Cultural Ambassador

What is “space”? How do you fill it? Four Calgary-based artists are tackling these questions and more in a new multimedia, globe-trotting exhibition from the Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts in Calgary.

The “Inhabiting Spaces” project, which begins its European tour in June 2010 in Gda´nsk, Poland, is merely the latest of the gallery’s ventures to defy borders. The year 2010 marks the 10^th anniversary of the Triangle Gallery’s international art exchange projects and its role as “cultural ambassador” of Canadian contemporary art on the international stage.

“Since its inception in 1988, the Triangle Gallery has been involved in a number of successful cultural ventures to expand the borders of creativity and to build cultural bridges between Canada and international arts communities,” says Jacek Malec, director and curator. “These international art exchange projects have turned our gallery into a cutting-edge, interactive forum for the presentation of the best in contemporary Canadian and international visual culture.” Funding for this ambitious programming has been provided by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ Cultural Relations Program Grants and corporate sponsors.

These two-way exchanges have ranged from the presentation of five contemporary Alberta sculptors during the 2004 Cultural Olympiad on the island of Tinos, Greece, to an acclaimed exhibition featuring eight experimental print artists from Western Canada during the 2009 International Triennale of Graphic Art in Poland.  Of the latter project, Malec says, “Those artists successfully challenged the function of print art with their artworks breaking away from the traditional dimensions of medium and artistic conventions.”

With “Inhabiting Spaces,” the gallery continues to push the envelope. The exhibition, which is curated by Calgary-based architect Bo˙zenna Wi´sniewska, brings together four nationally and internationally renowned visual artists and art educators from Calgary to address the issue of space.

This does not necessarily mean space in the conventional sense. Says Malec: “We are dealing with ‘space’ in a conceptual and philosophical way… This project offers the viewer a chance to experience — visually and intellectually — a transcendent quality of the ‘defining space’ in the works of visual artists.”

The featured artists — Helena Hadala, Katie Ohe, Greg Payce, and Laurel Smith — were chosen for the conscious spatial dialogue they create between their works and their places of context. For example, Ohe’s sculptures not only invite touch, they are capable of movement around their physical space.

Meanwhile, Hadala’s two-dimensional works approach the issue from a different perspective. “They are the direct experience of her art residency in Australia, and the impact that Aboriginal culture has made on her work,” says Malec.

After Gda´nsk, “Inhabiting Spaces” will be presented in Porto, Portugal, as part of celebrations for the 230^th anniversary of Porto’s Academy of Fine Arts. Subsequently, the exhibition will be showcased in Porvoo, Finland, before returning home for its final presentation at the Triangle Gallery in November of 2010.

Malec hopes the exhibition, which also features educational workshops and lecture events, will inspire reciprocal presentations from its host countries. “These projects in essence are designed to spark international dialogue, and to sustain that dialogue, presenting the artistic and cultural wealth from national and international art communities,” he says. •

For more information visit trianglegallery.com. See lifestylemagazine.ca for a previous story on the Triangle Gallery and its projects.

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“Beyond Printmaking: Images in Objects - Experimental Printmaking in Western Canada” photo ©  Maciej Leraczyk