Column

Writer

Exhibition Practices

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Canadian

Collaboration

Architecture

The article presents a selection of projects, books, and exhibitions of note, including the book “The Art-Architecture Complex” by Hal Foster, the On-verge website at on-verge.org, and the VS VS VS collective studio and art gallery in Toronto, Ontario.

Noteworthy: Exhibition Practices

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Editorial

While contemporary art may often appear, for those without specialized training, to be a rarified and hermetic realm—the exclusive domain of artists, critics, curators and collectors—it nonetheless operates as an important ground for intellectual and creative labour with resonance far beyond its own institutions. Art schools, for example, do a great deal more than train artists. If we consider how few art school graduates go on to make a living through art practice, relative to how many make a living through other professions (as set designers, carpenters, architects, film-makers, or writers, or in art-related fields such as arts administration or publishing, for example), we can glimpse the complex and richly generative role that the visual arts play in society. And those without specialized training who visit galleries, attend talks and like to read about, think about, and talk about contemporary art and culture also carry the ideas and experiences they discover into other facets of their lives and work. Contemporary art enables us to reflect on contemporary social and cultural life, and to question some of the ways that we perceive and make meaning in the world—regardless of our profession or depth of involvement. Consequently, the influence and impact of the contemporary art world cannot be measured strictly in terms of exhibitions, reviews or the value of saleable works. 

Historically, one major realm of influence of the arts has been social and political countercultures. For example, Courbet, Pissarro and Rimbaud were central actors in the Paris Commune of 1871, and the Situationist International, formed in the late 50s, consisted largely of artists. Similarly, the American counter-culture of the 60s included movements such as Fluxus and the much-reviled “Motherfuckers,” a Dadaist-inspired activist group based in New York City. More recently, artists have turned towards a formal consideration of countercultural social activity and political action. Artists like Mary Kelly, Sharon Hayes and Jeremy Deller, among others, have re-enacted historic political events or forms of protest. And many other artists have created spaces for countercultural communities and alternative channels for the dissemination of critical ideas. For example, in her article that appears in this issue, “New Experiments in Communal Living,” Tatiana Mellema looks at several projects in Canada—including Althea Thauberger’s recent residency, _La Commune. The Asylum. Die Bühne._, at the Banff Centre in Alberta; Arbour Lake Sghool and The Straw, in Calgary; Don Blanche, near Shelburne, Ontario; and Whitehouse, in Toronto—that have provided artists with alternative spaces for living and work-ing. The opening image for Mellema’s article is a photograph by Thauberger that depicts the residency’s participants posed like the Parisian communards from 1871 standing on the barricades. With everyone positioned across a pile of dirt at a construction site in Banff, its meaning is much more ambiguous, raising questions about our attachment to images and ideals from the past and what contemporary forms of revolutionary protest might look like. In a similar vein, Caroline Seck Langill writes about video artist Tom Sherman and his recent projects focusing on fishing communities along the South Shore of Nova Scotia. This work, much of which is made in collaboration with his partner, biologist Jan Pottie, plays a distinctly activist role, raising awareness about issues related to the fishery and circulating among members of the communities they document through YouTube and Vimeo. In all of these projects, the artists have found ways of working that directly engage the communities with which their work is concerned, and which rely upon alternative structures for production, exhibition and dissemination. 

Also in this issue, C examines exhibition practices that facilitate a re-examination of the past in terms of how they orient, or disorient, us in relation to the present. In “A Sea of Contingencies: Durational Projects,” Jesse Birch writes about Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber’s public artwork _A Sign for the City_, in which, through a bus-shelter ad campaign and newspaper announcements, the artists link the daily blast of Vancouver’s Nine O’Clock Gun to moments in the city’s history when important social changes were realized. Birch also considers how the first instalment of Cate Rimmer’s three-year-long curatorial project _The Voyage, or Three Years at Sea_ addresses the experience of temporal and spatial disorientation through a focus on the ocean. And, in an interview with Denise Frimer, Robert Houle discusses his recent exhibitions at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris and the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Inspired by his encounter with sketches by Delacroix of Native Americans, and accounts that describe the Ojibwa who performed at the court of French king Louis-Philippe in 1845, Houle has produced a number of new works that address the contemporary and historical representation of First Nations people in galleries and museums. Similarly, time and memory are at the centre of Alex Wolfson’s artist project for this issue, which deals with the idea of archives through a philosopher named Fernanda Eva Karon and her lover, Adán Calderón, whose fictional story is the re-enactment of the myth of Tancred and Clorinda. 

