2020-2021
ISO has entered into the online collection of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design’s library, the inaugural collection of the Lasalu Art Library, and has been exhibited as part of the British Columbia Quarantine Qapsule project. Limited copies of the book are available at Canton-sardine gallery in Vancouver.
ISO: the exhibition was staged from the 25th to 28th of June 2021 in an empty apartment unit above the Carrall Supermarket in Vancouver. The site-specific installation featured photographs and written excerpts hanging from the walls and curtains, revealing the project ISO. Scraps of white linen were scattered across the floor and stairway, and my personal objects, including books, a film canister containing hair and an empty medicine bottle sat atop the mantelpiece. The visual centrepiece was a bed, constructed from two hundred and seventeen concrete bricks weighing approximately a thousand pounds; each brick was carried up the stairs the evening before by my mother, my brother, my friend, the unit owner and I. The installation also featured three commissioned sound installations by Arlo Spring, emerging from speakers draped in white cloth found throughout the space. Photographed by Donnel Garcia, Aidan & Tina Chin, and Kartik K
Photographed by Donnel Garcia
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Photographed by Tina Chin
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Captured by Aidan Chin
“Ruby” / “Esther” / “David”
three original compositions by Arlo Spring
Arlo Spring - composition, electric piano / Feven Kidane - flugelhorn / Adam Kyle - clarinet / Colin Zacharias - acoustic bass / Adrian Avendaño - percussion / Max Earchuck - recording / Cheyenne Graham - mixInstallation view
Video documentation
Full project credits; unending gratitude
ISO by Long Xi Vlessing
Photographed remotely in a series of FaceTime and video calls
from May 2020 to March 2021
in isolation
Conceived, photographed and edited by
Long Xi Vlessing
Photographs of / written contributions by
Aidan
Anita Hwahmee
Ashley
Basquiat
Breanna
Cindy
David
Dylana
Esther Hwahyoo
Gino
Janice
Joram
Ketsia
Kokeb & Leandro
Lorenzo
Mahi
María
Matt
Milan
Moroti
Owen
Ragu
Ricky
Ruby
Samantha
Ashley and Lorenzo directed by
Milan Orosco
Emblem design by
Matt Snyder
Aidan
Anita Hwahmee
Ashley
Basquiat
Breanna
Cindy
David
Dylana
Esther Hwahyoo
Gino
Janice
Joram
Ketsia
Anita Hwahmee
Ashley
Basquiat
Breanna
Cindy
David
Dylana
Esther Hwahyoo
Gino
Janice
Joram
Ketsia
Kokeb & Leandro
Lorenzo
Mahi
María
Matt
Milan
Moroti
Owen
Ragu
Ricky
Ruby
Samantha
Lorenzo
Mahi
María
Matt
Milan
Moroti
Owen
Ragu
Ricky
Ruby
Samantha
Exhibition credits
Conceived and curated by / works by
Long Xi Vlessing
Installation
Aidan Chin
Arlo Spring
Long Xi Vlessing
Sound
Arlo Spring
Bricks
Joel Foster
Documentation
Aidan Chin
Tina Chin
Donnel Garcia
Kartik K.
Volunteers
Max Chen
Ricky Chen
Bi Yun Chen
Aidan Chin
Breanna Julian-Cambridge
Olumoroti Emiola Ayomikun Soji-George
Arlo Spring
Shikai Vlessing
ISO: The Book
by Long Xi Vlessing“I call you in earnest,
and you pick up every time”
Click here to order now
For nearly a year from the summer of 2020 to early 2021, I undertook the process of remotely photographing individuals over FaceTime and video chat in isolation. ISO is an exploration of this isolation, as well as searching, gratitude, bitterness, domestic space and youth; it’s an endeavour in defining a nexus of emotion, and a snapshot of things laid bare by time. It’s a photo book, a collective document, and a journal. The book features photographs of and written contributions from twenty-seven individuals— some longtime friends, some who I spoke to for the very first time.
140 page perfect-bound book
7'' x 10''
emblem set in golden foil
Final limited copies.
self published, 2021
Printed in Coquitlam, BC
ISO has entered into the online repository of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design’s library, the inaugural collection of the Lasalu Art Library, and has been exhibited as part of the British Columbia Quarantine Qapsule project. Limited copies are available at Canton-sardine gallery in Vancouver.