Edwin Janzen

 

Edwin Janzen is a visual artist living and working in Montreal. His work investigates how the human obsession with technology shapes our identities, personally and culturally. To this end, he explores the exciting, diverse intersections of politics, economics and popular culture during the twentieth century and the present day.

 

He is particularly focused on the period of the Cold War, during which patriotism and militarism came to be closely linked to an enthusiastic, uncritical embrace of technology, especially military and surveillance technologies. For this reason, Edwin’s works often embody or contain metaphors for the human psyche in conditions of confinement and repression, usually self-imposed and therefore potentially humorous.

 

Edwin is also a freelance writer and editor, and has written for a wide variety of publications. He is a co-founder of Les Fleurs du Mal, a free magazine devoted to emerging art and artists in the Montreal area.

 

Edwin completed his MFA at the University of Ottawa (2010) and his BFA at Concordia University (2008). He also holds a BA in History (Byzantine Empire) from the University of Manitoba (1994). Edwin is president of articule’s board of directors.

 

Photo caption:
Edwin Janzen, Vigilant (detail), installation (66 engraved plastic nameplates), 2010

Photo by Irina Lyubchenko