Amnesiac Hide

Mike Nelson's newly commissioned installation, commissioned on behalf of Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, and The Power Plant, Toronto, presents its audience with the notion of the lone traveller. Drawing on archetypes such as the fur trapper, the pioneering explorer, the Beatnik and the biker, Mike Nelson offers a new reading of the lone traveller, focusing on the significance of these characters in the context of masculinity and spirituality. Nelson is best known for his architectural installations, which unfold as narrative structures, where the viewer moves through seemingly abandoned rooms devoid of figures. This publication will draw out Nelson's frequent return to the figure, namely the archetypal lone wanderer, who underlays much of his work whether as an implied trace or as sculptural assemblages. While drawing from a wide range of Nelson's work, the book will spotlight The Amnesiacs, a serial work begun by the artist in 1996 and revisited for these exhibitions through two new commissions. To accompany this new body of work, which comprises Nelson's first solo shows in Canadian institutions, the artist is also producing an ambitious publication that presents developmental imagery alongside installation shots of the new installations.