Chopped & Screwed

Born out of a remixing technique typical of southern hip hop, the process of “chopped and screwed” takes a song, and slows the tempo down, traditionally to 60 – 70 beats per minute, as well as applying other techniques such as skipping beats and record scratching culminating in a departure from the traditional remix which combines two different songs, the “chopped and screwed” model works within the confines of the original material, altering only its most fundamental elements.

Chopped & Screwed brings together artists who co-opt the formal language of reified materials and forms however, through a particular material intelligence or dexterity; these givens are employed in a manner atypical to expectation. The repurposing of these foundational and elemental materials and forms allows for a second life, and a reconsideration of, these otherwise commonplace formal situations. The result is work that has a formal language both overridden by and focused on its physicality and materiality rather than its subjective content.

Through “chopping and screwing” new context is applied to a song’s most fundemental plastic elements. By slowing it down, the lyrics become a more pronounced and central element while the music is abstracted. This parallels the way in which materiality and form become the central elements in each work. By working within the confines of traditional materials and forms, the objects by these artists address and refer to their production and to artistic production in general.

To again further this relationship between materiality, form and the remix, the exhibition itself will be “screwed”; systematically rotating throughout the gallery and slowing it’s rotation down, in the same way the record itself physically is slowed down. This action happens in a simple calculated way that in turn acknowledges the lifespan of the exhibition as well as giving rise to a number of variable displays.

Chopped & Screwed features work by Elaine Cameron-Weir and Liz Deschenes who live and work in New York, John Henderson who lives and works in Chicago, Noam Rappaport who lives and works in Los Angeles, Dan Reeswho lives and works in Berlin, Liam Crockard, Georgia Dickie, Aleksander Hardashnakov, Jen Hutton, Charles Reeve and Saelan Twerdy who live and work in Toronto and Scott Lyall who lives and works in Toronto and New York. Chopped & Screwed is curated by Hugh Scott-Douglas who lives and works in Toronto.