Tris Vonna-Michell
Capitol Complex

May 10 – June 7
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 10, 3 – 6pm

Tris Vonna-Michell stages installations and performs narrative structures using spoken word, sound compositions, and photography. His narratives are born of historical research and social observation, filtered through personal anecdotes. Vonna-Michell’s works extend over several years as context-specific iterations develop with each exhibition, acknowledging how the perception of historical material is affected by the conditions of the present.

Capitol Complex (2014) evolves around a manuscript consisting of four acts based on four characters, which serves as an underlying blueprint for the work. The story is led by Traveller, who extends his leisurely strolls of the Indian city of Chandigarh into the night in order to experience its unique urban architecture with greater intensity and anxiety. After his nocturnal explorations, he grows weary and changes his course from architectural appreciation to searching for crevices and enclosures. Urban fixtures of obstruction, surveillance, and derailment direct his passages, until a shift in perception occurs.