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Founding the Future
By Lois Klassen
Recently, something old and nostalgic appeared in the washroom of the studio. Someone left there a stack of Vanguard magazines dating back to the late 1980s. Vanguard was a heavily illustrated critical art journal that covered western Canada from 1979 to 1989. Another studio mate and I have been poring over this addition to the bathroom archive, comparing names and stories from the past.
It was a rich time in alternative art production in western Canada. The articles describe lively conferences on the theoretical and political positioning of the critic and curator; the reviews challenge such things as the ethics of place in publicly curated painting exhibitions; and there is page after page describing ambitious installations in large-scale artist-run exhibition spaces across Canada.
In a sense, the 80s saw direct government funding to the artist-run initiatives that had been envisioned in the alternative art practices of the late 60s. As artists in the 80s, we were encouraged to use the government granting systems and to participate in juries. We learned to play a game for which artists claimed some ownership; they had envisioned non-commercial art making in the 60s, they had lobbied for it in the 70s, and they were now being funded for it in the 80s. Artist-Run Centres (ARCs) at this point were earnestly committed to providing a non-commoditized space in which artists could intervene.
Flipping through the past, I see the names of emerging artists who today are anything but confined to western Canada's current artist-run culture. Many of the curators are now employed by stable public institutions like galleries and universities, and most of the exhibiting artists still in the game now have some commercial representation. You might say that the museums and the commercial galleries have caught up, or you might say that artists no longer believe in the artist's outsider position. Or, you might even say they believe in it, but that low cost warehouse spaces (with lax zoning) and myriad other beneficial conditions are no longer available.
Today's artist-run culture in Vancouver bears some resemblance to its origins in the late 70s. Originally, Vancouver's particular brand of artist-run culture seemed to emphasize new media and technological hybrids over wall-hung exhibitions. None of the first ARCs here (of which Video In and Western Front remain) began with exhibition space.
Another local peculiarity was a resistance to bureaucratization. The highly democratic selection procedures developed amongst gatherings of peers in other provinces was resisted in favour of rotating directors and organizers. As I look over the lineup for SWARM7, Vancouver's annual joint opening for ARCs to kick off their winter programming, I think that maybe those themes persist. Video In and Mercury Theatre continue to offer interactive, media based work. And the resistance to bureaucratization might account, in a way, for the myriad organizations that seem to come and go.
This year a new organization, Independent Community Arts Network (ICAN), will host a wake for those young and loved ARCs, or more correctly named "collectives," that recently fell victim to organizational burnout and zoning restrictions. Only a few ARCs of those listed in the SWARM7 lineup enjoy regular and consistent funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, and/or some less consistent provincial or city support.
If the clearly-defined alternative stance of ARCs in the 80s is now murky and more public, it really is admirable that SWARM is our new tradition. In a city known for a hard-to-crack art scene, SWARM is a weekend to break out. Many newcomers and new organizations find ways to open their work and spaces on these nights. The gallery-hung exhibitions ("commercial" in other cities or at other times) will be seen alongside time- and site-specific video interventions in local parks.
It is an arty, party time, like only Vancouver can pull off.
