Althea Thauberger

The works of Vancouver-based artist and filmmaker Althea Thauberger are often developed through an extended process of cooperation and dialogue with their subjects, and are informed by critical and historical readings of the physical, social, and institutional sites in which they take place, as well as by histories of photographic image-making and reflections on representational power dynamics. Thauberger has gained international recognition for exhibitions in numerous cultural institutions and for projects in sites across the public realm. Her 2012 project Marat Sade Bohnice exhibited at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and the Liverpool Biennial, was an experimental documentary/video installation about the staging of Peter Weiss’s 1963 play Marat/Sade at the Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital, in Prague. In it, she approached timely issues of institutionalization in relation to structural reform and shifting political terrains.

Why we love Althea Thauberger:

• In addition to forming meaningful relationships with her subjects, Althea undertakes rigorous critical and historical readings of the physical, social, and institutional sites in which her work takes place

• She recently staged Peter Weiss’s 1963 play Marat/Sade in the decommissioned waterworks and laundry facilities at the Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital in Prague, the largest clinic in the Czech Republic

• She traveled to Kandahar, Afghanistan, as part of the Canadian War Artist program, met and created photographs with Canadian women in uniform who were working at Kandahar Airfield, and the Ma’sum Ghar Forward Operating Base