Finally, Philip Monk responds to the General Idea retrospective currently on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The collective consisting of Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson, who worked together from the late 60s until the early 90s, employed strategies of appropriation and myth-making, producing a massive and politically charged body of work that often explored notions of celebrity and glamour, and engaged critically with conceptions of the artist’s identity. For example, in 1987, they appropriated the colours and visual style of Robert Indiana’s 1967 _LOVE_ image, widely reproduced on posters, stamps and greeting cards, re-worked it to read _AIDS_ and then disseminated it around the world as an “image-virus” through posters, billboards and stamps. The image that appears on the cover of this issue, appropriated from the cover of a 1983 issue of _FILE Magazine_ follows on certain elements of GI’s practice and depicts the collective’s three members in poodle wigs. (The retrospective’s curator, Frédéric Bonnet, notes that the poodle—showy and sophisticated, yet banal—appears as a stand-in for a glamorous ideal of the artist’s identity.)[^1] In his article, Monk explores the idea of myth as a central principle of General Idea’s practice and argues persuasively how, almost twenty years after the deaths of Felix and Jorge, their work has only continued to gain contemporary relevance.

Many of the projects featured herein explore alternatives to traditional exhibitions, and all of them engage ideas that—however elusive they may seem at times—by no means belong exclusively to the art world. In doing so, they enable us to think more expansively about art’s role and value in society.

[^1]: Frédéric Bonnet, “Setting the Stage: Back to Reality!,” in _General Idea_ (jrp Ringer, Zurich, 2011), 20.

Amish Morrell is Assistant Professor at OCAD University, where he teaches Criticism & Curatorial Practice, and Visual and Critical Studies.

Editor

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Exhibitions

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses the contents of the issue, including topics such as alternative spaces for artists and art exhibition practices.

Editorial: Exhibition Practices

Feature

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Politics

Social

Location

Urban studies

The author discusses art with a temporal and spatial focus. She discusses the public artwork “A Sign in the City,” by Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber, which chronicles events of the city through the daily firing of the “Nine O'Clock Gun.” She discusses the exhibition “The Voyage, or Three Years at Sea,” by curator Cate Rimmer, which explores the sea and includes artworks by Tacita Dean and Rodney Graham.

A Sea of Contingencies: Durational Projects

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The article discusses the exhibition “Haute Culture: General Idea, a Retrospective, 1969-1994,” featuring artwork from the artist group General Idea, held at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Ontario from July 30, 2011 to January 1, 2012.

Some Like It Haute: The General Idea Retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario

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Environment

Video

Nature

An essay is presented on the video artwork of Tom Sherman and how it relates to the fishing communities that it depicts. Sherman's works explore the communities of Port Mouton and Liverpool in Nova Scotia and are disseminated online through YouTube and Vimeo. The author argues that online access to the videos can help to promote social change and community activism. Other topics include Sherman's collaboration with biologist Jan Pottie and specific video works including “Talking to Nature.”

"Me Calling Him—Him Calling Me"— Tom Sherman's Recent Video Work

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Participation

Residencies

The article discusses Canadian collective art projects exploring cohabitation, communal living, and social change. The author discusses artist Althea Thauberger's residency “La Commune. The Asylum. Die Bühne” at the Banff Centre in Alberta, where she explored collective living. Other art projects discussed include the Arbour Lake School for artists and The Straw Gallery in Calgary, Alberta and the Don Blanche utopian communal living project in Ontario.

New Experiments in Communal Living

Interview

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Indigenous

History

An interview is presented with First Nations artist Robert Houle. He discusses his 2011 artwork “Paris/Ojibwa,” which incorporates native dance performance, sound, an installation, and animation and explores the relationship between Canadian First Nations communities and European colonialism. He describes the role of history and the drawings of Eugène Delacroix in his artwork. He discusses the representation of First Nations artists in art institutions in Canada.

Paris/Ojibwa: Interview with Robert Houle

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Chris Lee is a graphic designer and educator based in Buffalo, New York and Toronto. His research explores graphic design’s entanglement with power, standards and legitimacy. Chris is an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo SUNY.

