John Baldessari, I will not make any more boring art, 1971 NSCAD Lithography Workshop Print #160 
University Permanent Art Collection (image courtesy of NSCAD University)

MSVU Art Gallery presents


Traffic:
Conceptual Art in Canada 1965-1980
March 18 to May 8 2011
 
Presented in Halifax at:
Anna Leonowens Gallery (NSCAD University)
Dalhousie Art Gallery
MSVU Art Gallery (Mount Saint Vincent University)
Saint Mary's University Art Gallery
 
Join us at MSVU Art Gallery on Saturday, March 19 at 2pm for a Curator's Tour with Jayne Wark and the opening reception of the Halifax section of Traffic.
 
Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965-1980 is the first major exhibition to focus on the influence and manifestations of conceptual art in Canada, a movement that can be largely understood through Sol LeWitt's famous 1967 statement that "the idea becomes a machine that makes the art". Concerned with language, body, place and geography and the very concept of what constitutes the concept of art, this movement, both in Canada and globally, was indelibly marked by the 1960s post-war political unrest and social upheaval; in North America this included racial and cultural conflict, anger over the war in Vietnam, the uprising of the women's movement, and the radicalization of the gay liberation movement after the Stonewall riots of 1969. Conceptual art was also informed by the emergence of new information technologies such as the video camera and television, the photocopier, tele-type and fax machine and, in the end, the computer. In a world already perceived to be too full of 'things' (such as paintings, sculptures and monuments), the conceptual movement rebelled against the production and consumption of art objects that represented individual expression, special skill, or visual and formal concerns, and instead, emphasized art as idea first and foremost.
 
Presenting more than 450 works by over 100 artists from across Canada, Europe and the United States, Traffic is organized around urban and regional centres from Halifax to Vancouver, while seeking to capture the dynamic lines of traffic between them. The nationally touring exhibition is shared by four venues in Halifax: Dalhousie Art Gallery will present work from Ontario, curated by Barbara Fischer (Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto), and Montréal, curated by Michèle Thériault with Vincent Bonin (Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University). MSVU Art Gallery will host work from Halifax and Atlantic Canada, curated by Jayne Wark (NSCAD University); Saint Mary's University Art Gallery will display work from British Columbia, curated by Grant Arnold (Vancouver Art Gallery), and the Prairies, curated by Catherine Crowston (Art Gallery of Alberta). The Anna Leonowens Gallery at NSCAD University will augment the exhibition by presenting a selection of its unique collection and archive materials for a two-week period from 22 March to 2 April.
 
This exhibition is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Museums Assistance Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts.
 
Please join us for the following events:
 
Thursday, March 17
8:00 PM, Opening, Dalhousie Art Gallery
Opening Remarks: Barbara Fischer and Michèle Thériault
-
Friday, March 18
7:00 pm, Talk, Guest Speaker: William Wood
Conceptualism as a Disposition in Art in Vancouver
Saint Mary's University Art Gallery
exhibition opening to follow at 8:00 pm
-
Saturday, March 19
2:00 PM, Curator's Tour: Jayne Wark
MSVU Art Gallery, exhibition opening to follow at 2:30 pm
-
Monday, March 21
5:30 PM, Opening, Anna Leonowens Gallery
-
Thursday, March 24
8:00 PM, Talk, Guest Speaker: Jeffrey Spalding
Saint Mary's University Art Gallery
-
Sunday, March 27
Panel Discussion on the NSCAD Lithography Workshop
Panelists: Wallace Brannen, Garry Neill Kennedy and Jayne Wark
2:00 PM, MSVU Art Gallery
-
Symposium:
Saturday, April 16
9:30 am to 5:00 pm, NSCAD University
-
Sunday, April 17
8:00 PM, Performance, Dartmouth Experimental Music Group
Dalhousie Art Gallery


Details of all upcoming events will be announced on the galleries' websites.
-
ANNA LEONOWENS GALLERY (NSCAD UNIVERSITY)
1891 Granville Street, Halifax, NS
www.nscad.ca 
902-494-8223
-
DALHOUSIE ART GALLERY
6101 University Avenue, Halifax, NS B3H 1W8
www.artgallery.dal.ca 
902-494-2403
-
MSVU ART GALLERY (MOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY)
166 Bedford Highway, Halifax, NS B3M 2J6
www.msvuart.ca 
902-457-6160
-
SAINT MARY'S UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY
Loyola Building, 5865 Gorsebrook Avenue, Halifax, ! NS B3H 1G3
www.smuartgallery.ca 
902-420-5445