Images clockwise from left: Emily Promise Allison, 2015. Allison will give a performance on March 10 linked to Nuit Blanche Saskatoon; MP Maryam Monsef framed by work in “Arthur Shilling: The Final Works” curated by William Kingfisher on Thursday, March 3, 2016, at the Art Gallery of Peterborough in Peterborough, Ontario, as she announces $440,000 in funding for upgrades to the AGP. Photo: Clifford Skarstedt/Peterborough Examiner/Postmedia Network.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
Wayne Baerwaldt will be the guest curator for the 2016 Nuit Blanche Saskatoon. Baerwaldt will structure the event around the intersection between food and performance art. Baerwaldt is a founding curator of Nuit Blanche Calgary, and previously worked as the director/curator of the Illingworth Kerr Gallery, and at the Power Plant and Plug In ICA. The 2016 Nuit Blanche Saskatoon event will run on October 1.
Galerie de l’UQAM in Montreal has changed its operating hours due to the general strike by the student employees’ union, SÉTUE, which represents 3,000 teaching assistants and researchers at the institution. SÉTUE and UQAM have been at loggerheads for some time, and without a collective agreement since 2012. The gallery will now be open Fridays and Saturdays from 12 to 5 p.m.
Geoffrey James has been selected as Toronto’s first Photo Laureate. The three-year appointment lasts from March 31, 2016, to March 31, 2019, and includes a $10,000 annual honorarium. James will work as an “ambassador of visual and photographic culture at events that promote those arts,” and will develop a legacy project in coordination with city staff. The appointment is pending approval from city council in March.
The federal government announced a $440,000 donation on Thursday to the Art Gallery of Peterborough, retroactively supporting the gallery’s refurbishment project. Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef announced the funding on behalf of Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly. The completed renovations were highlighted on Thursday, and include “new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system that better controls temperature and humidity.”
