The Power Plant

From the Ground Up: A biennale platform for international contemporary art in Toronto

Sat Apr 17 2010

6:00 AM – 7:30 AM

There has been much talk about the idea of a Toronto biennial or triennial in recent years, particularly as these events have proliferated both in Canada and around the globe. Presented by The Power Plant and MOCCA, this symposium is intended to focus the discussion and to reflect why and how Toronto might host such an international platform for contemporary art practice and discourse.

We intend to answer such questions as: Given the plethora of large scale contemporary art exhibitions across the world, why would such an event be relevant in Toronto? What would define such a project and how could it make a critical contribution? What would its relationship be to the art community as well as to the art market? How would such an exhibition address local, national and global concerns? Who would fund, curate, participate in, and attend such an event? And why should it happen in Toronto? What distinctive qualities could the city offer to the international art world?

Participants included: Gregory Burke, David Liss, Peggy Gale, Barbara Fischer, Philip Monk, Gerald McMaster, Lisa Steele, Jessica Bradley, Fern Bayer, Jim Drobnick & Jennifer Fisher, Haema Sivanesan, Heather Haynes, Janice Price, and Sara Diamond.

A report on the event by curator/critic Peggy Gale is available for download here.

Co-presented with

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA).