October 3, 2006 Source: :
http://www.uoguelph.ca/mediarel/2006/10/u_of_g_artists.html U of G Artists Selected for
International Art
Show Two
University of Guelph fine art professors have been selected to participate
in the 27th São Paulo Art Biennial in Brazil Oct. 7 to Dec. 17. Profs. Kim
Kozzi and Dai Skuse, who make up the art duo Fastwürms, share a joint
appointment at U of G. "The São Paulo Biennial means we have been recognized as important and
distinguished avatars in the international/post national cultural
miscegenation movement," said Kozzi. The biennial is a cultural event that’s been held every two years since
1951. Almost one million people visited the 26th biennial in 2004. Fastwürms is one of three Canadian groups chosen to showcase their work at
this year’s event. In total, 118 international artists will participate. The art duo works in photography, film, sculpture, performance and
installation art. In the classroom, they incorporate sound, video, images
and performance, mixing art and popular culture. In São Paulo, Fastwürms will be exhibiting Telepathacats (2003), Soylent
Orange (2002) and Red of Tooth and Kaw (2001). Some of the duo’s permanent work can be seen at the Metro Toronto Convention
Centre. Their 1997 Turtle Pond features 7,500 square feet of terrazzo floor
design in the south-wing entrance lobby. They have two nine-foot-high bronze
Snowm’n outside the centre, as well as two fibreglass woodpecker sculptures
— a 16-foot-long pileated and a nine-foot-long sapsucker — on a
100-foot-high column. "If you drive by on the Gardiner Expressway, you can see it at night," said
Skuse. "All the woodpecker holes are illuminated from inside." In 1990, the Ontario government commissioned them to do an exhibition called
"Ground to Ground" for the Garden and Greenery Expo in Osaka, Japan. Here at home, members of the Guelph community are familiar with the
Fastwürms’ EX OVO OMNIA, the large white spherical sculpture outside the
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre that was unveiled in September 2000. For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona
Hunt, 519 824-4120, Ext. 53338, or Rachelle Cooper, Ext. 56982.
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