Dubious Views:
questioning institutional representations in tourism and cartography
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Subversive Souvenirs

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In this stereotypical tourist pose, the artist stands full view in front of a Lake Louise with picture-perfect mountains in the background, reminiscent of popular postcards of the Rockies.

Jin-me Yoon
Souvenirs of the Self (Lake Louise), 1991-2000

In this stereotypical tourist pose, the artist stands full view in front of a Lake Louise with picture-perfect mountains in the background, reminiscent of popular postcards of the Rockies. The artist stands in the Banff Park Museum beside a stuffed beaver and other artifacts in display cases. The artist plays with the typical conventions of the postcard by inserting herself into the image, where there would typically be no human presence. The artist poses with a group of elderly tourists in front of their tour bus. A typical souvenir, the group photo is a favourite image to remember the group of people a tourist would travel with. By capturing the typical vacation imagery in the Postcard Project, the artist appropriates the format of the postcard to question the stories being told in them. The artist plays with the conventions of the postcard, right down to the typical imagery, and highlights her own presence in the photos by inserting herself in typical tourist poses. The image represented here is of six of the postcards at the top of the image, with the details from the back of the postcard on the bottom. This image is of a young Asian child wearing an orange braided pigtail wig. The red pigtails represent the cultural myth of PEI - Anne of Green Gables - sold in many tourist shops in PEI. Two Women, the artist and a red-headed woman, sit in front of a statue of Anne of Green Gables, a fictional character created by Lucy Maude Montgomery, now a symbol of PEI. A woman with a baby overlooks the coastal landscape of Prince Edward Island. The artist stands facing a War Memorial in Charlottetown. Instead of the stereotypical tourist photo where the tourist poses in front of the memorial, the artist stands facing the monument, and not the camera. In this series of photographs, Yoon explores the cultural myths of Prince Edward Island, where tourism is a primary industry. In this image, the artist stands in a farmer's field with deep red soil, presumably a field of potatoes, a main export from Prince Edward Island. She stands with a man and young child, representing a family, their backs facing us. In this image, two people stand looking out over a golf course, their backs to us. The artists inserts herself into the image, using stereotypical tourist photos to examine the truth and lies behind tourist representations of place. Here, she stands beside an Aboriginal man, overlooking a golf course. Once belonging to First Nations Peoples, the land is now used as a tourist destination for commercial gain.
By juxtaposing an 'original' postcard with its 'copy,' the artist shows the over-simplicity of the representation of tourist sites. In Worlds Largest Dinosaur Postcard, the Postcard 'original' shows blue skies, clean cars and tourists enjoying their visit. On the right is the 'copy,' a photo taken from almost the same view-point, but with bleak skies.

Mitch Robertson
Original Copy, World's Largest Dinosaur, 2002/2003

By juxtaposing an 'original' postcard with its 'copy,' the artist shows the over-simplicity of the representation of tourist sites. In Worlds Largest Dinosaur Postcard, the Postcard 'original' shows blue skies, clean cars and tourists enjoying their visit. On the right is the 'copy,' a photo taken from almost the same view-point, but with bleak skies. By juxtaposing an 'original' postcard with its 'copy,' the artist shows the over-simplicity of the representation of tourist sites. In Washington Park, the Postcard 'original' shows a beautifully landscaped garden in the summer. On the right is the 'copy,' a photo of the same place in the Fall, showing a bleak scene, trees without lush leaves, green grass or manicured gardens. By juxtaposing an 'original' postcard with its 'copy,' the artist shows the over-simplicity of the representation of tourist sites. In Elvis Postcard, the Postcard 'original' shows a symmetrical arrangement of flowers arranged around the gravestone. The lighting is even with no imperfections. On the right is the 'copy,' a photo of the same place, complete with flaws, with cast shadows, sunny spots and gifts strewn across in no orderly fashion. By juxtaposing an 'original' postcard with its 'copy,' the artist shows the over-simplicity of the representation of tourist sites. In Hoodoos Postcard, the Postcard 'original' shows blue skies and an unpopulated landscape. On the right is the 'copy,' a photo of the same place, populated by tourists and a bleak sky. We rarely view tourist sites as shown in picture-perfect postcards. By juxtaposing an 'original' postcard with its 'copy,' the artist shows the over-simplicity of the representation of tourist sites. In Parthenon Postcard, the Postcard 'original' shows a virtually unpopulated site, airbrushed and perfect. While on the right is the 'copy,' a photo taken from almost the same view-point, but this time populated by people moving items in and out of a Ryder Van, with cars in the foreground. By juxtaposing an 'original' postcard with its 'copy,' the artist shows the over-simplicity of the representation of tourist sites. In Gastown Postcard, the Postcard 'original' shows a romanticized nighttime view of the street, lit up with lights and unpopulated. On the right is the 'copy,' a photo taken from almost the same view-point, but is a bleak, daytime view of a snowy, populated street.
The picturesque, post-card image is re-defined in this banal water-colour image of a landscape. Loch Ness, a popular tourist destination is represented here by the lake itself with boat, trees and mountain in the background. The artist reveals the ultimate banality of this tourist destination.

Mitch Robertson
Lochness Landscapes, Roof and Harbour, 2002/2003

The picturesque, post-card image is re-defined in this banal water-colour image of a landscape. Loch Ness, a popular tourist destination is represented here by the lake itself with boat, trees and mountain in the background. The artist reveals the ultimate banality of this tourist destination. This water-colour shows a castle in the foreground with water and a mountain in the background. With this image, the artist mocks the typical tourists delusion that the place is unique. Unless you are familiar with the site itself, this could be a pastoral landscape of any castle in Europe. This Water-colour landscape shows an image of a lake with mountain and trees. The artist zeroes in more closely on the site itself, exposing the banality of this popular tourist space. This water-colour landscape vista of Loch Ness shows trees in the foreground, water and a sailboat in the background. Using web cam imagery of the Loch Ness area in Scotland, the artist endows this banal image of boats on a lake surrounded by mountains with an imposed sense of uniqueness.
In this image, the artist depicts a young man's interaction with a popular tourists site. He sits on his red bicycle, in shorts and t-shirt, looking out over Niagara Falls in New York. He is wearing headphones and casually leans against a set of coin-operated binoculars.

Roger Minick
Young Man at Niagara Falls, NY, 1999

In this image, the artist depicts a young man's interaction with a popular tourists site. He sits on his red bicycle, in shorts and t-shirt, looking out over Niagara Falls in New York. He is wearing headphones and casually leans against a set of coin-operated binoculars. This photograph represents a couple at the Statue of Liberty Island. The Man holds a camcorder, while the woman looks away, smiling at the camera, with the Twin Towers in the background. Through casual connections, the artists exposes the banality of the interactions of locals with the sites that are geared to tourists, revealing the subtle ironies contained within. This image shows a couple interacting with the site around them, walking between two cars stuck in the sands, their backs towards the camera, at Cadillac Ranch in Texas. At Crazy Horse, South Dakota, hundreds of tourists are shown 'interacting' with their surrounding environment - taking pictures and walking around. A young African-American girl poses for the camera at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. A woman is shown from the chin down, wearing a red, sleeveless top and blue shorts, walking down the steps at this popular tourist destination, the Grand Canyon National Park, in Arizona. In the background is a view of more tourists looking over a railing into the Grand Canyon. In this typical tourist photo, an overweight American Family poses in front of Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota. The Husband has a camcorder handing around his neck and the wife holds a camera. Each family member wears shorts and comfortable walking shoes. In this banal image, a woman stands in her creased pantsuit, hair protected by a scarf, with her purse hooked around her arm at Glacier National Park in Montana. In her hands she holds an old camera, and looks down into it, capturing her surroundings. Behind her is a building and mountains.
In this series of images by Noguci, she explores the myth of the Wild West as perpetuated in theme parks throughout the Unites States. This image shows a gun in a hand at the right side of the image. It has just been shot, producing a puff of smoke. In her images, the artist uses cultural stereotypes - like the 'wild west cowboy' - to reveal their own absurdity.

Louise Noguchi
Bang, 2004

By exploring this notion of cultural stereotypes in the 'Wild West,' the artist reveals the absurdity that is revealed through these re-enactments for tourists. In this image a woman dressed in western dress stands outside a Smoke Shop, holding a gun as smoke lingers around her. In this series of images by Noguci, she explores the myth of the Wild West as perpetuated in theme parks throughout the Unites States. This image shows a gun in a hand at the right side of the image. It has just been shot, producing a puff of smoke. In her images, the artist uses cultural stereotypes - like the 'wild west cowboy' - to reveal their own absurdity. In this image and others, the artist investigates the tourists need to find the myth of a tourist destination intact. The tourist would rather see the Hollywood version rather than how it may have really been. This image shows a snapshot of a re-enactment of an event from the 'Wild West.' The door of a Gunsmith and Mining Supply Shop has just been blown out producing a puff of smoke. In this image, a puff of smoke lingers where a gun was just shot off in a re-enactment.
In this series of photographs, the artist plays off the typical '...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt' souvenir on offer in many tourist boutiques. By turning aboriginal peoples into souvenirs, the artist questions both stereotypes and souvenirs. In this image, an Aboriginal woman, arms folded, is wearing a white t-shirt stating 'The Shirt.' She wears a pair of sunglasses and a US flag bandana on her head. In the background is a view of the landscape.

