Jon Davies at “We, Ourselves and Us” / photo the Power Plant
Follow-up discussion with Critchley, Möntmann and Roysdon touched on the idea that if representative democracy no longer functions, and there’s a strong desire for other forms of participation, perhaps exhibitions could offer that opportunity to participate. There was skepticism, however, on the part of Critchley and fellow visitor Maria Lind about whether public or institutional spaces—ones necessarily surveilled in this day and age—are really the best place to posit such possibilities. Möntmann seemed to agree that venues like Tate, the Guggenheim and other large museums may not fit the bill for same.
Next, a talk by Toronto artist Luis Jacob, also featured in Möntmann’s exhibition, focused on the necessity of historical continuity and knowledge in building a community. More specifically, Jacob said “historical continuity is the achilles heel of the Toronto art community,” and called for more exhibitions and texts—like AA Bronson’s “From Sea to Shining Sea”—that brought the past into the present. At the same time as he advocated for a more generationally and geographically networked understanding of Toronto art, however, Jacob noted a seemingly contradictory desire for hierarchy, one that was also exemplified by Bronson’s trajectory from Canadian community-builder to internationally known art personality.
After Jacob discussed writing and exhibition-making as means of building community, the Power Plant public programs curator Jon Davies (filling in for last-minute absentee Carlos Basualdo, curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art) took to the stage to present on the ways that gossip can be used in creating an arts scene. Davies drew out this theme using materials and research related to the current exhibition he curated for Oakville Galleries, “People Like Us: The Gossip of Colin Campbell.”
In further discussion with the Power Plant curator Helena Reckitt, Jacob and Davies seemed to agree that they preferred “culture by mouth” rather than “culture by media”—that is, culture and community created by face to face contact rather than third-party reports. Both also noted that they found queer communities particularly adept at intergenerational transfer of information and knowledge.
Luis Jacob at “We, Ourselves and Us” / photo the Power Plant
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