Curators announced for Nuit Blanche 2008!
And the curators are…Wayne Baerwaldt, Dave Dyment, Gordon Hatt and Haema Sivanesan.
1. WAYNE BAERWALDT is the Director and Curator at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery at the Albert College of Art and Design, Calgary.
Geoffrey Farmer, Every Surface In Some Way Decorated, Altered, or Changed Forever, (Except the Float), 2004. Image: catrionajeffries.com
VoCA knows Wayne as the curator of last year’s Montreal Biennale and the former curator at Toronto’s Power Plant, not to mention the co-curator of Canada’s big success at the Venice Biennale in 2001, when Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s installation The Paradise Institute took the Leone D’Oro prize.
Wayne is a fan of artists Geoffrey Farmer, Theo Sims, and filmmaker Guy Maddin among others. Might we see their work at NB 08?
2. DAVE DYMENT is the Director of Programming at Mercer Union, a Toronto artist-run centre (of which VoCA sits on the Board of Directors). We know Dave as an all-around great guy whose own art demonstrates an interest in music. Will BGL, Yoko Ono and (VoCA fave) Kelly Mark feature in his exhibition?
Kelly Mark, Glow House (Toronto), 2005. Image: mocoloco.com
We should expect a lot of sound art, he says. He’s interested in works that “bypass the gallery system” - as you might expect from the co-director of an artist-run centre. Click HERE to check out Dyment’s own work.
3. GORDON HATT is a writer and was curator of St. Catharines’ Rodman Hall Arts Centre until last year. In 2006, as part of the Hart House Installation Collective in Toronto, he organized an exhibition which included work by Carlo Cesta, John Dickson, Lee Goreas, Catherine Heard, Kristiina Lahde, Lisa Neighbour, Ed Pien, Brian Scott, Max Streicher and Mel Ziegler, among others. Might we see some of these artists at NB 08?
Carlo Cesta, Office Romance 2, 2003. Image: personavolare.com
4. HAEMA SIVANESAN is the Executive Director of SAVAC, the South Asian Visual Arts Centre in Toronto. She moved to Toronto from Sydney Australia where she was Assistant Curator of Asian Art at the Art Gallery of NSW.
Tazeen Qayyum,Lady Excusing Her Love Bites as Cat Scratches, from Double Date (performance), 2006.
Image: tazeenqayyum.com
Haema’s project sounded – dare we say – the most interesting, due to her interest in and focus on cultural diversity in art. Her plan is to introduce works for Nuit Blanche that will “generate cross-cultural dialogues.”
But, of course, this isn’t a competition.
STAY TUNED to VoCA for lots more on NB 08 - Including critic’s picks, how to plan your night, must-sees and more!
Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design...
4 comments ↓
wayne was the director and not curator at the Power Plant
I was just one of the million who came out to see Nuit Blanche 2008. I had so much fun in year 2006, so, I came out with even a greater expectation this year. I appreciate all those who put so much work into this huge project. It’s very unfortunate that so much work and money got spent, but I didn’t see anything really good. Me and my three other friends grew more and more tired as we walked the street of Toronto. I am little bit lost for words over all it was not a fun experience but I can see lot of work went into create this chaos and confusion that didn’t inspired me much. I can’t say that for all the work because I didn’t see everything last night. I hope we have a better year next year if we are going to have any. I’m in a way glad that I didn’t participate as one of the artists. Even good work looked bad because of the bad ones.
Nuit Blanche was absolutely terrible this year. I can’t imagine how they could have screwed it up so badly since 2006. I walked from 7pm until nearly 7am, and there was not a single redeeming exhibit. It was a complete waste of time and effort for everyone involved. I hope they smarten up and do something worthwhile next year. I was also surprised at the lack of Canadian art showcased.
Over 1 Million people attended Nuit Blanche 2008, yet the Art utterly failed to inspire its audience. This represents how much we Canadians want art, yet how bad we are at creating it. I am ashamed at the Artists of this country for their lackluster performance.
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