Parker Thiessen

June 24 – September 10, 2017

Walter Phillips Gallery
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Taking the position that a biennial organizes artists in addition to works of art, curators Kristy Trinier and Peta Rake invited Albertan artists to participate in collaborative workshops hosted in Banff nearly one year in advance of the exhibition opening. In addition to extensive studio visits across the province, these conversations greatly informed the development of the two-part Biennial. The title of the exhibition for the time being is an analogy of thinking about what it means to be in-between spaces and times. Specifically the exhibition focuses on our present and our relationships to perceptions of reality. for the time being approaches the political implications of self-organization and way-finding in new and unknown territories that may or may not be visible. The exhibition investigates the distribution of wealth and labour through language and provisional practices. In the conversations with the artists, common threads emerged relating to interstitiality and site—albeit physical or virtual—and a preoccupation with echoes that reflect the way in which artists see reverberations within larger discourses in their communities.

The cohort of 24 Alberta artists met at Banff Centre in the summer of 2016 for the Alberta Biennial Sessions to further develop their artworks and expand upon the exhibition themes together with the curators. Two international guest curators, Kendal Henry and Lorenzo Fusi, led an intensive series of workshops with the artists and facilitated an open conversation on the status of biennials and their impact regionally and internationally. This was the first time that artists had been brought together in such a way prior to the opening of the exhibition.

The Art Gallery of Alberta and Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery are jointly organizing and co-presenting the 10th Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art. The exhibition will exist in two parts and open first at the Art Gallery of Alberta in May 2017 and then at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Walter Phillips Gallery in June 2017, with public programming at both sites throughout the exhibition’s duration.

Since 1996, the Art Gallery of Alberta has presented the Alberta Biennial as a survey of contemporary art from across the province. Since its inception, the exhibition has presented new and exciting works by 222 Alberta contemporary artists, serving to promote Alberta artists across the country and bringing national attention to Alberta’s art scene. In 2017, we are celebrating the Biennial’s 10th year.

The for the time being: 2017 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art is curated by Kristy Trinier and Peta Rake, and  jointly organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and presented by ATB Financial. The exhibition at the Art Gallery of Alberta is supported by Artist Patrons: Bruce and Carol Bentley, Marie Gordon, John and Maggie Mitchell, Sheila O’Brien, and Allan and Marianne Scott. The exhibition at Walter Phillips Gallery is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program. We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, Edmonton Arts Council, and the City of Edmonton.

For more information for the Art Gallery of Alberta portion of the exhibition visit: youraga.ca

Artists

Ashley Bedet
Devon Beggs
Andrew Buszchak
Roy Caussy
Mark Clintberg
Gerry Dotto
Craig Fahner & Neal Moignard
Svea Ferguson
Megan Green
Tia Halliday
Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal
Kristopher Karklin
Taryn Kneteman
Kristopher Lindskoog
Jay Mosher
Wil Murray
Justin Patterson & Stacey Watson
Paul Robert
Marigold Santos
Parker Thiessen
Justin Waddell
Nicole Kelly Westman