In this project David Sylvestre and I endeavor to trace the history of artist generated galleries and collectives that operated as alternative exhibition venues in Toronto from the late 1980’s to present day. We want to show how a movement that started as a group of renegade artist collectives exhibiting their work in temporary spaces eventually evolved into the sustainable artist collective galleries we are familiar with today.
In the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s, the artist collective movement came about as a reaction to the lack of galleries and exhibition opportunities at the time as well the narrow curatorial focus that governed the galleries and institutions of the day. A new generation of artists were forming collectives that were incredibly varied. Whole exhibitions dedicated to site-specific installation would appear at the same time as a curated show of new abstraction in painting. And all of these shows were created by artist’s collectives with very few resources.
This explosion of pluralism coincided with an economic down turn in the late 80’s and early 90’s, which allowed artists to negotiate cheap rent for warehouse and office space in the city’s downtown core. Start up costs came from selling limited collection art works or organizing launch parties where donated beer from Ontario’s earliest craft brewing companies was sold to pay for lights and invitations. The spirit of this scene was very much do-it-yourself.
By the mid 90’s, these types of “one-off” exhibitions became quite frequent and were gathering larger crowds and more attention. The arts sections of major newspapers and art magazines regularly reviewed these exhibitions. This new scene became a means of empowerment for artists and helped create a shift the artist/curator/dealer dynamic. Our objective is to document this phenomenon by allowing the artist's involved to tell the stories of their projects.
We hope this series will capture a unique time in Canadian visual art history. Artist collectives have existed for many years in this country and other cities in Canada experienced similar movements, but not nearly as many or as varied as what occurred in Toronto in the 1990’s. The raw warehouse spaces that were transformed into exciting “pop-up” exhibitions have been leveled and turned into condominiums. But the energy and initiative of the scene, artists thinking entrepreneurially and creating their own exhibitions, is very much with us today. Our aim is to create a narrative connection between the recent past and the present.