The United Congress is a long-standing

artist collective An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the need ...

active in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

from the late 1980s to the present day. The group combines

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...

, music,

constructed language A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction ...

, abstraction, and

anti-art Anti-art is a loosely used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Somewhat paradoxically, anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage poi ...

in its activities.

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

visual artist and original Congress member Lisa Brawn describes the group as "interested in

dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

ist instigation, politics, intense productivity, anonymity and relentless propagandizing”.

Beginnings

''The United Congress'' was formed in 1988 at the

Alberta College of Art and Design The Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts) is a public art university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that operates four academic schools. The institution originated from the art departme ...

, by White-Field Senate, who is the group's longest-standing member. Membership in the collective was loosely knit and fluid. Earliest collective members were White-Field Senate, Lisa Brawn, Doug Nachtigall, Catherine Fisher, Connie Lambrecht, Andrea Ford, Elmer Xavier and Richard F. Milo Dlouhy, Conroy Nachtigall, Kenneth Doren and Richard Cole also made contributions to the United Congress in its early days, and Dlouhy and Doren continued to be involved in Collective projects. Yuriko Iga, one-time director of ''Blim Gallery'' in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, also contributed to the United Congress' later projects in Calgary.

Early Projects

The House of Israel

The ''House of Israel'' was an art event held in response to the vandalism of a former downtown Calgary Synagogue by members of the ''Final Solution Skinheads'', who covered the front of the building with

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

in November 1989. The show made statements opposing racist and anti-Semitic violence in Calgary, using music and visual art. ''The House of Israel'' show was set up shortly after the vandalism, at ACAD.

The Castration of St. Paul

The Congress' most notable public show was ''The Castration of St. Paul'', at th
Nickle Arts Museum
on the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

campus in February/March 1991. ''Castration'' was intended to critique what The United Congress called the patriarchal nature of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, and the show created "a virulent reaction" in the local press. ''Castration'' featured thirty low-resolution colour xerox enlargements of Polaroid photographs of naked male torsos. Each enlargement was carefully framed and labeled with the name of a historic Christian religious figure, including the

twelve Apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

, seven Old Testament Prophets, five early Christian Saints, the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

, and

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

.Heintz, John W. Sr. "Meditations on The Castration of St. Paul", vol2/no.2 Artichoke Magazine, 1991 p46 Also part of the exhibit was a public lounge area featuring select pamphlets and literature promoting Christian organizations who espoused 'traditional values' which the collective considered to be encouraging the subordination of females in family and public life.

Other Projects

Early collective membe
Lisa Brawn
describes the UC of the 1980s and early 1990s as producing "rapid-fire shows using video surveillance, nets, creamed marshmallow and red packing tape" and she jokes that the Congress took over the Alberta College of Art and Design "(l)ike a parasitic infestation." This period was very active for the United Congress, who assembled numerous shows on a variety of themes, including March 1989's ''One Hundred Pounds of Pretty Girls'', ''God Save the Queen'' in April, 1989 at the ''Marion Nicholl Gallery'', ''Montreal'' at th

in 199

as well as ''CNIB'', ''Recent Video Art by the United Congress'' (which contained no video art), ''The Sacred Shroud of Turin'', and ''Our Ladies of Soul Sister''. Each show was promoted by a run of hand-silkscreened posters distributed throughout the cit

The United Congress also collaborated with community groups to produce hand-screened posters for events such as ''Women Looking Forward's'' 1989 International Women's Day celebrations, and with the Calgary Jewish Centre for their multimedia presentation ''The Farthest Horizon: 100 years of Jewish Life in Alberta''.

Publications

Daisy Gets Erotik

This collective also took on the publication of the ACAD Magazine, and in Oct 1989 the first issue of ''Daisy Gets Erotik'' was hand

silk-screen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh ...

ed and made available. "Daisy" was considered controversial as an official student newspaper, as it featured nudity. Publication ceased after three issues.

Development of ''ISU''

In the early 1990s, UC founder ''White-Field Senate'' developed a

inspired by

Dutton Speedwords Dutton Speedwords, transcribed in Speedwords as , is an international auxiliary language as well as an abbreviated writing system using the English alphabet for all the languages of the world. It was devised by Reginald J. G. Dutton (1886– ...

. Called ''ISU'' (short for 'In Stat Ua' or 'International Language'), the developed language attempted to root out perceived inherent biases (such as gender hierarchies) in existing world languages. In 1996, the United Congress published a book on the topic: ''ISU: THE NEW WORLD LANGUAGE''.

Later Projects

United Missions

''The United Congress'' collective briefly changed its name to ''United Missions'' in the mid-1990s, and for the 1997 Calgary ''ArtWeek'' Gala Bacchanal, presented ''Golden Boy'', a show based on the personal artifacts of ''Rafael Albert'', a Victorian cyclist.

Comme des Congres

In 1999, Richard F of The United Congress opened its Calgary street-front gallery, the ''Comme des Congres''. The gallery hosted several shows, notably ''Alberto Guedea's'' ''Re:'

""an investigation of art creation using electronic mail as a too

''Hurting'', and ''Self-Maintenance'', which featured artist ''Carl Chapel George'' publicly attending to details of his personal hygiene, such as brushing his teeth, clipping his nails, plucking his eyebrows and ironing his clothes in view of gallery visitors and street-level passers by.

Uncle Dutch (Correct Sounds for Instructing the People)

In 2012, United Congress founder, White-Field Senate, launched Uncle Dutch, an artistic look at language, meaning and communication.

Related Projects

Colour For Industry

Sometime-''United Congress''-members Kenneth Doren, Conroy Nachtigall, Yuriko Iga, and Richard F work together occasionally in a different Calgary Artist collective. ''Colour For Industry'' combines ''digital opera'', audio art, experimental music,

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

and ''fabric arts'' to create works like Doren's celebrate
''Allegro Molto Con Brio King Kong''
a 1999 Digital Opera focused on pop culture connections to the Greek myth of

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...

whose performance incorporated a

string quintet A string quintet is a musical composition for five string players. As an extension to the string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), a string quintet includes a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola (a so-called "viola quintet" ...

, three dancers and video monitors.

Sugar Estate Art Salon

Former Congress members ''Milo Dlouhy'' and ''Lisa Brawn'' collaborated on the ''Sugar Estate Art Salon Tea Room and Museum of Oddities'', which existed from 2003 to 2004. The Salon "was formed to create an exquisite environment for interdisciplinary art exhibitions, performances, installations, etc."in Calgary.

References

External links

Greyscale EstateSugar Estate Final Book