The institute itself was a strange collection of masculine and feminine signifiers. The Institute itself is slowly leaning away from their arts based focus and slowly embracing the money making aspect of their conferences and meetings of people from around the world. This step to me seems to me masculinising the space; the buildings are being created for corporate aspects, following a traditional and patriarchal formats.
The artwork that was scattered about the centre refutes the stark corporate nature of the space, exposing masculine and feminine creativity, giving an equal balance of feminine and masculine references. Of the participants I have often seen a larger female representative but an equally gendered staff.Despite the majority of women, feminine art does not dominate the institution causing a discrepancy. The gendered representation is often equal through the gender neutral practise of art and the open and accepting ways of artists.
Sexuality is a different story. Like Downtown Banff the space is neutralized from the nature that permeates the mountain space, but sexuality is actually hidden in plain sight. The centre is known for breaking up relationships and beginning flings or trysts. The odd combination of tourists, visitors and short term artists creates a strange dynamic that encourages sexual conquest but prevents that sexuality from being obvious. The sexuality of location doesn’t affect the display of sexuality within the participants. Most, being artists are often covered in paint, smocks, dust and dirt and chose their wardrobe accordingly rather than don bikinis and skimpy clothing.
The centre itself represents the juxtaposition of gender neutral nature and socially engorged human life. It is a pocket of social up in the mountains, a small climb away from the town itself. It encourages the immersion of people into the nature, exposing the neutrality to the participants but also beginning to infuse nature with human signifiers that get left behind by the visitors. The woods surrounding the buildings of the Centre have human made influence throughout, usually in the form of an installation art piece,, giving it a residue of gender and sexuality to nature.
Sexuality is a different story. Like Downtown Banff the space is neutralized from the nature that permeates the mountain space, but sexuality is actually hidden in plain sight. The centre is known for breaking up relationships and beginning flings or trysts. The odd combination of tourists, visitors and short term artists creates a strange dynamic that encourages sexual conquest but prevents that sexuality from being obvious. The sexuality of location doesn’t affect the display of sexuality within the participants. Most, being artists are often covered in paint, smocks, dust and dirt and chose their wardrobe accordingly rather than don bikinis and skimpy clothing.The centre itself represents the juxtaposition of gender neutral nature and socially engorged human life. It is a pocket of social up in the mountains, a small climb away from the town itself. It encourages the immersion of people into the nature, exposing the neutrality to the participants but also beginning to infuse nature with human signifiers that get left behind by the visitors. The woods surrounding the buildings of the Centre have human made influence throughout, usually in the form of an installation art piece,, giving it a residue of gender and sexuality to nature.
