Nicole Bauberger and Susan Walton | A collection of questions

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Nicole Bauberger, 2024

(courtesy of the Artist)

The duo plans an interactive installation to take part in the yard of the Yukon Artists at Work Gallery at 4^th and Wood Streets. It will be animated by three in-person events over the summer.

Components of the installation will include a large sculpture of a question mark on the lawn, a box with paper, pencils and instructions for you to write down your questions and drop them into the box, and canvas on the plywood-covered windows of the house that contains the gallery on which the pair plans to transcribe the collected questions in paint.

Most of these painted transcriptions will take place on July 30, August 7, and August 27. Susan and/or Nicole will host evening events from 4-7 pm those days, offering rhubarb punch and some snacks to visitors, who will be encouraged to add more questions to the project.

“I heard from the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce that they were struggling with visitors to Whitehorse not having anything to do in the evenings. This installation will be accessible 24-7 till September 2, so visitors or locals can interact with it anytime, including when there’s not much going on downtown,” says Bauberger.

Walton wonders, “How often do we ask a question versus making a comment, providing a directive, or already having the answer in mind? What is the burning question you’ve had for years? What is the random question rolling around in your mind as you stroll or stride down the street? How do you ask the question? Straight forward? Flat out? Hedge it with a background? WHAT is the Question? What IS the Question? What is THE Question? What is the QUESTION?”

Bauberger also reflects, “you know, I get folks who work in the tourist industry coming in to the gallery on their days off. One of the stressors for them is the outlandish questions they sometimes get asked by tourists. Things like, ‘Where do they store the ice bridge in Dawson in the summertime?’ It’s an easy question to scoff at but kind of beautiful if you think about it. I hope this might be a place where they can set down the burden of those questions, and we can put them to work in our piece.”

Bauberger’s interest in questions has been fueled by performances like “Nakai asks Questions” and Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions, a series of poems written entirely in the form of questions.

The pair thinks it’s also fun that tourist information centres are usually signified by a question mark, but that this exhibition asks people to hold the space of the question.

“What happens if we hold a space open for wondering?”

You will see the large question mark installed at Yukon Artists At Work from July 16 to September 2. Please add your questions to the boxes, look to the canvases to see their layered transcriptions, and if you can, come out to one of the question socials in the evenings.