ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - Conferrals
ICA•RDI ongoing Conferrals - to be listed below (I travel with my file boxes, I've done my homework, but still have a lot to learn from artists. - BL)
ICA•RDI ongoing Conferrals - to be listed below (I travel with my file boxes, I've done my homework, but still have a lot to learn from artists. - BL)
Conferral Boat
ICA•RDI Conferrals:
The Town of Lunenburg has an UNESCO World Heritage Site allocation, however rather than “heritage”, ICA•RDI wished to draw attention to the UNESCO Status of the Artist documents and proposes to develop international affiliations, linking artists’ communities by accumulating, organizing and disseminating information and projects related to the role of the artist in society.
ICA•RDI Embassy mobile will travel conferring with those who are stakeholders in the local art community on issues pertaining to ‘the status of the artist in society’, to receive advice and suggestions from them regarding the ICA•RDI projects, to compile documentation, and to exchange and disseminate research gathered.
ICA•RDI prefers that the context for documenting the Conferral be considered and agreed on by participants and that the conferring document is recorded in a formal manner where there exists the potential for propositions and exchange. ICA•RDI is serious regarding this research, there is an aspect of being an interloper, squatting in the artists' oeuvre, within their art-institutionalized frame, which raises questions regarding intent, interpretation, but hopefully the Conferral document in circulation and presentation asks that the activity of these artists is considered. As the ICA•RDI Conferral Status of the Artist Archive grows these formal documents in selective presentation can offer a comparative reflection to illustrate the diverse role of the artists in society, and more important perhaps, to connect artists with other artists that are involved with similar activities internationally.
Basicaly the Conferrals are a way of pointing to the important role artists play in their community, however these specific individuals are involved in their communities in ways that go beyond the creation of their own art production. The Conferral is an act of mutual respect, to illustrate the ICA•RDI Ambassador (Status of the Artist) regard for these individuals' contributions to society, and in return by participating the individuals' support for the ICA•RDI project. ICA•RDI appreciates the support of those who have participated in this ongoing archive.
The Conferral as Document:
The documentation of the Conferrals is made with a Widelux 1500 camera, a very mechanical camera in which the lens moves left to right during exposure. The camera takes 120 film and produces a negative that is 2 1/4"x 5". During the exposure a vertical 1/8" wide x 2 1/4" high slit at the back of the camera pans slowing across the 5" of film exposing it to the light. This camera can be used to take rather unique pictures, however, the majority of the Conferral images are straight forward documentary records. The camera records 5 images on each 120 roll of film, so usually 5 exposures are taken during a Conferral sitting. From these negatives I make a contact sheet, the majority of the images below are poor quality as they were scanned/cropped from the positive colour contact sheet and not scanned directly from the individual single original negative. (This will hopefully be done someday for print publication.) The presentation below is meant to illustrate (as scrapbook) the ongoing recording of Conferrals in the ICA•RDI Conferral Status of the Artist Archive, which really started at the Banff Centre during the "Future of Idea Art" artist residency in 2006.
ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - Conferrals a documentary archive series of conferrals started in Banff 2006.
The following documents are from this ongoing archive:
The following documents are from this ongoing archive:
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Barbara Fischer and Catherine Crowston, Banff Centre, October 12, 2006. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
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Carbou, Nova Scotia conferral summer 2006
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Conferral with Barbara Fischer & Catherine Crowston
ICA•RDI & The Banff Centre Affiliation
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Sylvie Gilbert and Joseph delPesco to create an affiliation between ICA•RDI & BICI, Banff Centre, October 27, 2006. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
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Conferral with BICI
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Conferral with BICI - video on the set, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre
Conferral with Banff International Curatorial Institute (BICI)
Future of Idea Art
ICA•RDI “Future of Idea Art” table symposium on the status of the artist, The Banff Centre, October 24, 2006
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The Movement @ the ICA•RDI “Future of Idea Art” dinner symposium on the status of the artist, The Banff Centre, October 24, 2006.
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ICA•RDI Conferral Symposium Dinner, Banff Centre, 2006 - regarding the ongoing ICA•RDI projects, the support of my peers and the staff of the Banff Centre during the "Future of Ideas Art Residency" meant a great deal to me, I appreciate it.
