Ruptures and Continuities: Examining Engaged Curatorial
Practices in Canada
Cheryl Sim
Abstract
During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the Canadian art milieu experienced
a maelstrom of creation on the part of aboriginal and people of colour artists,
curators and cultural workers who engaged their projects with questions
around identity, citizenship, nationality and racism thus disrupting the status
quo. Their critiques and examinations also brought to light the politics behind
the policies at play that effectively imposed limits on their creative choices as
well as the funding required for works to be realized. The action taken by
these communities manifested itself in landmark cultural events where safe
spaces for dialogue and the development of strategies were created in order to
address the unequal access to resources and uneven distribution of power that
represented roadblocks to becoming full participants in the Canadian art
scene. While this massive effort resulted in significant changes to policies at
the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Film Board of Canada, it
left communities ravaged by the tensions and conflicts raised by this period
of ‘identity’ politics.
Over a decade later, it would seem that there is renewed possibility for an
evolved discussion on identity and its attendant concerns through art. Two
recent exhibitions by mid-career curators Ryan Rice (AlterNation, 2009) and
Alice Ming Wai Jim (Re-arranging Desires: Curating the 'Other' Within,
2008) present evidence of a resurgence. In this paper I will discuss each
exhibition to reveal their tactics of engagement and will then explore the
conditions of possibility which include education, engagement, changing
attitudes, shifting powers and advanced globalization that contribute to the
realization of these exhibition proposals. Throughout will be a discussion of
how these curatorial practices have been informed by the earlier period of
‘identity politics’, to push the dialogue further, allowing for and indicating a
desire for a multitude of voices, conversations and reading positions to
emerge, as aboriginal and people of colour continue to make a meaningful
place for themselves as cultural producers in Canada.
Key Words: Art, identity, multiculturalism, identity politics, curator.
*****
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1.
Ruptures
During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Canadian arts communities
experienced an inspiring maelstrom of dialogue and action on the part of
aboriginal and people of colour working as artists and cultural workers to
address issues of unequal access and distribution of resources and power, the
underpinning of what has been defined as ‘identity politics’.1 The agency
employed by these artists, curators and cultural workers manifested
themselves in crucial cultural events including In Visible Colours, About
Face, About Frame, It’s a Cultural thing / Minquon Pinchayat and Writing
Thru Race among others.2 These events cultivated safe spaces for people of
colour and aboriginal people to share experiences and strategize for change.
The fruits of their efforts resulted in significant changes to policies in
government institutions such as the Canada Council and the National Film
Board of Canada. These actions also called attention to the liberal politics at
play that effectively keep people of colour and aboriginal people from being
full participants as producers of culture in the Canadian arts scene. In
addition to the advocacy actions, Canadian artists of colour and aboriginal
artists engaged their artistic practices with these concerns, bringing forth a
surge of critical works, exhibitions, festivals, symposia and publications.3 I
had the privilege of witnessing and taking part in this exciting time, both in
my personal work as a video artist and as a freelancer at the National Film
Board. I had just finished my undergraduate degree and was looking for ways
to express my politics and personal experiences growing up as a Canadian
born, mixed heritage, person of colour. The period of ‘identity
politics’activism that took place at the end of the 80s through to the mid-90s
was a time of intense stimulation and tumult. The effects of these vital
actions can be felt today, almost twenty years later.
Speaking out about the inequalities lived by aboriginal artists and
artists of colour underscored a number of fundamental problems with
institutional policies linked with Canada’s official Multiculturalism Act.
