Curator and scholar Gerald McMaster. Photo: Sebastian Kriete.
The Remai Modern appoints Gerald McMaster as its new adjunct curator. The curator and scholar’s expertise in contemporary Indigenous art spans more than three decades, and it will also play into his role in forming the new Saskatoon museum’s international advisory council. McMaster is a professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, where he specializes in curatorial studies, Indigenous visual history and aesthetics, and contemporary Indigenous art. He was named the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Visual Culture and Curatorial Practice in 2016. He was the Canadian commissioner for the 1995 Venice Biennale featuring Saskatchewan-based Métis artist Ed Poitras and is co-curating “Unceded: Voices from the Land” for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2006. (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix)
Kapwani Kiwanga wins the inaugural Frieze Artist Award. The Ontario-born, Paris-based artist will receive a budget of USD $30,000 to create an open-air installation “exploring freedom of movement and architectures of exclusion” in Randall’s Island Park as part of the Frieze fair’s New York program. Kiwanga’s proposal was selected by jurists Liam Gillick, Eungie Joo, Pablo León de la Barra, and Adrienne Edwards, chaired by Loring Randolph. The commission is provisionally titled Shady, in which the artist will “build on her practice shining new light on the psychological power of design and histories of exclusion.” Her installation and performance work has been shown internationally at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Documenta 14, with a recent travelling solo exhibition at Toronto’s Power Plant and Calgary’s Esker Foundation and a current show of work near her hometown at Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant. (art-agenda)
The Scotiabank Photography Award announces 11 longlist artists in the running for its $50,000 prize. The longlisted artists are Moyra Davey, Rosalie Favell, Sarah Anne Johnson, Althea Thauberger, Dawit L. Petros, Pascal Grandmaison, Thaddeus Holownia, Shelagh Keeley, David McMillan, Greg Staats and Stephen Waddell. The largest peer-nominated and peer-reviewed “celebration of excellence” in Canadian contemporary photography was founded in 2010 by Edward Burtynsky, who chaired this year’s jury comprising Candice Hopkins, Marie-Josée Jean and Mark Lewis. The winner will be announced on May 8, and in addition to the $50,000 prize they will also receive a solo exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre during the 2019 Contact Photography Festival, and art-book publisher Steidl of Germany will publish and distribute a book of their work. The two finalists will each receive $10,000. (Scotiabank)
Manif d’art announces Brit Jonathan Watkins as curator for the ninth edition of its flagship event, the Quebec City Biennial. Inspired by a visit to Quebec City and Leonard Cohen’s 1967 song “Stories of the Street,” Watkins’s program is entitled“Small Between the Stars, Large Against the Sky.” Produced in collaboration with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the biennial event will take place in various venues throughout Quebec City between February 14 and April 21, 2019. Watkins has been director of Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery since 1999, and prior to that he served as curator of the Serpentine and director of Chisenhale Gallery. He’s curated international exhibitions such as the Tate Triennial in 2003, the Shanghai Biennale in 2006, and the Iraqi Pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2013. (Biennial Foundation)
The historic Canada Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is undergoing a major restoration. The renovation of the designated heritage building, which is an important architectural landmark in the Giardini, was initiated by the National Gallery of Canada in 2014, and it is being carried out by the Milanese architect Alberico Barbiano di Belgiojoso, heir to the Italian firm that originally designed the pavilion, BBPR (Banfi, Belgiojoso, Peressutti, Rogers), working in close cooperation with Venice-based architect Troels Bruun of M+B Studio and Canadian architect Gordon Filewych of onebadant. They will restore the pavilion to its original 1957 design with functional upgrades. The pavilion will be unveiled on May 26, 2018, at the Venice Architecture Biennale, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its inauguration. It will feature the exhibition “Canada Builds a Pavilion in Venice.” (e-flux)
Director and chief curator of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Line Ouellet, has stepped down. She will remain in the position until May 2019 to facilitate the transition. Ouellet was the director and chief curator since 2011, after being director of exhibitions from 1999. “Her vision has helped to make the MNBAQ a world-class museum,” stated Christiane Germain, president of the board of directors of the MNBAQ. (press release)