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Garry Kennedy regarding the ICA•RDI proposition for Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, August 27, 2006. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
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In the Conferral photograph with Garry Kennedy, the UTOPIA PKWY street sign can be seen in the distance, just in front of Garry's forehead. Dick Averns UTOPIA PKWY street sign proposition was installed on the main waterfront street in Lunenburg Nova Scotia, summer 2006. The Bluenose II can be seen in the background of these photos. The Town eventually decided to call their main waterfront street "Bluenose Drive". Dick Averns UTOPIA PKWY street sign in now in the collection of Chris Reardon. Joseph Cornell created his work in the basement of a small house in Queens, New York, the street was called Utopia Parkway. 
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ICA•RDI develops affiliation with Open Space. On December 9th, 2006 during the “Dowsing for Failure” exhibition at Open Space artist run gallery in Victoria, British Columbia, (from left to right) Doug Jarvis, co-curator of the exhibit and Chair of Open Space Board of Directors, Ted Hiebert, co-curator of the exhibit and Vice Chair of Open Space Board of Directors and Helen Marzolf, Executive Director of Open Space confer with Brian MacNevin, ICA•RDI Ambassador regarding the status of the artist in the community. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals (Doug Jarvis, "Future of Idea Art" artist)
ICA•RDI and Open Space Affiliation, December 9, 2006
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Conferral Open Space, Victoria, B.C.
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ICA•RDI Ambassador shares a couple glasses of wine with art philanthropist Michael Williams, while conferring with him regarding private individuals' artists patronage on Art's Birthday, January 17, 2007 downtown Victoria, British Columbia. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
Conferral with Michael Williams
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Conferral with Michael Williams
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Sharing a drink on a park bench in downtown Victoria, B.C. with the local art patron Michael Williams, January 2007
ICA•RDI Ambassador convened a number of the individuals who served as Ministers for the Ministry of Casual Living, an artist run centre in Victoria, B.C. These Ministers managed the gallery/studio space and organized the program, from left to right: David Gifford (Founding Minister 2002) on his lap Xavier Gifford, Tommy LaCroix (2004), Emily Goodden (2005) on her lap Basil Scott, Jesse Scott (2005) on his lap Oscar Scott, and Laird Miller (2006) they confer with ICA•RDI Ambassador regarding the status of the artist in the community on March 25, 2007. (Note the Male & Female SL Activators positioned in this photo) ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
Conferral with the "Ministers", Ministry of Casual Living, March 25, 2007
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Ministry of Casual Living corner
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Ministry of Casual Living maintenance, 2006
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Old cell phone video clip of Ministry of Casual Living exhibit
Ministry of Casual Living exhibit, Victoria B.C. 2006. Most of the objects in this show used as their starting point "The Eight Traditional Homes of Lunenburg", a developer's plan for a suburb of Lunenburg, in which all the houses would be built of either one of eight tradition Lunenburg home designs. The "quilt" is made up of a series of minimal graphic illustrated panels, i.e. each of the 8 houses was represented by two views, (a facade view and a 3/4 front/side view), I put the facade view inside the 3/4 view, and then the 3/4 view inside the facade view, to create the 16 different panels of the "quilt". Also, 16 ceramic "cups" were created using the same graphic starting point. The 2 buckets: a bucket of water with a sponge in it is linked to a bucket of dirt... for Robert Filliou & Allan Kaprow.
