House in the Shape of a Stretcher

In an essay from 1910 the architect and critic Adolf Loos distinguishes between buildings that are for everyday practical use and buildings made for contemplation. The latter type he asserts may be considered as both architecture and works of art. He refers to only two types of contemplative architecture namely the tomb and the monument. There are certain paintings made in the early part of the twentieth century that do not observe this separation such as certain works by Hopper and de Chirico. Here the commonplace is simultaneously experienced in the way a tomb might be. This mortifying gaze condemns building by inducing a sense that space has become inhospitable and alienating. It could be argued that these and other paintings made around this time such as Carlo Carra The Abandoned House 1916 are like premonitions of what will occur when building observes the prescription laid down by Loos and omit an aesthetic dimension. However it might also suggest that buildings need their tombs or at least some space that is not completely assimilable by the daily, practical and functional needs of an inhabitant.

Étant Ballet

Solo Exhibition, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada, The project engages with current issues around art production and food provision, catastrophe and agriculture, through the medium of a performance installation. Drawing on some of the characteristics of post dramatic theatre, the project aims to develop a new visual narratology for a contemporary art performance. A large scale video installation and construction features both as an installation site and performance set, explores the relationship between performance and food provision, looking at how changes to the organic world, the world of vibrant and edible matter might affect the way we make art. Developed and produced in collaboration with Canadian company Curtain Razors and funded by grants from Canada Council for the Arts, Saskatchewan Arts Board, the project was first commissioned by Curtain Razors and the MacKenzie Art Gallery where it was shown as a major solo exhibition as part of a series of other international programming (including artists such Guy Ben-Ner and Ron Mueck). The project was then included in the 4th Moscow Biennial as part of the landmark ‘Independent’ exhibition at the Art Arsenal in 2011. The project is planned to tour to varies other international venues throughout 2012/13. The exhibition has been reviewed by Gregory Beatty in Prairie Dog, Regina, by at the The Leader Post, The CBC French Canadian Television. Canadian writer curator Timothy Long artist and curator Elwood Jimmy have produced critical essays of the work, which will feature in a major new book, edited by Susanne Clausen, which is expected to be published in 2012. (OnCurating Publications).

Agriculture: wheat crops feel the heat

Extreme heat can accelerate wheat aging — an effect that reduces crop yields and is underestimated in most crop models. Climate warming may, therefore, present even greater challenges to wheat production than current models predict.

Extracellular release of a heterologous phytase from roots of transgenic plants: does manipulation of rhizosphere biochemistry impact microbial community structure?

To maintain the sustainability of agriculture, it is imperative that the reliance of crops on inorganic phosphorus (P) fertilizers is reduced. One approach is to improve the ability of crop plants to acquire P from organic sources. Transgenic plants that produce microbial phytases have been suggested as a possible means to achieve this goal. However, neither the impact of heterologous expression of phytase on the ecology of microorganisms in the rhizosphere nor the impact of rhizosphere microorganisms on the efficacy of phytases in the rhizosphere of transgenic plants has been tested. In this paper, we demonstrate that the presence of rhizosphere microorganisms reduced the dependence of plants oil extracellular secretion of phytase from roots when grown in a P-deficient soil. Despite this, the expression of phytase in transgenic plants had little or no impact on the microbial community structure as compared with control plant lines, whereas soil treatments, such as the addition of inorganic P, had large effects. The results demonstrate that soil microorganisms are explicitly involved in the availability of P to plants and that the microbial community in the rhizosphere appears to be resistant to the impacts of single-gene changes in plants designed to alter rhizosphere biochemistry and nutrient cycling.