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Reece Terris The Western Front Front - Another False Front 2009 / photo Kevin Schmidt |
LS: Can you give me an example of what kinds of market-driven activity you found hard to deal with in the States?
CJ: I just think a more commercially driven environment privileges artists whose work can be sold or whoever is the current “hot artist.” Galleries and museums in the United States have some government funding, but most of it is run by trustees and other people on boards who give money. So those people clearly have a vested interest in getting the artists who they have in their own collections in museum shows and things like that.
Here in Canada, I’m sure similar dynamics do exist, probably in larger institutions. But the artist-run-centre movement has given people the platform to explore ideas without those considerations. My feeling here is simply that the conversation doesn't have to always come back to “Who is your gallery? Did you sell anything at Frieze?”—as is so often used as a metric of success in New York. And that is a much better situation for artists, curators and the public.
That said, I certainly don't begrudge the commercial gallery system in New York—it goes without saying that some of the most compelling works of the last 100 years have come out of that system. Nor do I mean to take away from the myriad of not-for-profit art centers in the US that work tirelessly to provide a more neutral context for the production and reception of art.
Also, I don’t want to take away from anybody’s experiences. I worked at a major institution, the Guggenheim, which was a tremendous opportunity. I learned so much there. But it was very frustrating from the perspective of getting artists into the “clubs” that were even allowed to be talked about in that context.
I also worked in a private commercial gallery in New York, which was a very interesting experience on many levels. I was given a lot of latitude about the kinds of art I put into that space. But at the end of the day, it had to be something that could be easily sold. Which was fine, but, again, another context.
I also worked at Rhizome, which was the opposite of those things. Though that’s not an artist-run centre per se, it’s definitely a not-for-profit organization, one dedicated to supporting and promoting Internet art, which is still a very strongly ephemeral art form—something that exists because people enjoy doing it, not because there’s much hope or pretense of the work being bought or sold by any collectors.
I think all realms of the art world exist in the United States, just as all realms exist in Canada. It just seems to me that the emphasis is different in each country.
LS: Speaking of Rhizome, you’ve written and curated a fair bit around art and the Internet. Where do you think that relationship is at today?
CJ: Well, I think when the Internet started in the 1990s, it was a really exciting, new thing that kind of blew our minds. Then these groups of artists came through and really poked holes in the whole process, making us question what the Internet really was about. It was an exciting time.
In the last 10 years, the Internet has become ubiquitous; it’s just part of our everyday life. The way I see it now in terms of art is that it’s just one more medium for an artist to work with. A lot of younger artists who are using the Internet are also making video, they’re also making sculpture, they’re looking at the Internet as one of many avenues of contemporary culture to explore and examine.
I see a similar parallel with video art in the 70s and 80s and how that changed—how video was this really specific (and pretty expensive) interest for people in its beginnings, how some people were really obsessed with it and its physical qualities. But now, I don’t know many artists who don’t make some kind of video. It’s so easy now, the production tools are all on all of our Macs. We can all make a video quite easily.
So overall, the Internet has become another medium, just like painting or drawing. It’s not a niche medium anymore.
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