Shelley Niro
The Shirt, 2003

In this series of photographs, the artist plays off the typical '...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt' souvenir on offer in many tourist boutiques. By turning aboriginal peoples into souvenirs, the artist questions both stereotypes and souvenirs. In this image, an Aboriginal woman, arms folded, is wearing a white t-shirt stating 'The Shirt.' She wears a pair of sunglasses and a US flag bandana on her head. In the background is a view of the landscape. In this second photograph in the series, the same Aboriginal woman is shown wearing a t-shirt stating 'My ancestors were annihilated exterminated murdered and massacred.' This third photographs shows the Aboriginal woman wearing a t-shirt stating 'They were lied to cheated tricked and deceived.' This fourth photo shows the Aboriginal woman wearing a t-shirt stating 'Attempts were made to assimilate colonize enslave and displace them.' This fifth photo shows the Aboriginal woman wearing a t-shirt stating 'And all's I get is this shirt.' This sixth photo shows the Aboriginal woman without a shirt, hands covering her breasts. The bandana and sunglasses she was wearing in the previous photos are also gone. This final photo in the series shows a White woman wearing a t-shirt stating 'And all's I get is this shirt' - the same shirt the Aboriginal woman was wearing in the previous images. She is also wearing the US Flag bandana around her neck, and the sunglasses on her head. This final image reveals the more sinister notion of tourist as conqueror.
This black and white image shows triangular simulated trees lined up in the parking lot of a North Vancouver Information Booth, with real trees in the background.

N.E. Thing Co.
Act #17 - Simulated Tree Structures, Vancouver Information Booth, 1968

This black and white image shows triangular simulated trees lined up in the parking lot of a North Vancouver Information Booth, with real trees in the background. A large arrow painted on the road points towards an entrance of a shopping mall in this black and white image. A woman walks at the left side of the image. In images such as this one, The N.E. Thing Co. address the various ways of endowing a place with meaning. This photograph is of a sign on a coast line stating 'You are now in the middle of a N.E. Thing Co. Landscape.' Written at the bottom of the image is 'Simulated Photo of the Moon's 'Sea of Tranquility' Filled with Water and N.E. Thing Co.'s Sign Placed Beside it. August 1969.' In this series of images, N.E. Thing Co. appropriates the form of the guided tour to demonstrate the myopia of the institutional gaze, and address the various ways of endowing place with meaning. In this image, we see a sign in the landscape stating 'You will soon pass by as 1/4 mile N.E. Thing Co. Landscape.' In this third image in the series, we see a sign at the side of the road stating 'Stop Viewing.' In this third image in the series, we see a sign at the side of the road stating 'Stop Viewing.' This image is of a map of PEI showing the locations of 'start viewing' & 'stop viewing' and a sketch of the 1/4 mile landscape. By drawing attention to the stages of the gaze, observers of a site do not fully evolve into active participants, the act of gazing is performative in and of itself.
This image shows a grid of 20 grainy black and white mug shots of people taken from surveillance cameras.

David Rokeby
Watched and Measured, Mugs, 2000

This image shows a grid of 20 grainy black and white mug shots of people taken from surveillance cameras. In this video still, we see a man crossing street with cars moving around him, as viewed from an infrared Surveillance camera. In this black and white video still, the focus is a man crossing the street on his bicycle, with cars in the foreground, as viewed from a surveillance camera. This image is a grid of black and white mug shots of 98 people and 2 cars taken from surveillance cameras. In these images, the artist questions the motives of other who watch and collect surveillance imagery, critiquing the integrity of the 'evidence' presented by this kind of footage. This birds-eye view from a surveillance camera, focuses in on a young girl walking with a man. It is a grainy, blurry shot that demonstrates the artist's use of surveillance technology to reveal the malleable nature of the imagery behind the spectacle of surveillance.
This image from a surveillance camera in a Music Store shows shelves of synthesizers and guitars.

