| If contemplating art is supposed to inspire curiosity and generate questions, then Artcity’s numerous exhibitions and installations should have Calgarians positively querulous.
But if your inquisitive nature demands answers, then you may also wish to take in ArtTalk, the lecture series that lets the people who create the work address their audience directly.
"I think that we are all curious and there are many layers of interpretation as well," says ArtTalk director Bozenna Wisniewska.
She says that when artists talk, they can make their audience more aware of the possibilities inherent in their work, developing a dialogue between the art and the public on a much deeper level.
"(But) I don’t think that the talks will reveal everything because they are definitely not an explicit type of an explanation. It’s much more than that."
She notes that in addition to artist talks, there will be lectures by designers and critics, lending further perspectives to the work at hand. Still, despite the number of speakers, topics will be unified by the themes of this year’s series, memory and identity.
"I think this year was, and last year, quite turbulent," says Wisniewska. "I think often we try to be oblivious, and probably too oblivious.... We need to remember."
She says the lectures by local artists Bev Tosh and William MacDonnell will address this need.
Tosh, whose mother was a war bride, is currently working on an exhibit about that very phenomenon. MacDonnell’s work, on the other hand, is informed by his visits to countries that have been through violent social and political upheavals.
"It’s something personal that extends to something much more universal – layers of memory," Wisniewska says, noting that the elaboration of these ideas through dialogue is the underlying purpose of ArtTalk.
"I think that sometimes we really would like to know more, and there is a moment where we are stumped because we have questions, but don’t know how to (ask them)." |
