- August 28, 2014 to December 31, 2014
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Grunt’s 30th anniversary is in many ways about finding surprising things in familiar spaces. As we witness internationally the proliferation of artists’ practices that seek or are influenced by “the social”, and as we consider also our own hyper-local connections here in the Mount Pleasant community, ideas of engagement have been top of mind. In some aspects, it’s a question of support: how can we as curators or institutions support practices that no longer adhere to the traditional expectations of the exhibition? How might forms of engagement be broad, rigorous, unexpected, productive—as well as charismatic? How might we promote spaces of common connection while maintaining challenging content, unique collaborations, and productive friction? No clear answers of course, but in this, as in most things, we turn to artists. Our program of 30th anniversary artist projects is designed to engage on diverse levels. Focussing on projects that take place outside the gallery walls in public or shared spaces, our intent has been around finding productive intersections between art practices and community concerns—be they spatial, discursive or social. Our first project is a 3-month long residency with artist Julia Feyrer within our archive, Media Gallery and Main Gallery spaces. Beginning with the idea of “The Kitchen”—at times the creative and social heart of the grunt gallery—Feyrer will create a new installation and media commission that incorporates elements of grunt’s rich archive of performance and exhibition documentation, as well as the lesser known and harder-to-trace narratives of social connection and creative foment that have informed this institution. Process-based and meticulously—if playfully—constructed, Feyrer’s work is both densely material and intellectually airy; that is, her work challenges the viewer to engage both a tactile experience in this present moment, while simultaneously considering the transformative potential of perception, over time and through space. Feyrer’s use of film and sound acts as a conduit for seeing and, importantly, for experiencing an archival document. As part of a program we’re calling “Brew”, artists Sonny Assu and Lorna Brown have created “social objects”– artist editions that are designed to circulate in the social spaces such as bars or restaurants in Mount Pleasant. Here, engagement is potentially fleeting, but the objects themselves act as small moments of contact—an aesthetic and poetic complement to the fabric of life in this neighbourhood. Brown’s work—a refillable beer growler—specifically calls for a consideration of time and place, and considers the question of cyclical return. Calling to mind questions of history, of habit, of paths built and repeated. Other Brew projects will be announced later in the season, but each piece places artists into specific conversations with spaces and community members. From embedded residencies within community groups, to artist-designed objects, to intervention practices and artist-led discussions, this series opens a sociable consideration of this neighbourhood, and—we hope—proposes a kind of tenderness for the spaces we share. These porous, attentive practices encourage us to connect, to see differently, to return each time with a new perspective.
By Alistair MacLennan, David Khang, Julia Feyrer, Lorna Brown, Marcus Bowcott, Sonny Assu - Curated by Glenn Alteen, Vanessa Kwan
curator | 79 Programs
Curators Glenn Alteen- September 15, 1998 to October 3, 1998
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The work of new York based artist, Tim Watkins has traditionally combined mechanical kinetic sculpture and organic forms. In this series, he moves towards more personal themes reflective of his life.
By Tim Watkins - Curated by Glenn Alteen
A Sea
- September 6, 2019 to October 19, 2019
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Anton Cu Unjieng’s intricately taped, fired, and stacked ceramics are a response to recent political actions in his homeland in the Philippines. The Duterte regime’s mass killings have been officially classified as nanlaban, Filipino for ‘fought back.’ The stack arrangements in Cu Unjieng’s work are not only a monument to the regime’s precarious strength, but also to the possibility of fighting back.
By Anton Cu Unjieng - Curated by Glenn Alteen
A study in restraint, nanlaban
- September 14, 1992
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No description available
By Marie Humber - Curated by Aiyanna Maracle, Glenn Alteen
Age of Iron – A Loss of Way
- April 21, 2012 to April 28, 2012
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Ghostkeeper is the first major look back at the extraordinary art practice of Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew (1958-2006). Ahasiw was among the first aboriginal artists in Canada to work in performance, and the internet. Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew's work as a curator, producer, and writer laid important groundwork for Aboriginal artists in these fields. He is an important voice in the development of these media within the aboriginal communities and beyond.
By Adrian A. Stimson, Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew, Archer Pechawis, Cheryl L'hirondelle, Elwood Jimmy, Sheila Urbanoski - Curated by Glenn Alteen, Malcolm Levy
Ahasiw/Ghostkeeper
- January 17, 1995 to February 4, 1995
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No description available
By Thomas Anfield - Curated by Glenn Alteen
Altar Pieces
- March 15, 2019 to April 27, 2019
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An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance is about identity, culture, strength, vulnerability, and love; these images are about resilience and resistance. In this series, artist Kali Spitzer is photographing her community of mostly Indigenous and mixed heritage people, while challenging pre-conceived notions of race, gender, and sexuality to touch on how we can become more empathic, empowered people despite the hardships that we have endured. Spitzer uses tintype photographs to capture her subjects. Tintype or ferrotype photography was a product of the late 1800s and most popular during the US Civil War. The medium persisted into the 20th century at fairs and carnivals as tourist photography. In the 21st century, it has been revived as novelty or art photography. The tintype was the first real populist form of photography, making photographs available to working class people reaching out through popular events and gatherings.
By Kali Spitzer - Curated by Glenn Alteen
An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance
- October 8, 1996 to November 2, 1996
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I would like to propose a show of paintings and text to be presented at the grunt gallery. The title of the show would be called The Hardy Boys Revisited. The premise of the work would be that the Hardy Boys would be freed from the narrative time warp in which they are trapped perpetually as seventeen and eighteen year olds. By using fictitious book covers and titles the works chronicle their progression into adulthood and bring Frank and Joe Hardy into the 90's. For the purposes of this show they will begin aging from the late 60's, making them in 1995 in their mid 40's
By Andrew Short - Curated by Glenn Alteen
An Orgy Of Pansemics
- April 7, 2016 to May 8, 2016
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Análekta – meaning “to gather up; to collect” – an exhibition of new works by Merle Addison, documents his switch from analogue to digital. Reworking old images using digital overlays, the final prints owe as much to printmaking as photography. At once modern and nostalgic, the works transform the media through their highly manipulated surfaces.
By Merle Addison - Curated by Glenn Alteen
análekta
- April 4, 2003 to April 26, 2003
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Marlene Madison's new works Audition Tapes and Open Call explore notions of "Celebrity". Audition Tapes, a single screen video installation, consists of three "cold" readings of a prepared text in a format that closely resembles a screen test. Open Call is the reading by 15 actors and non-actors of texts they receive when they arrive at the event.
By Marlene Madison - Curated by Glenn Alteen