Rather than share power amongst the diverse peoples that have contributed to
the building of the nation, the Multiculturalism Act worked insidiously as a
management tool with hegemonic effect to control Canada’s immigrant and
minority populations, to stifle any demands that might upset, threaten or
expose the dominant white, liberal and patriarchal order. The wave of late
80’s and early 90’s activism undertaken by the many artists, writers, curators
and cultural workers to address these cleverly disguised realities raised the
discussion of racism and unequal power relations within cultural institutions
to unprecedented heights.4 Much was accomplished to recognize that systems
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and practices in place at the institutional level to the artist run centre to even
artist associations which worked in ways that were contrary to the much
touted Canadian values of openness and accessibility, tolerance and
acceptance. As a result of their activism, the Canada Council made important
changes to its peer jury composition to be more conscious of representation
of people of colour, aboriginal people and francophones. Studio D, the
feminist studio at the National Film Board of Canada created the New
Initiatives in Film program to address the under-representation and
misrepresentation of women of colour and aboriginal women in film. Some
long standing associations such as ANNPAC/RACA (Association of National
Non-Profit Artists Centres / Le Regroupement d’artistes des centres
alternatifs) had to disband in order to acknowledge their own shortcomings
and limitations. While the effectiveness of these outcomes can be debated,
what is important to underscore is the achievement of change brought about
by the actions of people of colour and aboriginal artists, curators and cultural
workers.
In addition to changes in institutional policies, this period of
activism also prompted artists and curators to question and subvert the
expectations imposed on their work through the forces and effects of the
Multiculturalism Act, racist views and Orientalist discourses. It encouraged
them to push boundaries, to challenge, to disrupt and to question through
their artistic praxis. Among the issues explored by artists were identity,
racism, representation, power, authenticity, sexuality, tradition, ethnicity and
heritage. Artist/activists forced the dominant order within the art milieu to
question themselves and to face some deeply held fears and prejudices.
However by the late 90s, sheer exhaustion took its toll. The advancement of
discourses initiated by ‘identity politics’ ground to a halt and actions and
outputs diminished in scale and volume.
Recently, there would seem to be a resurgence of curatorial
proposals and artists’ works that continue to deal with concerns raised by
‘identity politics’. Nurtured by postcolonial theory and writings on ‘race’
and representation by writers such as Stuart Hall, Kobena Mercer, Jamalie
Hassan, Monika Kin Gagnon and others have pushed the reflection and
discourse of issues attendant to ‘identity politics’ to deeper, more nuanced
levels. The exhibitions AlterNation curated by Ryan Rice in 2009 at the
Harbourfront Centre in Toronto and Rearranging Desires, Curating the
‘Other’ within by Alice Ming Wai Jim presented in 2008 at the FOFA
Gallery of Concordia University in Montreal are two recent case studies that
put forth strategies of engagement that confront and break through the
‘identity politics’ backlash, elevating the discussion to new levels. An
examination of these exhibitions will reveal various aspects of their tactics of
engagement and will be followed by an analysis of the conditions of
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possibility that I argue have contributed to the agency employed by these two
curators.
2.
AlterNation
AlterNation curated by Ryan Rice brings together works by
Canadian aboriginal artists Hannah Claus, Terrance Houle, Mark Igloliorte,
Tom Johns, George Littlechild, and Jewel Shaw. Rice uses the title as a
vehicle to relay his curatorial stance. The term “alter” plays off notions of
difference, the alternative and a reclaiming of the term ‘Other’ but also plays
on the homonym ‘altar’, thus honouring, both the artists’ work and the
heritages that these artists present. The second half of the title, ‘nation’,
brings to mind the multitude of nations of Indigenous people both in Canada
and around the world bearing light on the fact that Indigenous culture extends
way beyond the stereotypical image of the “North American Indian”.
“Nation” also speaks to the heterogeneity of Indigenous cultures and voices
which are part of a contemporary context, while confronting the dark side of
Canada’s nation building project and the bloody history that is its legacy.
