Jaynus O'Donnell: Can you please further expand on your concerns on the compartmentalization of society through lifestyle demographics and explain how this manifested itself in the community of Oakville.

Kirsten Forkert: This compartmentalization is not necessarily specific to Oakville or to suburban communities. In terms of the bigger picture, I think that it's a consequence of capitalism in general (which as we know very well is based around ideologies of individualism). This has intensified in the present 'postmodern condition': people leave rural communities for jobs, people leave their countries because there are no opportunities for them… and of course, it's an increasingly transient and fragmented society we live in. And for the past 30-40 years, and especially after 1989, the Left has focused on the small, the localized, the contingent and the specific, in all those critiques of grand narratives and political programs that you've probably read about in class (in terms of theories of postmodernism).

In terms of the niche markets, it's to do with identities being formed basically in consumer terms: we buy the same products and so we share something. We listen to the same music and so we share something. The example I gave you over coffee is one I find particularly disturbing: where voting patterns can be determined through your shopping habits.

But my concern is to do with a common space, a space of shared concern. And that when we're isolated and fragmented as individuals we're left with a sense of lacking this, and then this desire gets displaced onto consumer culture, or, more disturbingly, nostalgic and simplistic forms of nationalism or religious extremism.

And in terms of Oakville, as I've said before, social classes are separated from each other so people don't have to deal with others who might come from a radically different point of view, who might come from different cultural contexts, etc. So that desire for that shared space was articulated around those myths of the small town.

Jaynus O'Donnell: A lot of your "action-based" work has been performed outside of your own living space (Vancouver). Is there a specific rationale behind this?

Kirsten Forkert: This doesn't have as much to do with the nature of the city as with lack of local opportunities, and the fact that my practice doesn't fit the local context, either in terms of performance art or in terms of the art community in a broader sense. Performance art in Vancouver tends to be more theatrically based, and so festivals and other events are set up for theatrically based practices. Part of this is structural; I'm interested in working contexts that are neither five week exhibitions nor contexts that privilege short theatrical work. And those types of opportunities tend to exist elsewhere, rather than in Vancouver. But also it's to do with discourse being fairly narrowly defined, and by this I mean the artists or thinkers etc. that come to town and the types of discussions that take place. The argument could also be made that one should introduce such practices to the local context, that it's an education process. But that's a very long term project and can't be accomplished by one individual alone.

Jaynus O'Donnell: You were interested in presenting the Oakville project in a way that highlighted your inability to maintain an objective stance toward the space and the information you gathered there. How is this subjectivity of information collection and presentation alluded to in the work?

Kirsten Forkert: It has to do with the nature of the writing. Some of it is fairly impressionistic and is written in the first person. And with the glossary, those definitions are primarily subjective definitions, although a few are more factual. I'd also say it's to do with the structure of the website: it's a complex structure that makes it difficult to get a sense of 'overview'.

Jaynus O'Donnell: How did your interest in urban and suburban structures, in terms of pre-planned living spaces, influence your initial outlook on the Oakville project? Did your ideas on this subject change throughout the four weeks you spent there?

Kirsten Forkert: My initial outlook on Oakville was based on what I'd seen and read elsewhere of suburbia. I'd never been to Oakville; what I heard was fairly stereotypical, about it being a very wealthy suburb where people were obsessed with property values and safety. As I said before, I was interested in aspects of Oakville that didn't fit this representation and that in a sense, were made invisible.

My ideas did change, and I started to realize that suburbia was a symptom of the larger forces I mentioned earlier, about car culture, social fragmentation and a need for community and identity in this context. And that it can be very difficult for us to conceive of the 'common good' if we're used to seeing everything in individual consumer terms, or in terms of private property. This was quite evident at the town hall meetings. People, or at least those who felt entitled to speak, seemed to feel that what was good for them, or their property values, was by extension good for everyone else. Hence the obsession with perfect lawns and the regulation of space; it all came down to this contradiction.

Forkert's investigative process addresses how one interacts with and deciphers one's inhabited living spaces. Devices used in 'Misplace' such as the 'logs' mimic experiences one may face in an unfamiliar locale, going beyond surface investigation which the web format serves to comment on access to instant information (be it slanted or not). By including interviews quotes from Oakville residents and a colloquial glossary of terms Forkert offers multiple perspectives which become layers in meaning as different contexts are consumed by the data each ultimately can confuse both meaning and its allocation. This work does not stem from a desire for objectivity, rather points to an acceptance of each individuals experience within a given space. The collection of work overall offers a more complete study of both the space and the unfamiliar to create a new territory or experience for the viewer to learn and understand.

Forkert's action-oriented approaches to her research from spending time living in a place and/or getting involved in their political and/or social structures, offers her a view which between insider and outsider. Her ability to be considered a 'part of the community', she has illustrated onto itself can be contentious. Forkert's work through its mandates illustrates how such criteria is unstable. In this manner, entities composed on power and relationships to proprietors of socio--economic status at any given time will always be in flux.

Ultimately, her continued habits of city living transposed from Vancouver to Oakville proved fascinating. For example, her determination to bike or walk places Oakville was admirable given how out of place this action is in a car-dominated space. Such bold action made Forkert appear out of place, however, her actions allowed her to understand and explore the landscape in ways not possible with the car. By removing the car from ways in which Oakville citizens experience their own city, Forkert imposed a new typology of experience. Her collected and sampled data from these experiences creates an atypical approach to how to decipher communal spaces and transit systems. In the same way, the implementations of the internet in Forkert's project offers another method of information delivery whether accurate or objective, the viewer must spend time with the sit in order to assimilate, decipher, and comprehend the information. This process is the same just as someone would undertake residing in a new environment.