Images clockwise from left: the historic Khyber Building in Halifax, built in 1888. Photo: Martin Cathrae via Flickr/Creative Commons; David Altmejd, The Flux and the Puddle, 2014. Photo: Lance Brewer; Tanya Cunnington and John Hartman. Photo: Andre Beneteau.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
Halifax Regional Council voted on Tuesday to sell the historic Khyber Building to a community group. A public hearing and open call for proposals, which could take two years, will be held. This is viewed as good news by the 1588 Barrington Preservation Society, which recently formulated a new arts-related proposal for the building, as it provides the society with time to refine its plan and formally submit its proposal through the community hearing process.
Montreal’s Art Mûr, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, will open a satellite gallery this year in Leipzig, Germany. The new space, to be launched as a one-year project, will be housed within Leipzig’s Baumwollspinnerei, a former cotton mill that now houses galleries, coffee shops and studios. Established in 1996, Art Mûr represents artists including Nadia Myre, Lois Andison and Claude Tousignant.
The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal’s David Altmejd exhibition, “Flux,” was co-awarded the 31st Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal on Thursday. Altmejd’s exhibition, which garnered more than 124,000 viewers during its summer run, was recognized alongside the contemporary circus troupe Les 7 doigts de la main. The two winners will split the $30,000 prize that accompanies the Grand Prix.
The MacLaren Art Centre has announced that Orillia-based artist Tanya Cunnington has been awarded the 2015 John Hartman Award. The annual award, which includes a prize of $4,000, is granted to an emerging artist to support the production of new work. The prize, donated by artist John Hartman, has previously gone to artists including Duane Linklater, Julia Vandepolder and Matt Macintosh.