Designer

Publisher

Artist Project

Artist

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Installation

The F.E.K. Archives:This is making me nervous...

Review

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Photography

International

The article reviews the exhibition “A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters,” featuring photography by Taryn Simon, held at the Tate Modern museum in London, England from May 25, 2011 to January 2, 2012.

Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters

Craig Francis Power is an artist and writer from St. John’s.

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Landscape

The article discusses the 2011 Art Ex art festival “River As Source,” which was held in Grad Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland from July 7-10, 2011 and featured artists including Wednesday Lupypciw, Liss Platt, and Will Gill.

Art Ex 2011: River as Source

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Conceptual

The article reviews the exhibition “Pavillon levé (dix jours à vaincre les mortes-eaux),” or “Raised Flag (Ten days to defeat the neap tides),” featuring work by artists including Mona Sharma, William Anastasi, and Sheena Hoszko, held at the Circa gallery in Montreal, Quebec from July 29 to August 7, 2011.

Pavillon levé (dix jours à vaincre les mortes-eaux) 

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Text

Language

The article reviews the exhibition “The Normal Condition of Any Communication,” featuring artists including the Claire Fontaine collective, Keren Cytter, and Neil Beloufa, held at Gallery TPW in Toronto, Ontario from June 23 to July 30, 2011.

The Normal Condition of Any Communication

Lisa Myers is an independent curator and artist who works as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. She is a member of Beausoleil First Nation.

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The article reviews the installation exhibition “Backtrack,” featuring video art and other installation art exploring geography and mapping by Canadian artists Gwen MacGregor and Sandra Rechico, held at the A trans Pavilion gallery in Berlin, Germany from July 30 to September 10, 2011.

Gwen Macgregor and Sandra Rechico: Backtrack

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Food

The article reviews the exhibition “El arte del comer: De la naturaleza muerta a Ferran Adria,” or “The Art of Eating: From 'Still Life' to Ferran Adrià,” featuring art depicting food by artists including Ori Gersht, Piero Manzoni, and Daniel Spoerri, held at the La Pedrera space in Barcelona, Spain from March 14 to June 26, 2011.

EL ARTE del Comer: DE LA NATURALEZA MEURTA A FERRAN ADRIA (The Art of Eating: from "still life" to Ferran Adrià)

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Sculpture

Family

Feminism

The article reviews the exhibition “Louise Bourgeois: El retorno de lo reprimido,” or “The Return of the Repressed,” featuring 20th-century sculptures by Louise Bourgeois, held at the Fundación Proa in Buenos Aires, Argentina from March 19 to June 19, 2011.

Louise Bourgeois: El retorno de lo reprimido ("the return of the repressed")

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The article reviews the exhibition “Haven't We Been Here Before?” featuring video and photographic art by artists including Aleesa Cohene, Steven Leyden, and Jo-Anne Balcean, held at the Platform Center for Photographic + Digital Arts in Winnipeg, Manitoba from June 9 to July 23, 2011.

Haven't We Been Here Before?

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Identity

The article reviews the exhibition “New Photography 2011,” featuring photography by artists including Moyra Davey, Viviane Sassen, and Zhang Dali, held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City from September 28, 2011 to January 16, 2012.

New Photography 2011

**Richard William Hill** is an independent writer and curator, and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. First debted in _FUSE_ Magazine, Close Readings aims to offer honest assessments of exhibitions of contemporary Indigenous art.

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The article reviews the exhibition “The Poetics of Being,” featuring collage and assemblage artworks by Carl Beam, held at the National Gallery of Canada from October 21, 2010 to January 16, 2011.

Carl Beam: The Poetics of Being

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Institutional critique

Museums

The article reviews the book “(Re)Staging the Art Museum,” edited by Tone Hansen, which was published by Henie Onstad Art Centre and Revolver Publishing in 2011.

(Re)Staging the Art Museum, edited by Tone Hansen

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Technology

Body

The article reviews the book “Where Art Belongs,” by Chris Kraus, part of the Intervention series, published by Semiotext(e) in 2011.

Where Art Belongs, by Chris Kraus

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The article reviews the book “Making Art Global (Part 1): The Third Havana Biennial 1989,” by Rachel Weiss, part of the Exhibition Histories series.

Header

C Mag

Issue 112