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ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Heidi Bergstrom (left) Art Gallery Curator at Victoria Arts Connection and Constance Cook Artistic Director, Victoria Arts Connection, May 9, 2007, Victoria, B.C. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Sandra Meigs, Robert Randall & Ingrid Mary Percy (& her dog Cash) of the Victoria Downtown Residents Association at Centennial Park, City Hall, Victoria, B.C., May 11, 2007. ICARDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Wendy Welch, Founder & Director of the Vancouver Island School of Art. This conferral occurred during an Open House event for the art school she created in Victoria, B.C., May 12, 2007. ICARDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Michael Morris May 13, 2007, Victoria, B.C. ICARDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals (Michael Morris, "Future of Idea Art" artist)
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Lenin public art sculpture May 15, 2007, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. ICARDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Brian Goeltzenleuchter at his studio/store in Seattle, Washington, USA, May 15, 2007. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals (Brian Goeltzenleuchter, "Future of Idea Art" artist)
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Brian Goeltzenleuchter and his Performance Art Class at the Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington, U.S.A., May 15, 2007. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Mary-Anne McTrowe & Daniel Wong (The Cedar Tavern Singers, AKA Les Phonorealistes) May 17, 2007, Lethbridge, AB. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals (Mary-Anne McTrowe, "Future of Idea Art" artist)
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Shelley Ouellet, Director Carpet 'N Toast, (her gallery in the basement of her small house) in Calgary, Alberta, May 19, 2007. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with (left to right) Ryan J. Ford, Shawn P. Mankowske, Brandon A. Dalmer and Tyler Los-Jones, Board members of the 809 Gallery (contemporary art gallery in a back alley residential garage), Calgary, AB., May 20, 2007. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Ian Murray May 25, 2007, Toronto, ON. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Annette Mangaard, Katherine Knight & David Craig in Caribou, Nova Scotia, July 1, 2007. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Emily Jones (who organized "The Later is Now Halifax Artist Billet" in a spare bedroom in her apartment and "The Fuller Terrace Fundamental Freedoms Public Lecture Series" in her backyard, July/Sept. 2007) and Rob Seward (from New York, The Later is Now Halifax Artist Billet artist in residence, July/Aug. 2007) at the Lunenburg Academy, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, August 25, 2007. ICARDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals (Emily T. Jones, "Future of Idea Art" artist)
ICA•RDI Ambassador exchanges documents with the artists in the Lunenburg Academy, August 25, 2007
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ICA•RDI Ambassador, Emily Jones & Rob Seward confer in a Lunenburg Academy classroom, August 25, 2007
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ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Ian Murray at his place in the woods by the Caribou River, Nova Scotia, Sept. 23, 2007. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
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Male & Female Activators, 2007
Note, in Second Life there are Male & Female Activators (they're always together), you click on one of the balls in order to get your avatar to perform. At Ian's place in the pines on the Caribou River, Male & Female Activators hangout on a hammock, summer 2007. |
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Michael Coolidge Sept. 12, 2008, while he was installing his exhibition "Khyber Legends Cup" at the Khyber ICA, Halifax, N.S. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals (Michael Coolidge, "Future of Idea Art" artist)
Michael Coolidge's Free Bowl - Khyber Legends Cup, 2008 a form of Bocce, where the games started in the Khyber and then were played out on the unlimited "court" of the urban landscape (like public street performance). In the final game of the tournament, the championship game, David Clark takes it home. |
Championship Game, (l - r) Jesse Walker (artist, musician), Michael Coolidge (artist), David Clark (artist), scorekeeper Emily Jones (artist, art dealer)
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ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Steven May (& his dog Gloria) during his "Salon des Refuses Atlantique" event at the Khyber ICA Turret Room. Steven organized screenings for the media arts, film & video that were rejected from the Atlantic Film Festival, Sept. 15, 2008, Halifax, N.S. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Jon MacKay, Founder & President of JP Mackie Folk Industries at his head office: World Party Headquarters, Pictou, Nova Scotia, Sept. 3, 2009. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Chris Foster Sept. 26, 2009, ICA•RDI bunker, Lunenburg, N.S. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Eye Level Gallery Board of Directors (left to right, front row) Joe Osborne, Tanya Busse, Anna Fitzgerald, Mark Stebbins and Michael McCormack Eye Level Gallery Director who stands behind his Board at the ICA•RDI bunker on Lunenburg waterfront Sept. 26, 2009. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
Internet live broadcasting from the ICA•RDI Bunker, Lunenburg waterfront, 2009
