Traffic: Conceptualism in Canada
International Conference from November 26 to 28, 2010
Registration opens 1 November 2010
Visit http://www.uofttix.ca/view.php?id=720 to register
Lectures, Panels, Screenings, and Events: Friday 26 November and Saturday 27 November
Tour of the Exhibition: Sunday 28 November
IMAGE CREDIT: Gordon Lebredt, Get Hold of This Space, 1974. Courtesy of the artist.
The Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at the University of Toronto presents a major conference on the history and legacy of Conceptual art in Canada. The conference is held in conjunction with the exhibition Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965 – 1980 which is on view at the University of Toronto Galleries until November 28, 2010.
By far one of the most important, wide-reaching, and long-lasting movements in the history of contemporary art, Conceptual art emerged within the social and political turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s – from feminism and gay liberation to anti-racism and anti-war movements – and presented a profound challenge to the institution of art. An integral part of the many recent efforts of re-examining the legacies of Conceptual art – its points of origin and diverse manifestations in local and global contexts – the conference brings together internationally renowned scholars to discuss the pan-Canadian history of Conceptual art, and provide a forum to begin to re-construct the context and manifestations of Conceptual art in Canada within a global context.
The conference will trace new research on the movement’s international intertwinings, including the diaspora of US draft-dodgers, its indebtedness to the French Situationists, the political ferment of new queer and feminist constituencies, and its interests in new forms of communication (in view of the writings and influence of Marshall McLuhan, among others). Above all, the conference will produce evidence of the unique Canadian contribution and exchanges with international Conceptualism – its particularly rich and effervescent flourishing of alternative, transnational communities, artists’ networks, collaborative ventures, and formation of collectives (such as N.E. Thing Co. and General Idea).
The conference seeks to foster new understandings of the specificity of Canadian Conceptual art within and beyond regional and national borders. Within the frame of other formats of public manifestation (the national touring exhibition and a forthcoming online and print media publication), the conference seeks to further ongoing developments in the historical and theoretical examinations of the truly global development of this critical form and its currency in contemporary international art.
Currently confirmed speakers include, among others, Dan Adler (York University), Kenneth R. Allan (University of Lethbridge), Bruce Barber (NSCAD University), Vincent Bonin (Montreal), Simon Brown (Concordia University), Mark Cheetham (University of Toronto), Heather Diack (University of British Columbia), Jamie Hilder (University of British Columbia), Andrew Kear (Winnipeg Art Gallery), Martha Langford (Concordia University), Adam Lauder (York University), Gordon Lebredt (Toronto), Craig Leonard (NSCAD University), Fiona Macdonald (Monash University), Kathleen McLean (Art Gallery of Ontario), Earl Miller (Toronto), Leah Modigliani (Toronto), Robin Simpson (Concordia University), Johanne Sloan (Concordia University), Virginia Solomon (University of Southern California), Charles Stankievech (Klondike Institute of Art and Culture), Blake Stimson (University of California, Davis), Felicity Tayler (Concordia University), David Tomas (UQAM), Reiko Tomii (New York), Dot Tuer (OCAD University), Jayne Wark (NSCAD University), Anne Whitelaw (University of Alberta), William Wood (Vancouver), and Paul Woodrow (University of Calgary).
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Registration
Registration opens 1 November 2010
Visit http://www.uofttix.ca/view.php?id=720 to register
Registration Fees (+ HST)
Institutionally affiliated: $100.00
Artists and Independents: $50.00
Students: Free
There are a limited number of free spots available to individuals who wish to attend but are unable to pay the registration fee; please contact conceptual.art@utoronto.ca for more information.
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Conference Program
Friday 26 November
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9:00 – 11:00 am Conceptualism, Transnationalism, and Diaspora
Reiko Tomii – A Networking Guru: Matsuzawa Yutaka and Japanese Conceptualism
David Tomas – On the Geopolitical/Geocultural Singularity of a ‘Minor’ Canadian Conceptual Art Artifact: 45o 30’ N – 73o 36’ W + Inventory
Heather Diack – Mapping Conceptualism: The Centre Does Not Hold
Vincent Bonin – Translating the Canon: Conceptual Art in Montreal and the Provincialism Problem
Dot Tuer – Local Circuitries/Transnational Transmission: Counterpoints Towards Trafficking in Conceptualism
-------------------------- B. Barber Book Launch + Refreshments --------------------------
11:15 – 1:15 pm Place and Space in the Global Village (I)
Gabrielle Moser – Non-site to Non-place: Challenging Myths of Placelessness in Vancouver Photo Conceptualism
Kenneth R. Allan – N.E. Thing Co. Ltd., Marshall McLuhan, and the Counter-Environment
Johanne Sloan – Urban Attitudes in Montreal, c. 1968-1972
11:15 – 1:15 pm Conceptualism: Centres, Networks, Exchanges (I)
Felicity Tayler – Constellation and Correspondences: Networking between Artists, 1970-1980
Earl Miller – Information Remote: On Communication Art in Canada, 1970-1980
Bruce Barber – Kiwi/Canuck Conceptualism: Conceptual Art Correspondences between Canada and New Zealand, 1970-1975
Virginia Solomon – Centrality Dematerialized: Mail Art, the Eternal Network, and Canadada in the Early '70s
