Kevin Schmidt - EDM House

Kevin Schmidt’s installation and film EDM House (2013) transforms an abandoned homestead in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, into a meeting place of the urban and rural. His incongruous superimposition of the sounds of EDM (electronic dance music) and colored Christmas lights onto this remote location, where he also lived for four months, critiques our pioneering expeditions into the natural world. His disorienting camera work recalls Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo, and imbues the scenery with a sense of displacement, at once chilling and exhilarating.

This fourth publication in the series with Fogo Island Arts includes stunning color photographs of the installation plus reflections on Schmidt’s practice from leading writers. Jeff Derksen (Associate Professor of English, Simon Fraser University) traces the evolution of Schmidt’s house from homestead to nostalgic getaway cabin. Novelist Michael Turner’s fictional narrative follows an aspiring filmmaker whose discovery of the house is informed by a rich field of cinematic and literary references. Finally, a conversation between Jack Stanley and Schmidt provides insight into the artist’s practice.

Copublished with Fogo Island Arts on the occasion of the exhibition Kevin Schmidt–EDM House, Fogo Island Cinema, October 1-December 31, 2014.

Contributors Jeff Derksen, Kevin Schmidt, Jack Stanley, Michael Turner