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The Caribou Group Conferral & Dinner - ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with (left to right), Beth Robertson, William Knight, Eleanor Stanlake, Wanda Kushner, Joan Knight, Ian Murray, Krys Verrall, Bill Burns, Katherine Knight and David Craig in Caribou, Nova Scotia, August 16, 2010. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Sandra & David Crnec, Bridgewater, N.S. on Art's Birthday, January 17, 2011. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
David Crnec - March 24, 1934 - Feb. 27, 2012
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David Crnec, 2011 Dave never called himself an artist, but in my opinion, he was the most interesting artist that I knew on the south shore of Nova Scotia, the things and events that he and Sandra created were socially and culturally important. |
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Anelore Barros regarding the status of the artist at Alexis Leyva Machado (KCHO) installation, Gran Teatro de La Habana, Havana, Cuba, April 3, 2012. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
ICA•RDI Ambassador one man parade (in absentia Eleventh Havana Biennial, "Art Practices and Social Imaginaries", May 11 through June 11, 2012, Havana, Cuba), Plaza de La Revolucion (Che Memorial), Havana, Cuba, April 3, 2012. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive
ICA•RDI Ambassador one man parade (as Bluenoser)
Lunenburg Nova Scotia waterfront, July 5, 2011 Moving Forward |
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ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with the bust of Jose Marti at the service/workers' entrance Breeze Bella Costa Resort, Varadero, Cuba, April 5, 2012. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals
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Griff & I (after Jose Marti) Cuba, April 2012 |
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ICA•RDI Ambassador cleans up after his fellow Canadians near a resort beach, Varadero, Cuba, Saturday, April 7, 2012. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive
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ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Joseph Howe regarding the status of the artist on the grounds of Province House, Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 1, 2012. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals.
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Sherman Hines regarding the status of the artist and the ICA•RDI camera obscura at "The Mission", Poplar Grove, Hants Co., Nova Scotia, October 28th, 2012. ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals.
ICA•RDI Archive
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ICA•RDI Embassy construction assessment notes by Dick Averns, the Armchair Terrorist, Calgary artist, February 2014 |
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Dick Averns, the Armchair Terrorist, Calgary artist, on the Lunenburg waterfront alongside the Farley Mowat, February 11, 2014. They discuss contextual issues related to the Status of the Artist and the ICA•RDI Ambassador reads Dick a passage from Cod – A Biography Of The Fish That Changed The World by Mark Kurlansky (1997). ICA•RDI Status of the Artist Archive - ongoing conferrals.
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Cod – A Biography Of The Fish That Changed The World
by Mark Kurlansky (1997) “In 1963, Lunenburg’s last fishing schooner, the Theresa E. Connor, sailed empty to Newfoundland because she could not find a crew in Nova Scotia to fish the Banks. No one in Newfoundland was willing to work on her either. Everything that had been done to make schooners faster had made them also more dangerous. Unable to get a crew, the Theresa E. Connor returned to Lunenburg, where she is still tied up as part of a maritime museum.” (pg. 129) “…not until the Theresa E. Connor was forced to tie up without a crew, 100 years after the steam engine was invented, that the age of sail in the cod fisheries finally ended.” (pg. 130) “…should it be preserved, as is Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, as a museum to the days of fishing?" (pg. 231) And the last two paragraphs from Cod – A Biography Of The Fish That Changed The World: “Miles from Gloucester harbor, at the hotels along the rocky New England coastline – rocks once valued for drying cod and now loved as a scenic element – tourists eat their breakfasts and plan their day. In the distance, lobster boats and small trawlers glide by, their diesel engines out of hearing range. Many of the tourists are planning to go “whale watching.” They talk of the whales as adorable pets, how they flop and dive and make a real snoring noise. On this rugged coastline where fortunes were once made hunting whales, whale watching has become a prosperous business during the tourism months. The skippers of the whale-watching boats are usually out-of-work fishermen. (pg. 232) There is a big difference between living in a society that hunts whales and living in one that views them. Nature is being reduced to precious demonstrations for entertainment and education, something far less natural than hunting. Are we headed for a world where nothing is left of nature but parks? Whales are mammals, and mammals do not lay a million eggs. We were forced to give up commercial hunting and to raise domestic mammals for meat, preserving the wild ones as best we could. It is harder to kill off fish than mammals. But after 1,000 years of hunting the Atlantic cod, we know that it can be done.” (pg. 233)
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artifacts from the Farley Mowat, collection of the ICA•RDI Archive, summer 2013
On-board the "Pirate Ship", Lunenburg waterfront, summer 2013 - I believe the way this "pirate weapon" worked was that this "mighty sword" would thrust out the side of the Farley Mowat penetrating the side of a vessel that was alongside. The two steel i-beams bolted to the deck and side of the Farley Mowat held this "mighty sword" rigid, so once it had penetrated the side of a vessel the movement of the ships plus ocean could tear open a large hole.
