Should I Stay or Should I Go? Canadian Artists in the Diaspora

Alissa Firth-Eagland, Pierre Tremblay, Gareth Long, Will Kwan, Stephen Fakiyesi

Panel Discussion: Monday, January 29, 2007 at 6pm
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Hart House, University of Toronto

A panel discussion on the migration of Canadian visual artists into the international context. The discussion will focus on the effects of international residency opportunities and graduate programmes, artdealership in art market cities, and consider national representation through expatriot artists at major art events and biennials. The relationship between economic and cultural migration will be addressed to gauge the position and options available to Canadian visual artists and students.

Panelists:

Alissa Firth-Eagland has initiated artistic and curatorial partnerships between Scandinavia and Canada. She recently completed a curatorial residency at the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art. In 2007, she will present Finnish and Swedish video works at the 20th Images Film and Video Festival in Toronto.

Pierre Tremblay is a coordinator of le Fresnoy, a postgraduate residency in Tourcoing, France. He currently teaches in the Image Arts Department of Ryerson University, Toronto and has previously taught at Parsons School of Design in Paris.

Gareth Long is currently completing his MA in Fine Art at Yale University. Exploring the formal space between video and sculpture has been a focus of his independent work and projects with the 640 480 collective. He has translated video in books and lenticular photographic prints.

Will Kwan is the Snider Lecturer in Humanities at University of Toronto-Scarborough. His work is included in the 2007 Biennale de Montréal and was recently a resident researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, Holland. He has presented work at the 2003 Venice Biennale.

Stephen Fakiyesi will be included in AAHLuminex show at the Art Gallery of Mississauga and is collaborating on a childrens book. He recently completed his MA in Fine Art at the University of California-Los Angeles where he focussed on print making.

The panel will be moderated by Tejpal S. Ajji, curator in residence at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery.

Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Hart House, University of Toronto
7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H3
Tel 416-978-8398 --- www.utoronto.ca/gallery