We are all squatters in
the womb/room/tomb of life
Since 1998 Halifax based
artist Bruce Barber has collaborated with
a number of individuals and institutions in
Canada, (Halifax and Banff), Poland (Piotrkow
Tribunalski) and New Zealand (Christchurch),
and via the worldwide net on the production
of several Squat installations. Each squat
occupied a different architectural space ranging
from a closet space and its adjoining room
in Halifax, a 12 foot cube in the Walter Phillips
Gallery at the Banff Centre (CD ROM), a vacant
building (Piotrkow); a gallery storage space
(Christchurch) and most recently in Halifax,
a gallery window. Each squat installation
contained a similar set of elements: a bed
or couch, table, chair, computer with web
access, a webcam, printer, a doorscope (and
in two instances a video projector) as well
as access to washroom and/or cooking facilities.
Advertisements were placed in local papers
and handbills distributed requesting the participation
of one or more individuals who were prepared
to occupy the space for periods of a few hours
to several weeks in order to collaboratively
produce a text. In the first squat in Halifax
Jon David Welland, a managed schizophrenic
wrote and broadcast several dramatic dialogues.
Barber and Welland also collaborated on the
formation of a group for writers. In the Banff
Centre Squat, Katherine Grant a homeless woman
occupied the squat for two months and produced
a diary, several short stories, drawings and
a video tape. In the recent squat installations
an exquisite corpse novel is being produced
collaboratively by visitors to the squat or
via the web site. With its associated chat
room and links the web site also provides
opportunities for homeless, itinerant or otherwise
disenfranchised individuals to communicate
with each other about squats and squatting
on the world wide web.
1.See Leger, Marc "Squatting
on Shifting Grounds: An interview with Bruce
Barber and Katherine Grant" AfterimageVol.29:1
July/August 2001 pp 10-11
Squat(wri)ter
Katherine Grant
Squat II Walter Phillips Gallery,
Banff Centre July 1999