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The fog of the Lunenburg waterfront ~ The Importance of Naming
the fog of Lunenburg waterfront, ICA•RDI's bow nameplate summer 2013
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Lunenburg waterfront, Farley Mowat identity painted-out, February 2014
Farley Mowat bow nameplate, February 2014
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SeaShepherd.org painted out, February 2014
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Farley Mowat stern, February 2014
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a ship, a name, an ideology February 11, 2014 - Dick Averns, the Armchair Terrorist and the ICA•RDI Ambassador speculate on why someone on the Lunenburg waterfront had recently painted out the Farley Mowat’s identity. ICA•RDI had purchased the nameplate on the bow of the ship last summer, it was to be removed carefully as an artifact and presented to Farley Mowat. March 23, 2014 - I finally spoke to Tracy Dobbs, the individual who is taking the ship apart for salvage and from who I purchased items, he said that he had the Farley Mowat's identity painted out for reasons still unclear to me, but perhaps he didn't want to have to deal with the mythology of the ship, as his interests were primarily in the ship as scrap. I had purchased the starboard side bow nameplate, because last summer it was in better shape than the port side bow nameplate, but Tracy tells me he saved us the port side bow nameplate, it is not painted out and will still be cut out carefully for ICA•RDI. I apologized, as I had made the assumption that all the Farley Mowat identity was painted out, because the way the ship is moored at the wharf it is very difficult to see the port side bow nameplate (plus I was expecting to receive the starboard side bow nameplate which is now painted out). So the ICA•RDI project to go to Cape Breton to present the ship's nameplate to Farley Mowat is still on for next summer. 
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The Politics of Representation: Farley Mowat identity painted out Lunenburg waterfront. Lunenburg waterfront museum, what is being archived and who is doing the archiving? ICA•RDI purchased many artifacts from the Farley Mowat during the summer of 2013 while the ship was being cutup, taken apart for salvage on the Lunenburg waterfront. It is shameful that an institution calling itself the "Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic” on the same waterfront ignores the presence of this historic ship, allowing it to be dismantled without showing any interest. How will this be perceived from the standpoint of fifty to a hundred years in the future, when the current guardians of the cultural narrative for tourists (i.e. the narrow obsession with Bluenose II, Theresa E. Conner or Cape Sable mythology) are long gone? There should be room for other stories, and the Farley Mowat holds a few that some might find most interesting. • "The Province of Nova Scotia is providing $750,000 in funding to cover costs of a design study which will ultimately lead to upgrades to the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg." (funding announcement by MLA Pam Birdsall, November 2011) $750,000 for a “study”? • Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency (ACOA) is providing $79,000 in funding for the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, funds to the Lunenburg Board of Trade (LBOT) to assist them with further building on the town's UNESCO World Heritage Site designation as a tool to attract and increase tourism. (funding announcement by Rob Moore, Federal Minister in charge of the ACOA and Gerald Keddy, MP South Shore St Margarets, January 2014) The Farley Mowat remains the “pirate" in the middle of the Federal/Provincial Political Cultural Funding Sieve of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, the Bluenose II, the Historic Heritage Lunenburg Waterfront Development, and the Lunenburg Academy. The cultural engineering by an old conservative status quo power structure is dead, its cultural integrity as bankrupt as the Bluenose II 'boondoggle'. A new cultural paradigm is emerging from the fog of Lunenburg waterfront, there all along, its time has come, an international multi/inter-disciplinary cultural pluralism open to new ideas and propositions. |
Conferral Pending: Farley Mowat spends his summers in Cape Breton Nova Scotia. The Farley Mowat nameplate is an excuse to make a visit and hopefully have a conferral regarding both the ship that bears his name and the Status of the Artist, artists make more money painting houses than practicing their profession, please see article below, Toronto Star, Oct. 16, 2010.
