Corbin Union is an artist collective comprised of core members Miruna Drăgan, Jason de Haan and Warren McLaghlan. OSOSO extends the collective’s ongoing, place-based examination of violent and often hidden histories of resource extraction, environmental destruction and immigrant labour unrest; the folly of the settler paradigm; and the movement of matter and populations (both human and non) across geological time.  

Published on the occasion of Corbin Union’s 2021 exhibition at CAG, subsequently presented in 2022 as a multi-sited exhibition at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Regional and Museo de la Ciudad in Querétaro, Mexico, OSOSO features essays by curators Paulina Macías and Kimberly Phillips and poems by April Thompson.

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OSOSO

Corbin Union

Corbin Union is a Vancouver- and Calgary-based artist collective that has gathered annually since 2012 in the deserted East Kootenay coal-mining town of Corbin, BC to create both individual and collaborative works. Under a conceptual framework of excavation and entombment, mirroring and refraction, the collective’s three core members — Miruna Dragan, Jason de Haan and Warren McLachlan — bring together a range of interwoven experimental object and image forms in _OSOSO_. 

Central to the exhibition is an expansive installation informed by the vernacular architecture of Corbin’s original townsite, its alpine graveyard and surrounding natural and industrial landscapes, particularly the now-abandoned Coal Mountain pit mine operation. This installation, with its suggestion of underground ossuaries, extraction sites and mausoleums, transforms the gallery into a labyrinthine space and offers the housing for a multitude of other standalone video, sound, cast paper, and sculptural works. In their insistence on multiplicity, the collective confounds viewers’ easy image consumption, offering instead a dark, askance glimpse into experiences of materials, site and space. _OSOSO_ extends the collective’s ongoing, place-based examination of violent and often hidden histories of resource extraction, environmental destruction and immigrant labour unrest; the folly of the settler paradigm; and the movement of matter and populations (both human and non) across geological time. 

Co-curated by Julia Lamare and Kimberly Phillips


The artists gratefully acknowledge the support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary Arts Development, Canada Council for the Arts, and Denbigh Fine Arts.


### Biography 

Corbin Union (founded in 2012) is an artist collective comprised of core members Miruna Dragan, Jason de Haan and Warren McLachlan, working site-responsively to the ghost town of Corbin, BC on the unceded lands of the Sinixt, Ktunaxa, Secwepemc, and Syilx Nations. Past Corbin Union projects have been presented at Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro (2019); Unit/Pitt, Vancouver (2016); Untitled Art Society, Calgary (2015); Bond House Projects, London, UK (2013); and Easts St. Arts, London, UK (2013). In 2021 Corbin Union will present a new iteration of *OSOSO* at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Querétaro (MACQ), accompanied by a monograph co-published by CAG and MACQ.

Miruna Dragan (Bucharest, 1975) is a multidisciplinary artist settled in Mohkinstsis/Calgary on traditional Blackfoot and Metis lands since 2009. Exhibition venues include u’s, Diamond Valley (2020); Living Art Museum, Reykjavík (2019); Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro (2019); Blackwood Gallery at University of Toronto (2018); Nickle Galleries at University of Calgary (2017); Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge (2016); Nanaimo Art Gallery (2015); G Gallery, Toronto (2014); Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2013); Esker Foundation, Calgary (2013); Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro (2012); Kyber ICA, Halifax (2011); and Truck Contemporary Art, Calgary (2010). Dragan received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2001 and is Associate Professor at Alberta University of the Arts.

Jason de Haan (Edmonton, 1981) is a multidisciplinary artist settled in Mohkinstsis/Calgary on traditional Blackfoot and Metis lands. de Haan received an MFA from Bard College, NY in 2015. Exhibition venues include u’s, Diamond Valley (2020); Kling & Bang, Reykjavík (2019); Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto (2018); Esker Foundation, Calgary (2017); MASS MoCA, North Adams (2016); De Fabriek, Eindhoven (2016); Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2016); Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (2014); Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax (2014); Oakville Galleries (2012); and Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge (2012). de Haan’s work has been reviewed in Canadian Art Magazine, Art in America and Artforum, and in 2020 he was co-awarded the Sobey Art Award representing the Prairies and the North.

Warren McLachlan (Calgary, 1975) is a multidisciplinary artist settled on the unceded ancestral territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations. McLachlan received an MA from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK in 2007 and a BFA from Alberta College of Art and Design in 2001. Exhibition venues include Burnaby Art Gallery (2020); Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro (2019); CSA Space, Vancouver (2018); Field Contemporary, Vancouver (2017); Unit/Pitt Façade, Vancouver (2016); The Tetley, Leeds, UK (2014); Supermarket Kulturhuset, Stockholm (2011); Cell Project Space, London, UK (2010); and Manton Lightbox, Tate Britain (2008). McLachlan curated exhibitions and events as a member of Dynamo Arts Association, Vancouver from 2012 – 2020.

ProgramGuideWinter2021-small.pdf

ExhibitionGuideCorbinUnion.pdf

Essay: “Corbin Union: OSOSO,” Kimberly Phillips

A set of stairs made of darkly stained wood leading to a platform. The railing of the stairs and platform are made of steel painted yellow. The paint is scratched and wearing away in some areas. 

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Large strips of brown and black tie dyed cloth hang throughout a gallery space. A sculpture made from a satellite dish sits in the middle, half of it is obscured by the cloth.

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A view of Corbin Union’s exhibition in a gallery space. Long strips of brown and black tie dyed cloth hang throughout the gallery space. A ramp sits in the center of the room and leads to a sculpture.

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Strips of dyed cloth and orange netting hang throughout the gallery space. To the right a ramp leads to a satellite dish sculpture. On The right side is a black plinth with small sculptures of bottles.

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A small narrow space with a monitor, mounted on a black wall. On the screen there is an abstract blue and white image. In front there is a box seat made out of dark brown stained wood. 

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Yellow stairs go up to a platform on the right side of the image. Under the stairs there is a monitor showing an abstract picture. On the left side of the image there is a tall sculpture. 

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Eight framed prints of collages hang on a wall on the right side of the image. On the left there is brown tie dyed fabric hanging from the ceiling. Suspended from the fabric are tool-like sculptures.

Corbin Union

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