Together, the words ‘alter’ and ‘nation’ indicate a back-and-forth motion as
well as movement that looks forward and back, suggestion a never-ending
perpetual motion. While Ryan Rice does not cite any theoretical inspiration
in his proposition, it is clear that he is working from an intensely personal and
politicized experience and position as a member of the Mohawk/Iroquois
nation. He states that as a curator, he is committed to Indigenous and Native
art and through this explicit commitment is dedicated to organizing
exhibitions that not only take risks, confront and challenge ideas and
expectations around Native and Indigenous art but that also celebrate and
showcase these contributions to contemporary art on the whole.5 With these
goals in mind, Rice has been strategic with his career whether conscious or
not. He obtained his BFA at Concordia in the early 90s where the energy of
that time inspired him to found the artist collective “Nation to Nation” with
Skawennati Tricia Fragnito and Eric Robertson. Now a practicing
artist/curator, he pursued a Masters degree at the Centre for Curatorial
Studies at Bard College. This academic and practical knowledge in addition
to his professional experience gained him access to working as a curator in
institutions such as the Iroquois Indian Museum, the Canadian Museum of
Civilization, Indian Art Centre (INAC), Carleton University Art Gallery and
the Walter Phillips Art Gallery. He is currently Chief Curator at the Museum
of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe and has been prolific as an
independent curator, with three exhibitions touring in 2009 alone. Engaged
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politically and personally, Rice’s project and goals as a curator are carried out
through his entire practice.
According to Rice, AlterNation is about evolutions, revolutions
and shifts; where there is an attempt to steer clear of assumptions while
positioning the viewer to do the same. The artists are all of Indigenous
heritage, informed by their histories, experiences and questions of identity
and representation. While a seemingly straightforward ‘culturally specific’
proposal, this exhibition affirms rather than reacts. The artists define
themselves on their own terms, and the exhibition on the whole offers a
multiplicity of voices and stories that go beyond the boundaries dictated by
the ideology of Multiculturalism. In this way, AlterNation moves the
discussion beyond ‘identity politics’ so that flexibility, motion and movement
in this collection of works may be accentuated. In presenting a dynamism that
adopts a positive and affirmative voice about Native and Indigenous culture,
AlterNation is about agency, freedoms and determinations.
3.
Rearranging Desires
Rearranging Desires Curating the Other Within by Alice Ming Wai
Jim was presented as part of the City of Montreal’s l’Hommage à Norman
Bethune and coincided with the rededication of Place Norman Bethune
situated on the campus of Concordia University. Given Bethune’s historic
link with China, the university seemed it fitting to invite Alice Jim, a curator
and associate professor in Art History (and a Chinese-Canadian herself) to
organize an exhibition in Concordia’s FOFA gallery as part of the activities
organized by the city. With an understanding of the problematics of
multiculturalism and the ‘culturally specific’ exhibition with its constraints
for expression in the arts for people of colour and aboriginal people, Jim
could have rejected this offer but instead saw it as an opportunity to adopt a
counter proposal of destabilization and disruption. This proposal would not
only defy expectations about culturally specific exhibitions but draw a direct
line to them, exposing them for all their limitations.
Having worked as a curator at Centre A, an artist-run gallery
dedicated to contemporary Asian art in Vancouver, Jim was well aware of the
implications of a ‘culturally specific’ exhibition and worked to undermine
these through thoughtful consideration of the composition of the exhibition,
and by expanding the predictable premise of featuring work by ChineseCanadian artists to include a multi-narrative of artists from the Asian
diaspora. By applying a diasporic lens to the artists featured in this
exhibition, Jim does away with essential readings of work by artists of Asian
heritage and highlights the vast heterogeneity of experiences, perspectives,
uses of mediums, issues and concerns that manifest themselves in these
artists’ works. The final proposition featured pieces by Karen Tam, ChihChien Wang, Ayesha Hameed and Mary Wong.
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The exhibition proposal and title were inspired by postcolonial
scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s phrase, “It’s about rearranging
desires”.5 The concept of rearranging desires or shaking up expectations,
spoke directly to Jim’s consideration of the presentation, readings and
interpretations of the ‘culturally specific’ exhibition and motivated her to
bear in mind the implications of these desires for diasporic formations and
their representations. Jim wanted to take the question of representation as
posited by the ‘culturally-specific’ exhibition to a higher level of reflection. It
is in this spirit that Jim attempted to “register intonations and contradictions,
pitch and silence, rather than set down shared aesthetics and politics” through
her exhibition.6
Jim also adopted Spivak’s theory of ‘learning from below’ as a way
to encourage the unlearning of privilege amongst student/viewers, inciting
them see differently, through exposure to the concerns, ideas, issues, and
discourses that surround culturally specific propositions in contemporary art.7
In this way, her role as curator spoke directly to her role as professor, finding
a way to undertake a postcolonial pedagogical approach through visual art.
