Clockwise from left to right: Frances Loeffler, the new curator of Oakville Galleries; the Art Gallery of Alberta’s outdoor sculpture terrace. Photo: Jimmy Jeong; Hangar 16, the new location of Papier16. Photo: Jeanne Castonguay.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
NSCAD University students are dropping classes to protest a proposed hike in tuition of 37 per cent over three years. The “tuition reset” is the latest move in the institution’s attempt to rectify their struggling finances. Currently facing a $13-million debt, the school recently announced they would vacate a number of historic Halifax buildings, and 16 staff members were laid off last spring.
Frances Loeffler has been hired as the curator of Oakville Galleries. Most recently based in London, where she worked at the White Cube producing exhibitions of artists including Christian Marclay, Liu Wei and Kris Martin, Loffler also acted as projects curator for the Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art. She will assume her position in February, 2016, and oversee the galleries’ development as they relocate and expand
Rodney Graham’s Torqued Chandelier, a proposed work of public art consisting of a five-metre ornate light that rises and falls over the course of the day, was approved by Vancouver city council on December 1. The proposed work will hang under the Granville Bridge. Martin Boyce’s Hanging Lanterns, featuring lights suspended from cables hanging in the lane east of Seymour Street, was also approved.
Edmonton city council denied the Art Gallery of Alberta’s request for an additional $250,000 in funding for the next three years in a vote on December 1. The funds were intended to help boost admission figures by transitioning the gallery to a free-admission model relying on increased sponsorship. Commenting on the vote, the AGA’s director Catherine Crowston denied that the funds were emergency funds, and said that the gallery would “move forward with many of the goals and objectives of the Strategic Plan, as funding allows.”
Lawson A.W. Hunter, the board chair of the Ottawa Art Gallery, donated $100,000 to the gallery’s capital campaign on November 27. The capital campaign is raising funds for the gallery’s expansion, which is slated to open in late 2017.
Montreal’s Association des galeries d’art contemporain announced this week that Papier16, the forthcoming instalment of the annual works-on-paper fair, will be housed within Hangar 16, a large industrial building located in the Old Port of Montreal. It’s the latest spot for the migratory fair, which was originally located in Montreal’s Quartier des spectacles before moving in 2015 to the Complexe de Gaspé in the Mile End neighbourhood.
This article was corrected on December 5, 2015, to clarify that NSCAD University announced they would be vacating historic buildings. An earlier version suggested they had vacated. Canadian Art regrets the error.
