Alberta Biennial 2017
The Art Gallery of Alberta and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Walter Phillips Gallery will present for the time being: 2017 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art. Spread over the two sites, it opens at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton on May 27, 2017 and Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff on June 24, 2017, with public programming at both sites throughout the exhibition’s duration.
Curated by Peta Rake and Kristy Trinier, and jointly organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the 2017 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art features new works by 24 Alberta artists.
Art Gallery of Alberta
- · Ashley Bedet
- · Devon Beggs
- · Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal
- · Roy Caussy
- · Mark Clintberg
- · Craig Fahner & Neal Moignard
- · Svea Ferguson
- · Megan Green
- · Tia Halliday
- · Kristopher Karklin
- · Kristopher Lindskoog
- · Jay Mosher
- · Marigold Santos
- · Nicole Kelly Westman
Walter Phillips Gallery
- · Andrew Buszchak
- · Roy Caussy
- · Mark Clintberg
- · Gerry Dotto
- · Svea Ferguson
- · Taryn Kneteman
- · Wil Murray
- · Justin Patterson & Stacey Watson
- · Paul Robert
- · Parker Thiessen
- · Justin Waddell
“Peta Rake and I travelled approximately 5000 km to meet with artists in studios across the province,” said Kristy Trinier. “Our research resulted in rich conversations from many accomplished artists. The exhibition presents a summary of these conversations, through selecting artists to represent a diverse selection representation of contemporary art practices in communities from Fort McMurray to Lethbridge.”
The cohort of 24 Alberta artists met at Banff Centre in the summer of 2016 for the Alberta Biennial Sessions to further develop their artworks and expand upon the exhibition themes together with the curators. Two international guest curators, Kendal Henry and Lorenzo Fusi, led an intensive series of workshops with the artists and facilitated an open conversation on the status of biennials and their impact regionally and internationally. This was the first time that artists had been brought together in such a way prior to the opening of the exhibition.
“The Alberta Biennial Sessions were generative for both the artists and curators because they were able to connect and share their practices in advance of the exhibition development. We prefaced ‘conversation’ as paramount in structuring the Biennial and emphasized the importance of thinking through our community collectively, hopefully creating a richer, more intertwined exhibition,” said Peta Rake.
for the time being: 2017 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art approaches the political implications of self-organization and wayfinding in new and unknown territories that may or may not be visible. Spread over two sites — the Art Gallery of Alberta and Walter Phillips Gallery — the Alberta Biennial investigates the distribution of wealth and labour through the provisional practices of 24 artists from across the province. In conversation with the artists, the curators acknowledged common threads that emerged relating to interstitiality and site — albeit physical or virtual — and a preoccupation with language and echoes that reflect the way in which artists see reverberations within larger discourses in their communities. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue featuring essays by the curators Peta Rake and Kristy Trinier and guest curator Lorenzo Fusi.
Since 1996, the Art Gallery of Alberta has presented the Alberta Biennial as a survey of contemporary art from across the province. Over its course, the exhibition has included new and exciting works by 222 Alberta-based contemporary artists, promoting them across the country and bringing national attention to Alberta’s art scene. In 2017, we celebrate the tenth Alberta Biennial.
for the time being: 2017 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art is jointly organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and presented by ATB Financial. The exhibition at the Art Gallery of Alberta is supported by Artist Patrons: Bruce and Carol Bentley, Marie Gordon, John and Maggie Mitchell, Sheila O'Brien, and Allan and Marianne Scott. The exhibition at Walter Phillips Gallery is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program. We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, Edmonton Arts Council, and the City of Edmonton.
— about the Artists and Curators
Source: Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