To make the exhibition even more pertinent to her students’ experience, she
enlisted three students from her graduate curatorial studies seminar to
participate in the mounting and promotion of the exhibition. In addition to
helping with coordination, their work included the creation of a website, the
organizing of a symposium and the gathering of feedback from viewers.
Jim was conscious that the ‘culturally specific’ curatorial strategy
emerged out of ‘identity politics’, which in turn brought about a backlash
from the dominant culture. Jim states that the problematics of the
presentation of culturally-specific exhibitions in the postcolonial context are
exacerbated by the blanket dismissal of and animosity towards anything
related to identity politics, or postcolonial theory, as it is “seen as a throw up
of politically sedate multiculturalism charged with ethnic favoritism, [thus
impeding] the full participation of the ethnic subject in nation building….”8
As a response, Rearranging Desires aimed to expose the many facets of the
backlash that attempt to undermine the agency of the ‘Other’.
As part of her overall strategy to subvert the essentialist notions of
the ‘culturally specific’ exhibition, Jim also played against the conventions of
institutional practices in the presentation of visual art by foregoing the use of
didactic texts for the works. She argued that these texts have a tendency to
lead or influence the viewer’s interpretation. Without these texts, the
exhibition made no attempt to represent a subjective version of ‘truth’ but
rather encouraged multiple reading positions. The stated goals of Jim’s
curatorial proposal are therefore reinforced and in a subtle way, encourage
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the viewer to become aware of the assumptions and expectations that have
been formed by museums and art institutions.
Rearranging Desires is an important example of how to articulate
controversial historical and theoretical positions through the vehicles of
academia, the institution and the contemporary art milieu. While unravelling
the problematics of the ‘culturally specific’ exhibition, Jim does not aim to
dismiss this strategy, nor does she propose abandoning it altogether. What
she does encourage however, is a questioning of the constructs that expose
the foibles, assumptions and restrictions of an approach that can only be
revealed through trial, error and trial again.
4.
Exploring Beyond
Rearranging Desires and AlterNation share many similarities. Both
proposals push for a polyphony of voices. They encourage a way of looking
and learning that comes with an open mind and heart and which puts the
emphasis on individual stories and histories which explode homogenous
perceptions and challenge assumptions. The works that Jim and Rice bring
together are formally and conceptually varied, which underlines the different
ways that artists are exploring their concerns. Both exhibitions speak to
contemporary aboriginal and Asian Canadian communities that are alive,
dynamic and mutable. Both favour strategies that influence a variety of
reading positions that are trans-cultural and trans-generational. Furthermore,
the opportunities to present these exhibitions in major institutions made Jim
and Rice’s contributions available to wider audience. What conditions of
possibility make for this current situation? Far from being won, the battles
that were waged by the pioneering artists, curators, writers and cultural
workers who infused their work with the fight against inequality and racism
have been instrumental not only in immediate changes but in affecting
attitudes and practices over time. History, experiences and the knowledge
that form from this history pile one on top of the other to create a more fertile
plot of soil from which conditions of possibility can grow.
Education is the first factor that contributes to these conditions. Both
Jim and Rice pursued graduate work in art history and curatorial studies
respectively. In doing so they were able to gain meaningful experience, to
establish valuable and influential allies across the global art milieu and to
gain professional respect. Through their own research they were also able to
survey and examine curatorial trends and practices unfolding in
contemporary art around the world with a focus on post-colonial and
ethnographic strains of institutional exhibition and display. Rice attributes a
great deal of admiration to the artists he works with that have emerged since
the 80s and 90s, impressed by their professionalism, knowledge about the art
world and keen business sense. The artists he works with deal with subject
matter in a way that exhibits a new kind of freedom and freshness, that
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addresses the continuity of the issues raised by ‘identity politics’, while
remaining unafraid of being dismissed as just another identity artist.
