Ruins in Process
Archiving Artist-run culture….
The ARI Remix Collective would like to acknowledge Institute of Modern Art Directors Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh for alerting us to the significant research work being undertaken recently in Canada about the unique and distinctive role that artist-runs play in adding to a culture of inclusive community engagement, cultural diversity and heritage sustainability.
Here is an excerpt about Vancouver Art in the 1960’s:
Ruins In Process is a research archive and educational resource that brings together still and moving images, ephemera, essays and interviews to explore the diverse artistic practices of Vancouver art in the 1960s and early 1970s. Drawn from private collections and archives as well as public sources, it uses the capacity of the internet as an ideal medium to present the interdisciplinary activities and technologies that emerged at that time. With hundreds of images, texts, audio and video recordings, Ruins In Process will reward repeat visits and ongoing research.
The Project Sites are curated selections of archive materials, all located in the central database, that look in detail at particular movements, specific artists or focused research areas in order to provide a context for the array of practices and documents gathered by the curatorial teams. Distinct in their design, these Project Sites present this valuable and original research — previously unavailable to the public in many cases — in ways that are in keeping with the formal and conceptual approaches of the artistic activity they explore.
The Essays area brings together commissioned pieces: Making Indian Art “Modern” by Marcia Crosby, Vancouver Cinema in the Sixties by Zoe Druick and UBC in the Sixties, a transcribed conversation with Audrey Capel Doray, Gathie Falk, Donald Gutstein, Karen Jamieson, Glenn Lewis, Jamie Reid and Abraham Rogatnick, edited by Marian Penner Bancroft. Reprinted for this broader audience is Urban Renewal: Ghost Traps, Collage, Condos and Squats by Scott Watson and Siting the Banal: The Extended Landscapes of the N.E. Thing Co. by the late Nancy Shaw. Designed to download as PDFs, this collection expands upon the social context in which Vancouver art in the sixties was produced and received, and forms a resource for students and instructors to complement the online resource.
The video Interviews with Ingrid Baxter, Christos Dikeakos, Carole Itter and Gary Lee-Nova provide a platform for these artists to reflect upon their work as students and young artists and the milieu in which they developed their ideas.
Visitors may browse the Digital Archive by artist’s name, year, title, or medium. Researchers, instructors and students will find that the resources conform to Chicago Manual of Style for citation purposes, and the Archive Item detail pages contain the source and location of the materials presented.
All content on this site is protected by copyright. The educational resources on this site may be used, reproduced and distributed by instructors for non-commercial, educational purposes without additional permission. Any other reproduction or use of content from this site requires the user to obtain copyright clearance.
We welcome your feedback and response to this resource. Let us know at feedback@vancouverartinthesixties.com
Lorna Brown
on behalf of the Editorial Team
See also the related research and eresource project:
ARCPOST
ABOUT THE ARCPOST
ArcPost is an online platform developed by PAARC to disseminate research, information, and resources linked to local and international artist-run culture. The site features articles, historical profiles of BC artist-run centres, a directory of international artist-run organizations, a research bibliography, commissioned artworks, and audio-visual documentation of the Institutions by Artists Conference. As a research platform, ArcPost aims to contribute to the ideas surrounding, and histories of, artist-run centres and initiatives both locally and around the globe, and advocate for BC artists and artist-run organizations.