christina battle
notes to self
​bmoca, 2020

Image: Christina Battle, "Notes to Self" (detail), 2014-ongoing, video still. Image courtesy of the artist.

Battle’s practice looks at the role of the micro-gesture in order to consider how small, intimate actions might collectively foster change on a societal level. In light of the US 2020 centennial celebration of the passage of the 19th Amendment, as well as the 2020 presidential election, this exhibition questions why and how our contemporary framing of elections manifest in a sense of political disengagement. Once we cast our votes, our consideration of how personal responsibility affects the greater collective often ends. Instead, Battle explores what political responsibility means by expanding our awareness of the micro-gesture.

Her project seeks to slow down time; to think about conversation as a two-directional responsibility; and to ask how small actions have power to influence change on a larger scale. In doing so, Battle asks us to collectively imagine different futures: futures that are more diverse, more just, and more progressive. By engaging with the online poetics of Twitter, Battle asks for an offline engagement with how we sense, feel, and understand proximity, encouraging a collective visualization of how “the view from here” might one day be different.
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The exhibition revolves around the central collective power of the prompt to encourage others to consider their roles outside of the gallery, beyond the election itself. Prompts can engage with the intimate and the personal in ways that transform the notion of responsibility, challenge individual experience, and consider how our small micro-gestures might in turn inform collective action.
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About the artist
Christina Battle (Edmonton, Canada) considers the parameters of disaster in her research and artwork. She looks to disaster as action, as more than mere event, and as a framework operating within larger systems of power. Battle’s research explores how disaster could be utilized as a tactic for social change and as a tool for reimagining how dominant systems might radically shift. She has a BS in Environmental Biology from the University of Alberta, a certificate in Film Studies from Ryerson University, an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute, and a PhD in Art & Visual Culture from the University of Western Ontario. Battle has exhibited internationally, most recently at Latitude 53 (Edmonton), Capture Photography Festival (Vancouver), Forum Expanded at the Berlinale (Berlin), Untitled Art Society (Calgary), 8-11 (Toronto), Galveston Artist Residency (Texas), Studio XX (Montreal), Casa Maauad (Mexico City), and SOMArts (San Francisco).
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Thank you to our generous sponsors:
Scintilla Foundation, Luff Family Fund, City of Boulder, Boulder Arts Commission, Boulder Human Relations Commission, Scientific & Cultural Facilities District, Colorado Creative Industries, and National Endowment for the Arts.