Engagement is a second condition that contributes to conditions of
possibility. Rice has clearly stated art that he is only interested in presenting
Native and Indigenous artists.9 He does not believe that this commitment
limits or narrows the reach or scope of his curatorial work. Furthermore, the
body of exhibitions that he has built up over the years has demonstrated that
audiences are hungry for these exhibition proposals. Jim’s willingness to
‘rearrange desires’, to disrupt within the hallowed halls of academia, to use
her place of privilege to raise questions and to employ postcolonial pedagogy
also makes her personal direction and engagement apparent. Because of her
intervention, the graduate students who participated in the mounting of the
exhibition were exposed to seminal writings in postcolonial theory and were
made aware of the history and foundation of ‘identity politics’ in Canada.
They acknowledged the rigor of the concepts attendant to the ideas presented
in Rearranging Desires making the exhibition and even richer experience.
Changing attitudes are a third factor to be considered in conditions
of possibility. Thanks to the work undertaken in the late 80s and early 90s,
the dominant community, or larger Canadian art world show some signs of
evolution in terms of access, openness but also to some degree, exhibit an
awareness of racism and inequality that has been perpetuating in Canadian
institutions. The hold on power has been named, allowing for a tiny crack in
the door through which curators and artists have been able to slip. The work
is far from over but with the continued alertness and critique carried out by
current practitioners as well as critics and institutions, steps can be taken
forward.10
The shifting of powers is a fourth factor that points to the
importance of a growing number of curators and artists of colour and
aboriginal artists and curators in Canada to foster the conditions of
possibility. In addition to Jim and Rice, Camilla Singh, Makiko Hara,
Gaetane Verna, Cathy Mattes and Steve Loft are among a list of dynamic
curators to emerge over the last ten years. What this means are more
exhibitions, more points of view, a wider variety of approaches and proposals
that showcase, critique and diverge as part of a constantly changing
landscape, which maintains culture as a living and breathing entity, and opens
up the terrain. With a thorough understanding of the issues, the next
generation of artists and curators can be developed and encouraged to ensure
continuity and progression in curatorial and artistic practice. This is one of
the ways that dominance and power held by one hegemonic group can be
challenged.
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Advanced globalization is the fifth factor contributing to conditions
of possibility here in Canada. As Niru Ratnam posits in the article Art and
Globalisation, if we are to zoom out and observe the shifting of the center,
where it has been widely argued that the West has held dominance as the
authority in contemporary art, we can see that economic aspects such as
global trade and growing competition impact on cultural factors such as
migration and new cultures of diaspora which contribute to a reordering of
the old paradigm.11 Shifts in curatorial practices demonstrated by strategies
and attempts to subvert conventional Eurocentric, established protocols such
as Documenta 11 lead by Okwei Enwezor, the 1993 Venice Biennale directed
by Francesco Bonami or the 1993 Whitney Biennale curated by Elisabeth
Sussman, Thelma Golden, Lisa Phillips and John Handhardt not to mention
the increase in participation by countries in Asia, Oceania and South America
in global art fairs and biennales could also have a reciprocal effect on the
current and future proposals that bust through prevailing discourses and
propose truly enlightened ways of seeing.
5.
Continuties
The curatorial positions evidenced in Rearranging Desires and
AlterNation seek out a situation where artistic practice will be liberated from
the confines of reaction. Rearranging Desires operates from a major, first
step, where the limitations of artistic and curatorial practice are revealed, as
Jim calls attention to the complex mechanics of the ‘culturally specific’
exhibition and reinforces the idea of diaspora over difference. Rice brings
into play a personal and affirmative voice which takes ownership of the
interstice, and allows for Indigenous culture to be in the past, present and
future all at the same time, to fluctuate and to be stable. This brings to mind
Stuart Hall’s call for the non-fixity of identity and his idea of diaspora that is
“defined, not by essence or purity, but by the recognition of a necessary
heterogeneity and diversity; by a conception of ‘identity’, which lives with
and through, not despite, difference; by hybridity.”12, as well as Trinh T.
