09 Oct 2019

Jessie McNeil: Great Big Plans

Aarhus Billedkunstcenter

Reviewed by Heather Kapplow

The Vancouver-based artist-in-residence at Aarhus Billedkunstcenter, Jessie McNeil, has assembled a modest pop-up installation in this storefront space, but her agenda is gigantic. Kudos to Aarhus Billedkunstcenter for inviting an artist's critical eye into an active local building project.

Using simple materials (found objects, architectural model trees, unadorned amorphous shapes cast in imperfect plaster, and taped-together printouts) she's asking significant questions about power relationships and cultural biases in real estate development. McNeil's residency focused on the currently-in-progress plan to "upgrade" a highly diverse, immigrant-rich housing complex, Gellerupparken. Her questions, based to a certain degree on time spent immersed in the neighborhood, but originating in her need to use Google Translate to read city planning whitepapers, foreground the narcissism of much commercial development. They also uncover disturbing political language about what makes for a valuable (or perhaps even valid) citizen.