room where Mulvihill, alias Trolley Bus, will hold the Chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony, commemorating Daniel’s life.
The exhibition is not presented as a retrospective, but instead offers a selection of Daniel Dion’s key works, including the dual screen video Great Divide (1990), the intimate work The Moment of Truth (1991), as well as the important photograph series The Head and Legs (1985) and PHOTOTEMS (1986). At the time of their creation, several works were on the cutting edge of new media art, making Dion a pioneer in practices that used innovative technologies in an installational context.
In order to honour this leading figure of Canada’s art milieu, the exhibition highlights Daniel’s unique sensibility and offers an overview of a life fully devoted to collaborative work with the aim of creating a culture of peace—also key to OBORO’s own mission—which he considered to be a living work in its own right.
The exhibition also features a publication with texts by Su Schnee, Bryan Mulvihill, J. R. Carpenter, Marie-Michèle Cron and Richard Gagnier.