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Setup photos for “Conferral” with Rex Tasker, at his place on the Eastern Shore, Nova Scotia, August 16th 2015
ICA•RDI Ambassador confer with Rex Tasker regarding the Status of the Artist at his place by the ocean on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore near Musquodoboit Harbour, August 16th, 2015.
Conferral with Rex Tasker, August 16th, 2015
looking back...
looking back...
Re. The Centre for Art tapes logo from 1978:
The Centre for Art tapes street sign had to be redone because of a type error ("r" left out of screenings) - I saved the sign having the error... perhaps I should mention the 750% blow-up of the typewriter "@ underlined" (remember this was the day before digital, the day before the Internet and email) the way the "@ underlined" was blown-up was that it was typed onto white paper using an IBM Selectric Typewriter (I remember the Selectric Typewriters had a series of "ball heads" for different type styles... I can't remember the "ball head" typeface we used for the "@ underlined", but most likely it was the same type style that we used for the Centre for Art tapes name and address on the letterhead paper). Anyway, this typed "@ underlined" on white paper was then photographically blown-up 750% so it showed how the ink on the paper separated and formed the graphic logo of the enlarged "@ underlined" - having blown apart and now somewhat resembling a "tape unravelling", or perhaps even an imaginary "solar system". Using the typewriter, the "@ underlined” could be used as an abbreviation for Centre for Art tapes in the body of a letterhead letter... Re. the small "t" in tapes: the name of the society was the Society for Art Presentation, this society ran the Centre for Art tapes, it could also run the Centre for Art books, or the Centre for Art whatever. The multidisciplinary aspect of the Society for Art Presentation (which still runs the Centre for Art tapes) is the reason that I have always insisted on the small "t" in tapes in the Centre for Art tapes identity. Important to know your history, because what is an "Art tape" in 2015? 
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Fresh out of Art College I was hired by Rex Tasker, we developed the "Video Theatre" at the NFB in Halifax, which was patterned after the NFB's "Videograph" in Montreal. While working for the NFB Atlantic Production Unit, I initiated the idea for "The Video Theatre" with the help of Rex Tasker, Colin Neil (NFB Distribution), Fred Ward (Challenge for Change), and collaborated with a dying community media group called Teled, so we could apply to the Canada Council for additional support. A few years later Rex supported my idea for the Centre for Art tapes in Halifax, as its name implied it had a more specific focus & audience than the Video Theatre (the Centre for Art tapes was established as/by the Society for Art Presentation with the mandate "for the presentation & distribution of video & audio works by artists". The thinking was that this society that ran the Centre for Art tapes, being called the Society for Art Presentation, that it was multidisciplinary, i.e. after the Centre for Art tapes was established, the society could of setup a Centre for Art photography, and/or a Centre for Art books, etc.). For the first several years of its operation the Centre for Art tapes had no equipment, it was Rex Tasker/the NFB that lent the equipment to support the Centre for Art tapes in its beginning. 
Above: Centre for Art tapes founding Director/Curator, front door of Argyle House, Halifax, 1978
Left: Gordon Parsons in the projection room of the newly-opened Wormwood’s Dog and Monkey Cinema. March 1983, Halifax, Nova Scotia |
For the record here is another historic note regarding the beginnings of the Centre for Art tape: the first Canada Council funding application that was approved stated that the Centre for Art tapes was going to be “housed” within a part of Eye Level Gallery's space (on the second floor of a building on Barrington Street). Eye Level had agreed to this in the application, however when the grant was approved they changed their mind and the Centre for Art tapes idea was left scrambling to look for a space.
Gordon Parsons who was running the Atlantic Film Co-op at the time agreed to jointly develop a small screening theatre which the Centre for Art tapes would share with the Film Co-op and Gordon rented the Centre for Art tapes a small exhibition space adjacent to this screening room on the third floor of "Argyle House” which the Atlantic Film Co-op rented.
