Activating the Archive (ATA)
Welcome message from ATA Producer Glenn Alteen
This project has developed over the last twenty-two months beginning when we first invited the public into our archive to explore and develop the material, culminating in six diverse websites. The response to this project has been overwhelming, beginning with the exhibition in the summer of 2010 and leading to the 25+ individuals who came to work on various elements of the project including archiving, curating, digitizing, and designing.
Working on this project has been a very exciting journey. Through the eyes of younger artists, curators, and art historians, our archive has come to life in unexpected ways. Having worked at grunt for the past twenty-eight years I was pretty sure I knew the archive, having had a hand in the production or presentation of most of the work in it; however, through these fresh eyes a transformation was achieved. What they saw and how they used the archive allowed for a reinterpretation -- finding work that was overlooked and making connections that I never saw.
Essay: Category Drift - Lorna Brown
In the early 2000s, during an Acquisitions Committee meeting at the Vancouver Art Gallery, I was struck by an unusual order of business. Ordinarily, our committee work consisted of motions to accept donated artworks into the collection and, following the advice of the curatorial team, recommending artwork purchases. On our agenda that day was a motion to transfer a number of objects - videos, lithographs and photographs - by artist Theodore Wan from the archival holdings of the museum to the art collection proper, in preparation for a touring exhibition of his work, curated by art historian Christine Conley.
“Known primarily in the art world, Theodore Wan made a significant contribution to conceptual art in Canada throughout the 1970s and 1980s, specifically in Halifax and Vancouver. Wan's reputation was secured through a remarkable series of medical photographs that played on the ambivalent status of the photograph as art object and illustration. In these works that bridge scientific illustration, performance and self-portraiture, the artist submitted his body to various procedures, instruments and technologies of medical examination and treatment. He also created a number of engaging conceptual pieces with a humorous twist, including officially changing his name to Theodore Saskatche Wan. In the late 1970s Theodore Wan opened an artist-run gallery in Vancouver called Main Exit and went on to develop a commercial photography practice that fed his fascination with performance, narcissistic spectacle, and exotic dancing − riding a fine line between art and everyday life.”
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada
through the Department of Heritage Canada Interactive Fund
This project was made possible in part though financial support by
radio stations 103.5 QM/FM, The Beat 94.5 and Team Radio.
Credits
INDIANacts
indianacts.gruntarchives.org
Curators: Dana Claxton, Tania Willard
Curatorial Assistance: Joi Arcand
Roundtable: Daina Warren, Glenn Alteen, Tania Willard, Joi Arcand, Dana Claxton
Writers: Daina Warren, Tania Willard, Dana Claxton
Original Art Direction: Terry Lau, Beehive Design
Web Developer: Archer Pechawis
Funding: Canadian Heritage - Canada Interactive Fund, Sask Arts Board, Vancouver Foundation, ArtsFACT, BCAC Co-op, City of Vancouver, Tribe
Sculpture
sculpture.gruntarchives.org
Curators: Glenn Alteen, Polina Bachlakova
Writers: Robin Peck, Grant Shilling
Artist Interview: Mary Alice
Dedication: George Sawchuck and Annette Hurtig
Web Design & Development: Archer Pechawis - All Nations Media
Funding: Canadian Heritage - Canada Interactive Fund, Vancouver Foundation, ArtsFACT, BCAC Co-op, City of Vancouver
Art of Engagement
artofengagement.gruntarchives.org
Curators: Tania Willard, Pat Beaton, Paula Jardine
Writers: Glenn Alteen
Web Design & Development: Archer Pechawis - All Nations Media
Funding: Canadian Heritage - Canada Interactive Fund, Vancouver Foundation,
ArtsFACT, BCAC Co-op, City of Vancouver, BCAC -ABCD
Extract
extract.gruntarchives.org
Curator: Kate Armstrong
Curatorial Assistance: Jennifer Campbell
Writers: Kate Armstrong
Web Design & Development: Archer Pechawis - All Nations Media
Funding: Canadian Heritage - Canada Interactive Fund, Vancouver Foundation, ArtsFACT, BCAC Co-op, City of Vancouver
Ghostkeeper
ghostkeeper.gruntarchives.org
Curators: Malcolm Levy, Glenn Alteen, Archer Pechawis
Curatorial support: D’Arcy O’Connor, Jessica Mach
Writers: Sara Diamond, Zainub Verjee, Steve Loft, Marcia Crosby
Source material: Alain Malo, Michelle Brass, Western Front, National Gallery, Vtape
Web Design & Development: Archer Pechawis - All Nations Media
Funding: Canadian Heritage - Canada Interactive Fund, Vancouver Foundation, ArtsFACT, BCAC Co-op, City of Vancouver, Canada Council Media Arts, SFU, Banff Centre, Neutral Ground, VTape, UBC, National Gallery, Fuse Magazine, VIVO, On Main
Queer Intersections
performance.gruntarchives.org
Curator: Christine Stoddard
Writers: T.L. Cowan, Christine Stoddard
Roundtable: Laiwan, Archer Pechawis, Paul Wong
Web Design & Development: Archer Pechawis - All Nations Media
Funding: Canadian Heritage - Canada Interactive Fund, ArtsFACT , Vancouver Foundation, City of Vancouver , BCAC Co-op, Tribe, Vtape, Western Front, VIVO, SFU
The Activation Map
gruntarchives.org/ata
Project Manager: Malcolm Levy
Producer: Glenn Alteen
Administration: Meagan Kus, Mary Ann Anderson, Linda Gorrie, Cornelia Wyngaarden
Copyright: Cornelia Wyngaarden
Marketing: Demian Petryshyn, Francois Roux, Adrienne Greyeyes, Diana Zapata, Olga Alexandru, Jessica Mach, Dan Pon, Sonia Hebert, Sylvana d’Angelo, Alexander Pimm
Collections: Venge Dixon, Olga Alexandru
Database Manager: Olga Alexandru
Collections and Database Support: Jessica Mach, Diana Zapata, Kendra McLellan
Technical Director: Archer Pechawis
Lead Digitizer: Brian Gotro
Digitization Team: Steven Tong, Dan Pon, Zoe Tissandier
Technical Support: Steven Tong
Curators: Tania Willard, Dana Claxton, Glenn Alteen, Malcolm Levy, Archer Pechawis, Christine Stoddard, Kate Armstrong, Pat Beaton, Paula Jardine, Polina Bachlakova
Curatorial Assistance: Joi Arcand, Jennifer Campbell, D’Arcy O’Connor, Jessica Mach
Editors: Venge Dixon, Hillary Wood
Programmers:
Mainsocial - Ben Nevile, Alanna Scott, Ginger Ngo
All Nations Media - Archer Pechawis
ATA Assistant: Sarah Cole-Burnett