Archiving the 80s
Toronto Free Gallery
June 1 – June 18, 2011
June 3, 7 – 10pm Opening Reception and an incidental performance by Lisa Marie DiLiberto, FIXT POINT
Curated by Henrjeta Mece
Archiving the 80’s engages with posters, prints and ephemera from the period. Dormenting for over twenty years, Toronto’s unique downtown culture rematerializes throughout this exhibition—opening-up the historiographic experiences of Queen Street West during the 80’s. With a fascinating end of days style and unpredictable design, these fragmentary documents create a repository of historical artifacts.
Projecting an era of gesamtkunstwerk (all-embracing art form), these remarkable artworks were produced by seminal artists of the period including, General Idea, Daniel Buren, Brian Burnett, Chromazone, Robert Cumming, Tom Dean, Andy Fabo, Vera Frenkel, Fastwürms, Ednon Garnet, The Hummer Sisters, Jenny Holzer, General Idea, Tim Jocelyn, Molly Johnson, Rae Johnson, Barbara Klunder, Mark Lewis, Michael Merrill, Andrew James Paterson, Andy Patton, Richard Serra, Michael Snow, Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak.
Archiving the 80’s was made possible by the carefully preserved collections of Art Metropole, Andre Rosenbaum, Herb Tookey, Rivoli, Trinity Square Video, and Vtape.
Presented as part of the Paradise Now program. Paradise Now is extended programming that connects the dots from past to present. Art exhibitions, videos, performances, maps and archives will link Toronto’s unique downtown culture today with the queen west art scene of the ‘80s, celebrated in This Is Paradise at MoCCA (Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art).
