Major Artwork Purchase
- Category: Features
- Date: January 24, 2019
Amalie Atkins – Three Minute Miracle (Pavillion) (2012). Photo courtesy of the artist.
The Saskatchewan Arts Board recently added 12 new works to our Permanent Collection by 11 artists, including Three Minute Miracle (Pavillion), a large installation by Amalie Atkins.
Atkins is a multidisciplinary artist from Saskatoon who creates cinematic fables through a blend of film, textiles, installations, performance and photography. Three Minute Miracle is her first major installation, which debuted in 2012 at the prestigious Oh, Canada exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and toured across Canada over the next several years.
Three Minute Miracle embodies the distinctive hand-made aesthetic of Atkins’ work. It is an immersive experience for audiences, who are encouraged to slip on felt boots and enter the tent. The floor is covered in crushed white and clear glass, the crunch of which emulates a walk on a cold winter’s day. Screening inside is a dream-like video, where a girl with a giant cake goes to a place where all teeth ache.
“One of my goals is to create work that contains humour and warmth, inviting viewers to participate in creative action, to summon their own stories into existence, and to experience wonder,” Atkins says. “The value of wonder is one that I believe is being lost in many aspects of our culture. My hope is that my work becomes a carrier of wonder to future generations.”
