Six to Savour: Canadian Art’s Year-End Web Highlights
The Clearances by Canadian Art Online best-of-web pick Shary Boyle.
One of the best things about bringing Canadian Art online is publishing more extensive text and audio interviews with artists and art experts, as well as providing a venue for Canadian Art Foundation talks to be enjoyed nationwide. Here’s six of our favourites from the past year.
Video: Shary Boyle in Vancouver
On June 5, 2008, Toronto artist Shary Boyle spoke in Vancouver as part of the Canadian Art Foundation International Lecture Series, co-presented with the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver. Now, in this online video, art lovers across the country can watch as Boyle discusses her multidimensional artistic practice—including collaborations with Kika Thorne, Peaches and Feist.
Don Thompson: Stuffed Sharks, Empty Wallets and the Art Market to Come
Art sales chilled like dropping temperatures across the northern hemisphere this fall. It was a phenomenon that Toronto economist Don Thompson watched with particular interest. Thompson’s latest book, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, uses marketing theories like branding and competitive advantage as tools for understanding how art prices got so pumped up in the first place. In this text interview from late October 2008, Thompson expounds on art fairs, transparency, criticism versus commerce and more.
Speakeasy Audio: Jungen and Gaitán Tune in to Frontier Frequencies
In an era where high-speed communication and global connectivity are an irrepressible part of daily life, it may seem somewhat anachronistic or nostalgic to think of community broadcasting as a powerful medium. Yet this idea was in full force in Vancouver on March 27, 2008, when artist Brian Jungen and curator Juan Gaitán discussed the potential of community radio at Artspeak’s Speakeasy series. In this audiocast, each speaker discusses their own experiences and research in the medium.
Video: Venice Pick Mark Lewis in Conversation with Curator Barbara Fischer
Listen in as UK–based artist Mark Lewis, Canada’s official representative at the 53rd Venice Biennale, discusses his films and plans for his installation with Barbara Fischer, commissioner of the Canadian pavilion. This talk was recorded as part of Canadian Art’s Room with a View program in Toronto, November 2008.
Polly Staple Speaks at the Alberta College of Art and Design
The Canadian Art Foundation, in collaboration with the Banff Centre and the Alberta College of Art and Design, proudly presented Polly Staple, director of London’s Chisenhale Gallery, as part of the Canadian Art International Lecture Series on October 24, 2008. In this videocast of the lecture, Staple discusses her work as a curator, editor and writer, as well as significant shifts in the production and dissemination of contemporary art in London.
Comment: Governor General Lauds Artists of Canada
In September 2008, culture became a particularly heated topic in the national election, with Margaret Atwood publishing a fierce essay defending funding for the arts. At the same time, Governor General Michaëlle Jean was at the National Gallery in Ottawa to congratulate the finalists of the 2008 RBC Canadian Painting Competition. With succinct grace, she used the occasion of the crowded evening reception to remind her audience of the role of artists in culture.
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