6 - The New Gallery - Then + Then Again, Clive Robertson

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
January 3, 2011

media contact: Tim Westbury
tim@thenewgallery.org
403.233.2399

ABSENCE MAKES THE ART GROW FONDER
After 32 years, artist-run pioneer Clive Robertson returns to Calgary with a major archival exhibition at The New Gallery

Calgary - January 3, 2011 - Often regarded as the personal “epicentre” of Canadian artist-run culture, Clive Robertson began his interdisciplinary art and curatorial practices in Cardiff, Wales in 1969 before emigrating from the UK to Calgary in 1971. The exhibition Then + Then Again will provide contemporary audiences with a unique opportunity to sample and make connections between artist collectives networking, the rights and responsibilities that have shaped artist-run culture and the persistent potential for organizational collaboration. Some highlights include the cultural journalistic activisms of Centerfold/FUSE magazines; an unseen interview with Green Party advocate and artist Joseph Beuys and curatorial contributions to the start-up of international performance and video art festivals. A central premise of Then + Then Again as a retrospective exhibition is that it is accessible both within and outside of the Gallery - so visitors are free to borrow the displayed material for home viewing or access audio archive files for listening.

Clive Robertson is a media artist, cultural critic and publisher whose latest book, Policy Matters - Administrations of Art Culture was published by YYZ Books (Toronto) in 2006. He was founding director of the performance-publishing collective, W.O.R.K.S.(with Paul Woodrow); Voicespondence (an audio production and publishing co-operative); Parachute Center for Cultural Affairs (with Don Mabie, Paul Woodrow and Marcella Bienvenue) and Arton’s Video Publishing. He is also founding editor and publisher of Centerfold (with Marcella Bienvenue) and FUSE magazine (with Lisa Steele and Tom Sherman). Robertson’s critical texts have appeared in artscanada, Art and Artists, High Performance, La Mamelle, Inter, Parachute, Parallelogramme, Remote Control and C Magazine. He currently teaches contemporary art history, cultural policy and performance studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON.

The New Gallery is pleased to present:

Then + Then Again - Practices within an artist-run culture, 1969-2006

starting at 11 AM on Thursday January 6, 2011 in #212, Art Central, 100 - 7th Avenue SW.

The New Gallery (TNG) is an artist-run centre exhibiting innovative emerging and lesser-known artists whose work contributes to social and political discourse; artistic education and community outreach are as important as presentation. TNG encourages a broad range of practices and critical discussion around contemporary media and visual arts. Now in it’s 36th year as a charitable non-profit society, TNG is an active, open and responsive public forum for the arts. TNG is grateful for the ongoing support of its members, volunteers, Calgary Arts Development, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and The Canada Council for the Arts.

www.thenewgallery.org

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If you’d like any additional information, images or to schedule an interview with the artist, please contact:
Tim Westbury, TNG Programming Director, at 403.233.2399 or email tim@thenewgallery.org