Contemporary Calgary

The Exhibition

The iconic Centennial Planetarium has been transformed into Calgary’s largest destination dedicated to modern and contemporary art. Inside the brutalist building, itself a work of art, Contemporary Calgary offers outstanding local, national, and international contemporary art programming. Core to their vision, they aspire to become a leading voice among arts institutions by embracing their values of being welcoming, inclusive, engaging and relevant. _______________________________ Everywhere We Are June 17 – October 10, 2021 Everywhere We Are is an ambitious exhibition and public program series addressing many of the challenges, merits, impacts and advantages associated with art collecting. Drawing upon one of Canada’s most significant contemporary art collections, the exhibition is organized and presented as a collaboration between Contemporary Calgary and the Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary. Everywhere We Are explores boundaries in art. If a boundary can be thought of as a line that separates, who then sets the boundary? Are there rules? How are they negotiated? Applied? When referring to personal relationships, boundaries are further complicated. But what are the implications for art, when artwork itself is viewed as the boundary? This consideration of boundaries led to a fundamental questioning about collecting with respect to issues from ownership and art markets to sacredness and physiological affect. Through exhibitions, lectures, workshops, panels and more, Everywhere We Are poses a of range questions including how and where art is shown and distributed; how neuroscience is changing our understanding of art; and how collecting is part of a complex ecosystem of relationships with artists, curators, collectors, commercial galleries, and public collections. Everywhere We Are, ultimately, is intended to express that boundaries are often mutable, flexible and even artificial, and that art is owned by the person who sees it. In the end, the act of viewing itself, however fleeting, creates ownership that is valid, unique and rich in personal meaning. This program is co-organized by Contemporary Calgary and Nickle Galleries featuring significant works by Vikky Alexander, Chris Cran, Geoffrey Farmer, Wyn Geleynse, Liz Magor, Luanne Martineau, Chris Millar, Ron Moppett, Ron Terada, among many more who have helped shape contemporary art in Canada. _______________________________ NOTES FOR TOMORROW June 17 – October 10, 2021 Notes for Tomorrow is an exhibition conceived by Independent Curators International (ICI), featuring artworks selected by curators from around the world to reflect on a new global reality ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this cultural moment of transition, each work is a source of inspiration from the recent past and a guiding perspective for the future. Many of the artworks in the exhibition address spirituality as a grounding mechanism, sharing ways to make sense of the world when so much is in doubt. Some engage with specific mythology, while others reveal political structures that may or may not still be standing. The formation of monuments is questioned, and their removal is all but certain. The exhibition addresses art’s potential in the construction of collective memory in a global era. We learn the importance of sustaining and sharing different forms of knowledge, prompting us to re-imagine our conceptions of the future. Notes for Tomorrow was curated from selections by alumni of ICI’s Curatorial Intensive, a professional development program founded in 2010 on principles of international exchange, inclusivity, and knowledge-sharing. With the ever-present backdrop of a global pandemic, ICI turned to these curators to question and reassess values and relevance in contemporary culture, and asked each of them to share an artwork they believe is vital to be seen today. For Notes for Tomorrow, the traveling exhibition format has been recalibrated to encourage international collaboration and versatile modes of presentation. The exhibition will travel digitally to museums, university galleries, and independent art spaces for artworks to be produced at every site, responding to the local context. Each iteration will engage audiences with video, photography, installations, murals, and scores within the gallery space, outside, and online. Notes for Tomorrow is a traveling exhibition organized and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI) and initiated by Frances Wu Giarratano, Becky Nahom, Renaud Proch, and Monica Terrero. The exhibition was made possible with the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, VIA Art Fund, and ICI’s Board of Trustees and International Forum. The presentation at Contemporary Calgary has been organized in collaboration with Chief Curator, Ryan Doherty and Associate Curator, Kanika Anand.