The Stephen Bulger Gallery is proud to present a book launch in the Project Gallery by Toronto artist duo The Broadbent Sisters. The publication, Telepathic Book, was the winner of the CONTACT Festival 2017 Burtynsky Grant.
For seventeen days the Broadbent Sisters used meditation, writing, visualization and art making to connect and telepathically send images to each other across two cities. From the Greek, 'tele' meaning "distant" and pathos meaning "feeling, perception, passion, affliction, experience", telepathy is the transmission of information from one person to another without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction.
The sisters created five parameters in order to practice this technique. Every day from February 1st to 17th, the sisters: meditated, went for a walk, took time to "send" & "receive" images through thought, wrote their reflections, and created one image for that day. After the completion of the experiment, they revealed their images to each other and paired each day to create this book of uncanny connections. All of the images on the left pages are created by Rose Broadbent, during her travel to the tropical town of Zihuatenejo, Mexico, and all of the right page images are created by Joy Broadbent, during winter in their hometown, Toronto, Canada. The book itself is a sculptural piece, attached by two spines reflecting the two sisters, opening in an unfolding experience.
"Created across two cities (Zihuatanejo, Mexico and Toronto, Canada), A Telepathic Book is an uncanny look at the way we produce, share, and make connections between images. Rose and Joy Broadbent's process plays on the unconscious resonances in and among images, acknowledging that there's a crucial aspect of seeing that only hidden parts of our minds see-what Walter Benjamin calls the 'optical unconscious.' The book continues the Broadbent Sisters' practice of exploring shared experiences through a unique, two-spine design, inviting the viewer to turn two pages at once to see the simultaneous images." - The Jury (2017 Burtynsky Grant)
