Milena Placentile, the outgoing curator and programmer for the University of Winnipeg’s very own campus gallery, C103, is a progressive dynamo.

Placentile may be a simple facilitator between the artist and audience, but her personal beliefs about art as a way of perceiving the world, who we are and how we interact with others are very influential in how and what she decides to put on display.
“[Gallery 1C03 is] an exciting space on campus, on a campus without a visual arts program, that students in any stream can come into a gallery and remove the tunnel vision that might be happening in their life. There is so little discourse. The entire purpose of going to university is to encounter ideas you might not have discovered on your own,” Placentile said during an interview at the gallery last month.

Much of the art featured touches on relevant themes in everyday consciousness, such as communication, diversity, interpersonal reflection and the construction of personal identity.

Gallery Cl03 is a public gallery, not a commercial one.

Placentile says that the Winnipeg art scene is so productive because artists need and want to make the art.

Gallery C103’s goal is to challenge the audience to understand what the artist is trying to communicate.

An example is Ken Gregory’s wind coil sound flow, an aural sensory experience which attempts to capture the voice of the wind. Though it is an art piece, it is one which also relates to issues in physics, computer science and the environment.

The radical online education project The Pinky Show, which addresses the marginalization of knowledge in light of the prevalence of consolidated media, will be starting there on Thursday, Nov. 12.

Placentile promised it will be a great deal of fun and will provide the audience with an opportunity to think about education and how knowledge itself builds.

Gender and women’s studies relate to the gallery’s next two shows, Evan Tapper’s Swoon, and the lens-based work of Franco-Peruvian artist, Rustha Luna Pozzi-Escot.

In Swoon, Tapper, a self-described male feminist, explores issues of gender by looking at mythologies and different religious structures through a multimedia presentation.

Pozzi-Escot, who will be artist in residence here, visiting from France, will also be expanding the critical discussion with likely parallels process-wise with Tapper. She will be looking at the idea of the so-called “strong woman” and how the effect of globalization creates stereotypes while marginalizing the original authentic identity.

Pozzi-Escot photographed herself in elaborate costumes made of objects that many women use, such as cosmetics and feminine hygiene products.

“People are understanding we need to stimulate our minds whether creatively, analytically or daydreaming. We can’t be automatons focused on work all the time. We have to play. If we don’t play and think and challenge ourselves, we can’t move forward at all,” said Placentile.

Published in Volume 64, Number 11 of The Uniter (November 12, 2009)