[Winter 2018]
This issue’s thematic section shows works that come from a wide variety of places and times, but all are marked by the notion of public visibility. These three bodies of work cover a wide spectrum of what defines the public space for artistic expression, ranging from the societal and cultural context that circumscribes what can be said, to the more specialized professional and worldly network that hosts and nourishes experiments and new artworks, to the civic and urban space in which artworks are put to the test of fitting with people’s daily lives and the constraints of urban planning.
JUSTIN WONNACOTT, Pictures of Art
Justin Wonnacott compiled a sort of visual essay on the multiplicity and diversity of works of public art presented in the Ottawa region in order to explore their impact and reception. Wonnacott does not set out to produce objective and aesthetic documentation of the artworks; rather, he exposes the incongruities that result from how they are sited and who visits them.
with an essay by Laurent Vernet
GABOR SZILASI, The Art World in Montreal, 1960–1980
After he arrived in Montreal, Gabor Szilasi produced a series of images, never displayed, that document exhibition openings in the Montreal art scene of the 1960s and 1970s. This look back at the people and galleries of recent history through his black-and-white photographs will arouse much curiosity and interest. The portfolio is being published at the same time as these works are featured in an exhibition at the McCord Museum.
with an essay by Zoë Tousignant
IRAN, ANNÉE 38, Rencontres d’Arles
The images from the exhibition Iran, année 38, presented at the Rencontres d’Arles in summer 2017, offer a record of Iranian photographic production since Khomeini’s rise to power thirty-eight years ago, from censorship of images to current rediscovered freedoms. The often-ironic pictures, oscillating between the political and the poetic, are refreshingly contemporary.
with an essay by Claudia Polledri