Duane Linklater situates the conventions of the museum within the broader framework of both contemporary and historical conditions of Indigenous life. The artist not only refers to the inherited storage practices of his ancestors, but also critically addresses the violent systems of knowledge, representation, and value imposed by settler colonialism. For his exhibition at the Secession, Linklater has developed a site-specific modular structure centered around the concept of the "cache". A cache is a collection or assemblage of things. Connecting personal collections – the keepsakes and small objects we accumulate throughout our lives and display in our homes – to the larger museum complex and its colonial underside, the cache speaks to the entangled narratives through which not only objects but also emotions, memories, and ideas circulate and are preserved all over the world.
For Mâcistan, the artist responds directly to the physical space and to the institution as an ideological entity itself: its structures, processes, contexts. His presentation is grounded by a series of towering scaffolds. Instead of hanging works on the institution’s walls, Linklater creates his own framework for their display. It is no coincidence that the Cree word for cache, tešipitǎkan, also translates as "structure" or "frame". Embedded within these scaffolds are paintings, found objects, pieces of furniture, and various materials that undergo Linklater’s own process of collecting and safekeeping that is also a gesture of care. Household items and family possessions are elevated high above the ground, beyond immediate reach, awaiting their potential future use.
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