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2:30 – 3:30 pm Focus Sessions – Business (Not) As Usual… (I)
Session A – Conceptual Pedagogy
Robin Simpson – Let the Buyer Beware: Rochdale College's Counterpublics and Printed Satire
Sunny Kerr – Rochdale
Charles Stankievich – Over the Wire: A Conceptual Pedagogy
Session B – Michael Snow
Martha Langford – Dis-inFORMation, Michael Snow’s Ideas about Idea Art
Elizabeth Legge – Michael Snow’s Authorization
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3:45 – 5:45 pm Conceptualism: Centres, Networks, Exchanges (II)
Simon Brown – Conceptual Practices in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, 1969 to the Present Day: Overview of a Para-marginal Millieu
Paul Woodrow – History is Written Backwards by People Who Weren’t There
Andrew Kear – Gordon Lebredt, in the Town that Conceptual Art Forgot
Kathleen McLean – Lines and Other Ephemeral Markings: Bill Vazan’s Early Conceptual Works
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6:30 - 8:00 pm Keynote Lecture
Blake Stimson – The Interior of Art
8:00 – 10:00 pm Reception
Saturday, November 27, 2010
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9:00 – 11:00 am Place and Space in the Global Village (II)
Mark Cheetham – Putting Concepts in their Place: GI and the Nation Question
Anne Whitelaw – The Legacy of Absence: Conceptual Art in Edmonton
Leah Modigliani – Seek and Ye Shall Find: Sexual Politics in Vancouver’s Defeatured Landscape
Craig Leonard – Invisibility and Disappearance
9:00 – 11:00 am Conceptual Art is Dead. Long Live Conceptualism (I)
Dan Adler – Labouring the Point: 'Conceptual' Notes on the Reviewing of Recent Art in Toronto
Christof Migone – I Think, Therefore I Follow: The Sequitur Principle in Contemporary Conceptual Practices
Sharla Sava – Topic TBA
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11:15 – 12:15 pm Focus Sessions – Business (Not) As Usual… (II)
Session C – NSCAD
Gordon Lebredt – Setting Things Straight: Comic Relief and Critical Circumstances in the Work of Garry Neill Kennedy
Jayne Wark – Printmaking as Performative and Conceptual Medium
Session D – N.E. Thing Co. Ltd.
Adam Lauder – The Executive Fiction of IAIN BAXTER&
Jamie Hilder – The Artrepreneurial Spirit: The N.E. Thing Co., as a Going Concern
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1:30 – 3:00 pm Keynote Lecture
Terry Smith – One and Three Ideas: Conceptualism Before, During and After Conceptual Art
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3:15 – 5:15 pm Conceptual Art is Dead. Long Live Conceptualism (II)
William Wood – Trafficking in Conceptualism
Hans Maria de Wolf – Where Has it Gone, that Common Ground? Jeff Wall Versus Conceptual Art Theory
Fiona Macdonald – Protocol as Difference: Inter-generational Relations of Conceptual Art
Clive Robertson – The Vocational and Professional Politics of Conceptualism
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6:00 – 6:30 pm Performance: Ian Murray Top Songs
6:30 – 9:00 pm Screening: Instructional Tapes (Curated by Maiko Tanaka)
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM Funkaesthetics Book Launch
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM Party!
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Concurrent Programming
Ian Murray, Keeping on Top of the Top Songs
Performance
Hart House Music Room
Saturday 27 November, 6:00 – 6:30 pm
IMAGE CREDIT: Ian Murray, The Top Song, 1970. Courtesy of the artist.
Join us for a special restaging of Ian Murray’s seminal 1970 performance Keeping on Top of the Top Songs. The work entails a drummer to play along with an audio recording which s/he has not previously heard. Instructed to search for a point of reference, an underlying beat, based on an audio recording of Ian Murray’s The Top Song – a recording of the first ten seconds of each of the top one hundred pop songs of the 1960s.
Instructional Tapes
Video Screening
Curated by Maiko Tanaka in collaboration with Barbara Fischer
Hart House South Dinning Room
Saturday 27 November, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Featuring videos by David Askevold, John Baldessari, Howard Fried, Terry Fox, Suzy Lake, Adrian Piper, Martha Rosler, Lisa Steele, and William Wegman.
Presented alongside a book launch for Funkaesthetics, with essays by Luis Jacob, Pan Wendt, and Adrian Piper.
IMAGE CREDIT: Suzy Lake, The Natural Way to Draw, 1975. Courtesy of the artist and Vtape, Toronto.
Instructional Tapes is a curated selection of video works from the 1970s and early 1980s that feature instructional approaches or content. In conjunction with the screenings, the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery will be hosting a book launch for Funkaesthetics, curated by Luis Jacob and Pan Wendt. The catalogue explores the social, political, pedagogical, and aesthetic influences of Funk culture within a trans-historical context and was published by the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in partnership with the Confederation Centre Art Gallery (Charlottetown, PEI).
Bus Tour
Sunday 28 November, 12:00 – 5:00 pm
A free bus will be touring to the four University of Toronto galleries presenting Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965 – 1980, including the University of Toronto Art Centre, the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, the Blackwood Gallery, and the Doris McCarthy Gallery. Each stop will be introduced by artists featured in the exhibition. This tour is reserved for conference delegates and registrants and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please reserve your seat at jmb.gallery@utoronto.ca
Credits
The exhibition and conference are made possible through the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Hal Jackman Foundation.
