15 King’s College Circle
Toronto Ontario M5S 3H7
Canada
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Wednesday 12–8pm
T +1 416 978 8398
artmuseum@utoronto.ca
The Art Museum at the University of Toronto presents a series of public programs in conjunction with the exhibitions Conceptions of White and THE COUNTER/SELF on view until March 25.
Conversation: Institutional Perspectives on Whiteness in Cultural Spaces
Saturday, February 25, 2–4pm ET / online on Zoom
As executive directors of the three art galleries presenting the touring exhibition Conceptions of White, John G. Hampton (MacKenzie Art Gallery), Barbara Fischer (Art Museum at the University of Toronto), and Anthony Kiendl (Vancouver Art Gallery) will reflect on urgent questions and strategies for dismantling the White institution, changing the traditionally White frameworks of art museums, and imagining a decolonized visual space. Register.
Keynote lecture: Claudia Rankine
Wednesday, March 1, 6–8pm ET / online on Zoom
Award-winning poet, essayist, and playwright Claudia Rankine will share her own research into racial constructs and Whiteness within (art) institutions, expanding on and reflecting additional perspectives on the study of White identity. Register.
Claudia Rankine is the author of five books of poetry, including Citizen: An American Lyric and Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric; three plays including HELP, which premiered in March 2020 (The Shed, NYC), and The White Card, which premiered in February 2018 (ArtsEmerson/American Repertory Theater) and was published by Graywolf Press in 2019; as well as numerous video collaborations. Her recent collection of essays, Just Us: An American Conversation, was published by Graywolf Press in 2020. She is also the co-editor of several anthologies including The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind. In 2016, Rankine co-founded The Racial Imaginary Institute (TRII). Among her numerous awards and honors, Rankine is the recipient of the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, the Poets & Writers’ Jackson Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, United States Artists, and the National Endowment of the Arts. A former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Claudia Rankine joined the NYU Creative Writing Program in fall 2021. She lives in New York.
Presented in partnership with the Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto; and the Canadian Art Museum Directors Association of Canada/Organisation des directeurs des musées d’art Canadiens (CAMDO-ODMAC).
Artists in conversation: Enacting Identities
Wednesday, March 8, 6–8pm ET / online on Zoom
The two exhibitions currently presented at the Art Museum—Conceptions of White and THE COUNTER/SELF—explore nuanced perspectives on racialized identities. Engaging from specific cultural positions, Jeremy Bailey, Jennifer Chan, 2Fik, and Stacey Tyrell will discuss the nuances of identity formation and perception, trajectories of research, and new outlooks that have resulted from their investigations. This panel discussion invites artists from both projects to share their insights and discuss the articulation of racial constructs through their distinctive artistic approaches. Moderated by Lillian O’Brien Davis and Mona Filip. Register.
Artists in conversation: The Subversive Power of the Alter-Ego (Part I)
Thursday, March 16, 2–4pm ET / online on Zoom
In an informal conversation, THE COUNTER/SELF artists Meryl McMaster, Adrian Stimson, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and Jamie Griffiths will discuss their strategies of deploying alter-egos to foreground absented perspectives and counteract colonial narratives, articulating forms of resistance or alternative ways of being counterparts in genuine dialogue. Register.
Artist-led tour: The Subversive Power of the Alter-Ego (Part II)
Saturday, March 18, 2–4pm / Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
THE COUNTER/SELF artists Helio Eudoro, Julius Poncelet Manapul, and Sasha Shevchenko will address the ways in which their characters highlight diasporic perspectives and counteract socio-political constraints, proposing alternative ways of defining one’s self free of gender normative, geopolitical, or colonial impositions. Register.
All events are free and open to the public. For more information and to register, visit here.