I remember traveling with Gordon down to Bridgewater, where we purchased theatre seats from the old Bridgewater theatre for this screening space. Side bar notes: on the way back to Halifax, with the van full of theatre seats coming down the hill to the rotary in Halifax, I believe it was snowing and the road was slippery, Gordon was driving, we had an accident; we slid into a car. Also while at the theatre in Bridgewater, which hadn’t been used for years prior to us picking up the theatre seats (was it 1976 or 77?), I went up into the old projection booth and found a wall of box-like flat shelves, on each of these shelves were stacked flat original old movie posters from movies that have been screen at this theatre… there were hundreds of them. I thought of taking them! But Gordon, a man of high integrity would not touch the posters. Of course in Halifax I mentioned this to a few friends… as it turned out Gordon and I had to make a second trip to pickup more theatre seats a few weeks later… when I check the projection booth on this second trip, all the movie posters were gone! I often wondered who took them?
Gordon Parsons who was running the Atlantic Film Co-op at the time agreed to jointly develop a small screening theatre which the Centre for Art tapes would share with the Film Co-op and Gordon rented the Centre for Art tapes a small exhibition space adjacent to this screening room on the third floor of "Argyle House” which the Atlantic Film Co-op rented.
I remember traveling with Gordon down to Bridgewater, where we purchased theatre seats from the old Bridgewater theatre for this screening space. Side bar notes: on the way back to Halifax, with the van full of theatre seats coming down the hill to the rotary in Halifax, I believe it was snowing and the road was slippery, Gordon was driving, we had an accident; we slid into a car. Also while at the theatre in Bridgewater, which hadn’t been used for years prior to us picking up the theatre seats (was it 1976 or 77?), I went up into the old projection booth and found a wall of box-like flat shelves, on each of these shelves were stacked flat original old movie posters from movies that have been screen at this theatre… there were hundreds of them. I thought of taking them! But Gordon, a man of high integrity would not touch the posters. Of course in Halifax I mentioned this to a few friends… as it turned out Gordon and I had to make a second trip to pickup more theatre seats a few weeks later… when I check the projection booth on this second trip, all the movie posters were gone! I often wondered who took them?
ICA•RDI Ambassador, Status of the Artist Advocate (one man parade) - Rio Cuale Cultural Centre, Old Town, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, April 16, 2019
R&D book - re-reading “The Quest of the Folk: Antimodernism and Cultural Selection in Twentieth-Century Nova Scotia” by Ian McKay
R&D book - re-reading “The Quest of the Folk: Antimodernism and Cultural Selection in Twentieth-Century Nova Scotia” by Ian McKay
B/W Sketch, Mexico, April 2019
ICA•RDI Ambassador, Waiting for a Conferral, June 2019
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Getting your priorities straight… Conferral with the Ambassador of Bear River, July 5th 2020
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Waiting for Conferrals, ICA•RDI Levitation Invitation, Crescent Beach, Nova Scotia, August 28 & 29, 2021
ICA•RDI Ambassador conferral with Longfellow’s Evangeline at Grand Pre, Nova Scotia on October 15, 2023, as Israel's government begins the Expulsion of the Palestinians from Gaza, we remember the Nova Scotia government's Expulsion of the Acadians from the Annapolis Valley in 1755-1763 (260 years ago).
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Expulsion of the Acadians painting by Claude Picard |
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Art Administrations’ Birthday Conferral, February 19th, 2024
Breakfast Conferral with ICA•RDI advisers, Chris Reardon, Duncan Harper & Ulrich Lobsiger at the Bluenose restaurant in Halifax. Also, on this day, I would like to acknowledge three other important ICA•RDI supporters/advisers, Wanda Kushner, Emily Jones & Ian Murray.
Breakfast Conferral with ICA•RDI advisers, Chris Reardon, Duncan Harper & Ulrich Lobsiger at the Bluenose restaurant in Halifax. Also, on this day, I would like to acknowledge three other important ICA•RDI supporters/advisers, Wanda Kushner, Emily Jones & Ian Murray.
