Description

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Holding Ground: Nuit Blanche and Other Ruptures investigates international methodologies in curatorial practice from Canada, France, England, Aotearoa New Zealand, the United States, and many more countries. It unearths the connections and historical moments that draw public exhibitions and public art together and the differences that set them apart.

This book is grounded in ongoing international exchanges and draws on the breadth of artistic and curatorial work in the field. This volume brings forward as many voices as possible to reflect on their experiences with Nuit Blanche and public art, creating a diversity of perspectives on this evolving event/festival/exhibition/happening. While the aim is to present the history of Nuit Blanche through the lens of its different urban incarnations, the volume also seeks to capture its decolonial and BIPOC energies alongside its more radical and utopian aspirations. This collection of essays, therefore, emphasizes the political changes that are reflected in the curatorial programming of recent Nuit Blanche exhibitions, with a new generation of curators and artists who have created ruptures and disruptions by proposing new models of public art with engagements that simultaneously question, decentre, and expand experiences of the city.

About the Author

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Janine Marchessault is a professor in Cinema and Media Arts at York University and holds a York Research Chair in Media Art and Social Engagement. Her research engages with the history of large-screen media (from multiscreen to IMAX to media as architecture and VR); diverse models of public art, festivals, and site-specific curation; 21st century moving-image archives; and notions of collective memory/history. Julie Nagam is Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Collaboration, and Digital Media and is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of Winnipeg. She is the Director of Aabijijiwan New Media Lab and Co-Director of Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre (www.abbijijiwanmedialab.ca). Nagam is the inaugural Artistic Director for Nuit Blanche Toronto (2020 and 2022), the largest public art exhibition in North America.