Newsfront
Newsfront, Fall 2009, pp. 25-26
BACK IN CLASS: Ydessa Hendeles joins U of T as professor
Described as “a brilliant curator” by the New York Times, the renowned collector, scholar and contemporary-art patron Ydessa Hendeles joins the University of Toronto’s Department of Art as an adjunct professor this fall. Hendeles, celebrated for her award-winning exhibition space, the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation, now turns to studio critiques and graduate-level seminars in art history and curatorial studies. Her new role in the university’s burgeoning visual-studies and curatorial program will undoubtedly influence future exhibition-makers. Department of Art chair Elizabeth Legge says, “Her groundbreaking and profoundly poetic curatorial practice of introducing non-art objects into her shows produces remarkable insights into cultural histories and the human psyche, and has had a profound international influence. Her presence will be an invaluable resource for graduate students in the Art History, Visual Studies and Curatorial Studies programs.”
WESTWARD BOUND: MacKenzie Art Gallery names Stuart Reid as head
In June, the curator and arts administrator Stuart Reid took over as Executive Director at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan. It is a westward move for Reid, formerly Director and Curator at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound, Ontario. “It seemed like a natural unfolding of my interest in administration,” says Reid. “I was attracted by the gallery’s stature in the region.”
MIXING IT UP: New mandate for DHC/ART
Montreal’s DHC/ART Foundation unveils a new programming mandate this fall. “DHC Session” will combine exhibitions by international artists who are making their Canadian debuts with related weekly public programming activities. Program curator and director of education Sarah Watson describes the first scheduled effort as a six-week format melding the artists Tehching Hsieh and Guido van der Werve. A major retrospective by the Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila opens in January.
2009 MOLSON PRIZE: Ian Wallace's Big Honour
The Canada Council had a busy summer this year. In May, it announced the appointment of Doug Sigurdson as the new head of the Visual Arts Section, and in June it awarded its annual $50,000 Molson Prize in the arts to Ian Wallace, the Vancouver-based photoconceptualist pioneer and former educator at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. The prestigious award acknowledges Wallace’s contribution to Canada’s cultural and intellectual life over the past four decades. Sigurdson, who was in 1972 one of the founders of Winnipeg’s Plug In ICA (then Plug In Gallery), remembers first seeing Wallace’s work “in a really fine one-man show at David Bellman Gallery in Toronto, perhaps 25 years ago. The work pondered what poverty looks like, what poverty may be presumed to look like...as a picture.” He acknowledged the award’s alignment with the strategic initiative the Canada Council set in place in 2008 to strengthen its commitment to individual artists. “The Molson Prize exemplifies— and amplifies—this core principle. Wallace’s work is complex: it’s very sophisticated stuff. I’m thrilled to see that the juries for the Molson Prize—which are composed of individuals who are not necessarily visual-arts specialists—have chosen to embrace artists who are practicing in advanced discourse.”
NORTHERN LIGHT: The new Art Gallery of Alberta
Edmonton may be best known for professional sports teams and North America’s largest indoor shopping mall, but as of 2010, there’s a new cultural icon in town. The Art Gallery of Alberta reopens on January 31 after two years of extensive renovations to its Sir Winston Churchill Square home by the Los Angeles–based architect Randall Stout. The refit doubles the AGA’s exhibition space and includes a massive third-floor gallery for contemporary programming as well as ground-floor spaces devoted to the gallery’s permanent collection. Other features include expanded educational and event spaces, a 150-seat theatre and an underground link to the city’s light-rail transit system.
The building’s dramatic structure, which features glass facades and an undulating stainless-steel “ribbon” that winds around the gallery, was designed by Stout as a response to natural forms unique to the Edmonton environment. “The aurora borealis was especially interesting,” he says. “I was struck by the motion of light and colour. I was also intrigued by the physical contrast between the winding path of the North Saskatchewan River and the city’s urban fabric, which is dramatically interrupted by the untamed river. I wanted to find a way to embody these natural qualities not only in architectural forms, but in the way that people interact with the building.”
NEWCOMER: Vancouver's "Offsite" showcase
An installation by the Chinese artist O Zhang inaugurates the Vancouver Art Gallery’s new outdoor exhibition space on West Georgia Street, at the foot of the Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver’s tallest building. The venue will showcase original artistic responses to the urban landscape in six-month cycles.
REVVING UP: Bob Rennie Collection moves to Chinatown
The Vancouver real-estate developer and art collector Bob Rennie opens a new art venue this fall that will house his personal collection in 20,000 square feet of exhibition space. Rennie has restored and renovated the oldest building in Vancouver’s Chinatown, on East Pender Street, and on October 24 it will open with a special exhibition by the artist Mona Hatoum that will occupy all five of the planned exhibition spaces. According to Wendy Chang, director of the Rennie Collection, the new space will host three shows per year, most to be accompanied by catalogues.
Chang says, “We’re focused on completing the building and moving in as well as exhibition preparations. We hope our exhibitions and catalogues will be seen and that they generate dialogue. There are almost 1,000 works in the collection, with in-depth coverage of many artists. We can easily program years of solo shows, and Bob has many ideas for thematic shows.”
She continues, “In many ways, this exhibition space is just an extension of Bob’s living room. It is an opportunity to install and view works in the collection that just can’t be accommodated in his home. While we will not be open to the general public, we look forward to welcoming art students, collectors and professionals and plan to reserve one day per week for viewings by appointment.”
Rennie is a major collector of contemporary Canadian and international artists and the rooftop garden of the new building will host permanent installations by renowned practitioners Martin Creed, Dan Graham and Thomas Houseago.
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