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Traffic: Defining Canada’s place in conceptual art
“ Traffic” brought a clarity to works we thought we knew so much
about, revealing a depth and breadth people hadn’t realized existed.
In 2005, while researching her book on the
history of conceptual art in Canada, art
historian Jayne Wark discovered others
circling the same topic.
Jayne soon found herself part of a team
of three university and two institutional
gallery curators from across the country,
planning the first national touring exhibition
of Canadian conceptual art.
“ The reasons for the exhibit were the same
as those for my book,” Jayne explains.
“While there’d been a significant revival of
interest in conceptual art worldwide in the
past 15 years, Canada was next to invisible
in the publications and exhibitions.”
Thus was born Traffic: Conceptual Art in
Canada 1965-1980.
Organized by region, in recognition of the
influence of institutions like NSCAD on
the movement in Canada, Traffic brings
together works that hadn’t been seen
for years, exposing links between artists
never before evident.
“ The bulk of the exhibition’s documentary
and archival content comes from NSCAD,
not surprising as so many of the luminaries
of contemporary art passed through
our doors,” adds Jayne, who curated the
Atlantic section. “While they didn’t create
objects per se, the traces of their installations
and performances remain in the
ephemera.”
Opened in 2010, Traffic was nominated “Best
Exhibition of the Year – University Gallery”
by the American Art Curators Association.
In April 2013, Traffic travels to Karlsruhe,
Germany for a three- month showing,
presented by the Badischer Kunstverein.
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www.nscad.ca/report2011/profile-wark.html
NSCAD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2011