Michelle Teran
Life: A User's Manual, #19, 2003

This image from a surveillance camera in a Music Store shows shelves of synthesizers and guitars. In her series of performances, Teran takes on a character, such as an itinerant traveler or homeless person, and intercepts images from surveillance cameras through a wireless video receiver, and views them on a small monitor. In this mundane image, we see a hallway and front door of a house captured by a surveillance camera. This surveillance camera image of a street viewed from the second floor of a building shows parked cars and buildings. Here, it is not the gaze of the tourist camera but the lens of security cameras that captures images. This surveillance camera image of a street viewed from the second floor of a building shows parked cars and a pedestrian. With these surveillance images, the artist questions the motives of the intuition - where do they choose to look? What does it expect or hope to see? The story has different consequence, and is dependant upon the interpretation of the institution. This distorted image from an intercepted surveillance camera shows an unpopulated restaurant interior, with stairs and a bar in the background. This image from a surveillance camera is a banal image of the front room of a store, with open front door and no people.
This screen shot is from the website, Eyes of Laura, by Janet Cardiff. The site takes the idea of constructed narrative based on surveillance imagery one step further. It is based on a fictional premise of a security guard at an art gallery monitoring surveillance footage.

Janet Cardiff
Eyes of Laura, 2006

The Surveillance Camera Players use the camera itself as the medium. By stepping in front of the camera, they use the system of surveillance as a mirror within which they create their own scenes to show the public a humorous way of transmitting messages. In this image, we see people with protest signs as viewed through a television screen. One person is holding a sign that reads 'Why do people act irrationally?' with a skull and crossbones below.

Surveillance Camera Players
$, 1999

The Surveillance Camera Players use the camera itself as the medium. By stepping in front of the camera, they use the system of surveillance as a mirror within which they create their own scenes to show the public a humorous way of transmitting messages. In this image, we see people with protest signs as viewed through a television screen. One person is holding a sign that reads 'Why do people act irrationally?' with a skull and crossbones below. This image is of a man with number around his neck, smoking a cigarette, as viewed through a television screen. This image is of a close-up view of a pink sign saying 'I love big brother,' viewed through a television screen. In this image, we see a close-up of a man smoking a cigarette, viewed through a television screen. This image shows someone holding a sign stating 'we are the dead,' viewed through a television screen. This image shows a man holding sign saying 'I want god to see me,' viewed through a television screen. This image shows a man holding sign saying 'fascists' with swastika viewed through a television screen. This last image in the series shows people with protest signs viewed through a television screen. With these images, the Surveillance Camera Players demand that what we see in front of cameras is always fiction, and that there is no such thing as a one-sided story.
In this final image, the artist poses as a tourist in front of the Statue of Liberty. In typical tourist fashion, she imitates the pose of the statue with her arm raised high above her head.

Nikki S. Lee
The Tourist Project #13, 1997

In this final image, the artist poses as a tourist in front of the Statue of Liberty. In typical tourist fashion, she imitates the pose of the statue with her arm raised high above her head. By acting as a cultural chameleon, Nikki S. Lee modifies her appearance to blend into subcultures. She imitates and projects onto herself the persona that viewers expect to see. In this images as The Tourist, she is seen asking for directions from a local, looking down at a map. She is dressed in typical tourist clothes - t-shirt, shorts, running shoes. She is in a popular tourist destination, surrounded by billboards and other tourists. In this image, the artists poses as a tourist wearing a fanny pack and carrying a bag over her shoulder. She is waiting in line with other tourists with knapsacks and bags, behind a red velvet rope, waiting to get into what one would assume to be a tourist attraction. In this image, the artist poses with three other tourists in front of the UN, looking straight into the camera, smiling. They are typical tourists wearing blue shorts, t-shirts, fanny packs and carry cameras. In this image, the artist poses as a tourist on top the Empire State Building. She casually leans against the coin-operated binoculars used to look out over the city, with other tourists all around, taking pictures and pointing at various sites.
In the foreground of this image is a blurred view of the dead Pope John II's funeral procession. In the background are on-lookers taking photos with their cell phones. Instead of focusing on the event itself, they snap photos to instantly send to family and friends, experiencing the event through a lens instead of through their own eyes.

Lynetter
People taking photographs with cellphones at Pope funeral, 2006

In this diptych, a view of the Eiffel Tower, representing a pleasant night-time tourist experience, is juxtaposed against an image of the suburbs of Paris with a burned out storefront. This representation of urban violence is not shown on post-cards or in tourist information.

Anonymous, Alex de Cossette
Tourism in Paris compared to inner-suburban racialized violence, 2006