coLLab

We are a collective of two creatives interested in the contemporary socio-cultural landscape and its intricate relationship between the individual and the collective. This preoccupation is explored across scales of intervention, from translating social equity into spatial equity within the public realm, to revealing the evolution of social media’s impact in facilitating the individual’s capacity to project, curate, and augment the self as a situated avatar within this emergent space.

Because we construct human experience in critical dialogue with cultural forces; through leveraging space, the body in space, and immersion in forging an elevated consciousness in the viewer, we necessarily operate within an interdisciplinary milieu. Within this context we deploy our expertise in architectural space, video, sound, image, and industrial design, as well as cultivate a collaborative network of talent and expertise specific to each project’s opportunities.

In this regard, each installation emerges from a broader community discourse exploring a subject matter.

Allison Morgan studied fine arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and The Emily Carr College of Art and Design. After practicing as a professional artist in Vancouver, Calgary, Barcelona, and Rome, she returned to study and research and completed her Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Calgary. Allison’s creative work predominantly focusses on revealing hidden power structures that are characterized by their naturalization in society, and their efficacy in deploying social and cultural camouflage. She is interested in how the things we value, influence the way we construct our identity. Through the recontextualization of objects from her everyday experience, Allison creates heuristic open-ended explorations that can be simultaneously interpreted as alluring, obligatory, and provocative. In this manner, her work suggests diverse subtexts and multiple meanings, allowing the audience to negotiate with it from their own subjective position.

Marc Boutin studied architecture, art history and sculpture throughout Canada, and has lived, studied, and worked in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Barcelona and Rome. In 1997 he joined the University of Calgary, teaching studio, theory, history, and representation. From 2006-2010, he was also the Director of the University of Calgary Architecture Program. Marc opened his architecture practice, The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative (MBAC) in 1999.

Marc’s creative practice focuses on the synthesis of art, architecture, and public space, with a preoccupation on social agency through the creation of immersive environments and catalytical experiential fields. This work has been widely exhibited including the Venice Biennale, Sao Paulo Biennale, Buenos Aires Biennale, and the Van Alen Institute in New York. Marc is the recipient of the 2002 Prix de Rome, the 2020 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Firm of the Year, and recognition from the Canada Council for the Arts. Marc is a Fellow in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art.