Minh-Ha’s claiming of hybridity’s hyphen or, the “realm in between…where
predetermined rules cannot fully apply.”13 These concepts are reflected in
Rice and Jim’s engaged curatorial practice, which rejects a monotone
methodology.
Through an approach that embraces heterogeneity, flux, and
subversion, these two case studies demonstrate the ongoing work of curators
to address issues that are still cause for consternation in the art world as old
wounds heal slowly. It cannot be overstated how those who participated in
the activism of the late 80s and early 90s, have contributed to the conditions
of possibility for current artists and curators. Informed by postcolonial theory
and criticism, the issues that have come out of ‘identity politics’ continue to
be explored in the work of a current generation of artists and curators while
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spurring on the work of those who never stopped. This is a promising sign of
new strategies of engagement to come, as aboriginal and people of colour
continue to take their place in Canadian culture as vital and full participants.
Notes
1
Identity politics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, July 16, 2002,
substantive revision Fri Nov 2, 2007, January 30, 2011,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-politics/
2
M K Gagnon, ‘Building blocks: Anti-Racist Initiatives in the Arts’ in Other
Conundrums, Race, culture and Canadian art, Arsenal Pulp Press,
Vancouver, 2000, p.51.
3
Pivotal exhibitions include Yellow Peril Reconsidered, a video and photo
exhibition curated by Paul Wong in 1990 and Self Not Whole: Cultural
Identity and Chinese-Canadian artists co-organized by Henry Tsang and
Lorraine Chan in 1991. Monika Kin Gagnon’s book Other Conundrums:
Race, Culture and Canadian Art published by Presentation House
Gallery/Arsenal Pulp Press, 1999, is a valuable resource for an analysis of
Canadian artists who took on the issues of ‘race’ and representation in their
work as well as the resistance and refusal of Canadian institutions to
acknowledge and address racism in their organizations.
4
L Xiaoping, Voices Rising:Asian Canadian Cultural Activism, UBC Press,
Vancouver, 2007. Li Xiaoping traces cultural activism by Asian Canadians
back to the 1960s with artists such as Roy Kiyooka who took inspiration from
the Asian American movement. The emphasis on the late 80s and early 90s
period of activism by people of colour and aboriginal people by no means
discounts the work done by Asian Canadian artist/activists of this earlier
time.
5
In the catalogue essay, Jim describes hearing Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
utter this inspirational phrase at the first International Women’s University in
Hanover Expo, 2000.
6
From Alice Ming Wai Jim’s catalogue essay Rearranging Desires: Curating
the ‘Other’ Within, Concordia University, Montreal, 2008, p.3
7
Ibid. p.1
Cheryl Sim
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8
Ibid. p.5
9
From an interview with Ryan Rice conducted on April 7th, 2009.
10
In September, 2008 I attended the “Gala Hop” event, a dinner and silent
auction fundraising event for Canadian Art magazine. I was dismayed,
however not surprised that not a single person of colour nor aboriginal person
figured on the Board of Directors or Advisory Committee. I also recall not a
single aboriginal artist in the Montreal Musée d’art contemporain’s Quebec
Triennale and Ryan Rice’s exposure of the same musée’s lack of aboriginal
artists in its collection.
11
N Ratnam ‘Exhibition the ‘other’ Yuendumu community Yarla’ Themes in
Contemporary Art, G Perry P Wood, eds. Yale University Press, Yale, 2004.
12
S Hall ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’, Colonial Discourse and PostColonial Theory, A Reader, Harverster Wheatsheaf, Harlow, 1993, p.402.
13
Trinh T. Minh-ha, ‘Bold Omissions and Minute Depictions,’ Moving the
Image: Independent Asian Pacific American Media Arts, R Leong, (ed.),
UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, Los Angeles, 1991, p. 84.
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