The Whole Shebang tackles the bigger issues
I haven’t made it down to see “The Whole Shebang” at Idea Exchange on Queen’s Square in Cambridge yet.
If you haven’t heard about it, this is an unprecedented undertaking that puts every work in Cambridge Art Galleries’ collection of more than 200 contemporary Canadian fibre artworks on display simultaneously in one space.
The purpose is research. The project is being presented as “an opportunity to rethink what it means to collect …”
I missed the opening back in November. I’m especially sorry I wasn’t able to make it to former gallery director Mary Misner’s guided tour on Dec. 5.
There’s another thematic guided tour at 2 p.m. Saturday led by Cambridge Galleries curator Iga Janik, who is the prime mover here.
There will be more talks and tours in the weeks to come. A final discussion session is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 27. Full disclosure: I’ve just been invited to speak at this event, with emphasis on how the collection relates to the history of our region and how it compares to other collections.
Janik reports that a lot of the talk so far has involved nostalgia, which is understandable, given that we’re talking about 30 years of collecting here.
The main objective, however, is to tackle the bigger issues: Thinking about what it means to collect involves “questioning the policies around such an enterprise, the logistics of objecthood, and whether or not collecting should still be a relevant and active practice.”
Janik is eager to hear what our thoughts are on questions like: “Are public art collections good for the public? Are they good for the artists? What is the cost of collecting? Is it a cared-for collection when none of the staff are experts in the works? What is contemporary?”
Because collections have been a defining element of what our galleries and museums are, ultimately it involves questioning the very purpose of such institutions as part of our civic infrastructure.
What came to mind immediately on being asked to speak are Andrew Hunter’s remarks about why he decided to resign from his position as curator of Canadian art at the Art Gallery of Ontario last October.
Hunter worked here at the University of Waterloo for a number of years, and he has since been appointed as senior curator for the Art Gallery of Guelph, so this is a voice with extensive regional connections.
His resignation, Hunter explains, was driven by disappointment in “an institution wavering in its commitment to make space for new voices.”
He goes on to talk about “the elitist, colonial roots of public museums” — institutions that were “born out of the private collections of wealthy Europeans who had built their fortunes on the extraction of resources, and people, from the most vulnerable nations in the world.”
Even though the fibre art collection at Cambridge Galleries and its local counterpart, the collection at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery in Waterloo, were founded relatively recently without any major fortunes behind them, their ultimate origins are the same.
And that raises complex questions that are difficult, but also fundamental, not just to our galleries and museums, but cultural institutions in general, many if not most of which are rooted in wealth and privilege.
So I have something to think about over the holidays. I’ll let you know what I come up with.