Ingrid Baxter in conversation with Bill Kirby
Presented by the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, in partnership with the University of Toronto Art Centre
Tuesday 26 October 2010, 6:00 - 7:30 pm
University of Toronto Art Centre art lounge
University College, University of Toronto
15 King’s College Circle
Free and open to the public
Image Credit: N.E. Thing Co., Simulated Photo of the Moon's "Sea of Tranquility" Filled with Water and N.E. Thing Co.'s Sign Placed Beside It, 1969.
Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery Acquisition Fund.
The Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, in partnership with the University of Toronto Art Centre, presents the latest in our series of Traffic Talks, a conversation between Ingrid Baxter (former Co-President of N.E. Thing Company Ltd.) and Bill Kirby (Director of the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art). An extension of the exhibition Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965-1980, the series presents conversations between artists, critics, art historians, and curators on the history and legacy of Conceptual art in Canada, culminating in a conference on the subject on November 26 and 27.
In 1966, Ingrid Baxter founded and became co-president of N.E. Thing Company Ltd. along with her partner, Iain Baxter. N.E. Thing Co., an artistic venture with a moniker and form gleaned from the corporate world, exhibited widely in Canada, the USA, and Europe. Working in a wide array of media, including language, photography, and sculptural installation, N.E. Thing Co. focused on the contemporary landscape, urban geography, and consumer environment to expand the possibilities of art.
Considered amongst the most important contributors to the global conceptual movement, N.E. Thing Co.’s 1969 exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada is now considered a critical event in the history of modern Canadian art. N.E. Thing Co.’s work appeared in many seminal Conceptual art exhibitions such as Place and Process (Edmonton Art Gallery, 1969), X Sao Paolo Biennial (1969), One Month (curated by Seth Siegelaub, 1969), and 955,000 (Vancouver Art Gallery, 1970). They were featured prominently in critic Lucy Lippard’s groundbreaking study Six Years: The dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972. In 1981, while finishing a Master of Education at the University of British Columbia, Ingrid Baxter moved to Deep Cove and founded the Deep Cove Canoe and Kayak Centre.
Bill Kirby is Founder and Director of the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art and the Canadian Art Database Project (www.ccca.ca). He is currently Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Art at York University. He is a former Director of the Edmonton Art Gallery; Professor of Contemporary Canadian Art at the School of Art, University of Manitoba; and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Kirby was Head of the Canada Council Art Bank, and was responsible for the Council’s Program of Assistance to Art Galleries and Artist-Run Spaces. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Contemporary Canadian Art from the University of British Columbia, and is a recipient of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Medal.
Traffic Talks are financially supported by the Hal Jackman Foundation and are offered free to the public.
Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965–1980 is curated jointly by Grant Arnold (Vancouver Art Gallery), Catherine Crowston (Art Gallery of Alberta), Barbara Fischer (Justina M. Barnicke Gallery), Michèle Thériault with Vincent Bonin (Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal), and Jayne Wark (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design).
The exhibition is organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, and the Vancouver Art Gallery, in partnership with the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery (Concordia University), and Halifax, INK.
The exhibition is financially supported by the Museums Assistance program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council.
