Centre A –  Limits of Toderance: Re-framing the Multicultural State Policy

Here's an interesting art presentation at Centre A, the Vancouver International Centre for Contempory Art.  They always have rotating presentations as well as special one-off presentations that make for an exciting vibrant Pan-Asian-Canadian and Canadian arts culuture.  Check it out!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE







Limits of Tolerance:

Re-framing Multicultural State Policy

 

EXHIBITION: May 19 – June 23, 2007

OPENING: Friday May 18, 8pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday,

11:00 -18:00

Sunday-Monday closed

 

SYMPOSIUM: Saturday May 26,

14:00 – 17:00, UBC Robson Square theatre

Speakers: Laiwan, Candice Hopkins and Keith Langergräber

Free to the public



Guest Curator: Liz Park

 

Presented with support from the Alvin Balkind Fund for Student
Curatorial Initiatives, the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and
Theory, and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at The University
of British Columbia.

 

A group exhibition with works by Dana Claxton, Stan Douglas,
Laiwan, Paul Lang and Zachary Longboy, Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew, Anne
Ramsden, Ruby Truly, Henry Tsang, and Paul Wong.



In
a country that has touted its multicultural policies, the resurgence of
racist attitudes after 9/11 prompts critical assessment of race issues
today. In an effort to review race politics in the context of Canada's
colonial and immigrant policies, the exhibition Limits of Tolerance examines a period in recent history when cultural diversity became Canada's state policy with the 1988 Multiculturalism Act.



In
the late 1980s, an increasing number of artists explored and questioned
their own identity based on race, gender and sexuality, as lobby
efforts and activism of people of colour and aboriginal ancestry gained
momentum. With the 1988 Multiculturalism Act demanding government
agencies to reform or invent equity policies, the arts and culture
sector in particular underwent a turbulent period in which comfort
zones of liberal attitudes were challenged. The present exhibition Limits of Tolerance
re-presents a selection of artworks produced in Vancouver in the late
1980s and early 1990s when artists, writers and academics engaged in
intense debates about identifications based on race, gender, and
sexuality. This selection emphasizes the various and often contrasting
ways in which artists deal with issues of identity and critique social
structures which inform their identity.



The
artists featured in the exhibition used non-traditional visual media
such as video, performance, and photo-installation to push the limits
of art production at a time when the concept of a singular culture was
under scrutiny. While some artists actively identified their subjective
positioning and sought to speak from within communities defined by
race, gender, or sexuality, other artists deliberately avoided such
self-identification or resisted being categorized under a homogenous
group. The differing strategies deployed in dealing with the question
of identity have insulated discussions of certain artists' works from
others. Yet this exhibition brings together these works in renewed
discussions of identity and reflects on the common place and time
shared by each artist despite his/her distinct experience of race,
gender and sexuality.



Presented
alongside the artworks are archival materials from the cultural equity
caucus for the former Association of National Non-Profit Artists'
Centres (ANNPAC), Minquon Panchayat (1992-1993), the film festival In Visible Colours (1989), and the exhibitions Yellow Peril: Reconsidered (1990), Self Not Whole (1991), Racy Sexy (1993).
 The records of these cultural activities help reframe the presented
art works in broader terms, which include social and political history
of Canada, and the changing questions of community in an increasingly
globalized world. Revisiting this recent past sharpens a critical lens
through which one can see how race politics is played out in art and
the sociocultural and political arenas today.



A
symposium will be held on Saturday, May 26, 14:00 – 17:00 at the UBC
Robson Square theatre, featuring Laiwan, Candice Hopkins, and Keith
Langergräber as speakers.  The symposium will explore questions around
issues of difference and marginality and analyze the present state of
the arts and culture field in Canada.



Centre A gratefully acknowledges the generous support of its patrons,
sponsors, members, partners, private foundations, and government
funding agencies, including the Canada Council for the Arts, the
British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the
Office of Cultural Affairs.

 

For more Information, please contact the gallery:

 

Tel: 604-683-8326

 

Liz Park, Guest Curator: esrpark@gmail.com

Makiko Hara, Curator: makiko.hara@centrea.org

Joni Low, Public Relations: joni.low@centrea.org <mailto:joni.low@centrea.org>