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Artropolis and the 2010 Olympics
I believe it was in the fall of 1999 that I heard that the A.T. Eight Artropolis Society (Artropolis), had wound down its affairs and ceased to exist. At the time, there was only a few weeks left before the society was to lose its license as a registered BC society because no reporting had been done for three years. I hastily arranged for a meeting between several of the last registered board members and a group of people willing to form a new board of directors. With the authority of the society transferred to the new group of volunteers, I worked with them to organize and administer the Artropolis exhibition of 2001 that was the first to be situated in downtown Vancouver's CBC Television studios. Like most previous Artropolis senior administrators, I was burned-out by the experience and served only as an advisor during Artropolis 2003. But before leaving, I asked a couple of amazing volunteers to serve on Artropolis' board of directors. One such person was Kriss Boggild who has stayed with the organization ever since. Under the guidance of this generous, dedicated and hardworking woman, Artropolis successfully staged the 2003 exhibition and now is undertaking an impressive new initiative. From September to November 2004, Artropolis will be circulating a "sampler" exhibition (featuring a slide show, video presentation and samplings of artwork from previous Artropolis adjunct exhibits) and, in some communities, a Self-Portrait Workshop—all by artist and former Artropolis president, Ed Varney. Opus Framing & Art Supplies is continuing their support of Artropolis through the Self-Portrait Workshops with a large donation of paper and art supplies. This is, to my knowledge, the first instance of an Artropolis exhibition doing outreach to the communities whose artists contribute to the exhibition. I heartily congratulate Kriss, the Artropolis board, and Ed Varney for taking this initiative. The Artropolis tour involves the following communities:
Artropolis exhibitions happen because of public demand and due to the awareness/expectation of the tradition in the visual arts community. It is a volunteer-run organization. Whereas a clutch of public and private galleries serve the highly professionalized members of the BC visual arts community, Artropolis serves emerging and established visual artists from all over BC not represented by galleries. I have written here about the tour because for me it indicates that the Artropolis society has matured and proven itself to be immensely competent. This society may have the expertise, if a large group of dedicated volunteers can be assembled, to oversee a public art approach to showcasing BC visual art during the Olympics. In response to that editorial, I received the following letter from Artichoke editor, Paula Gustafson. (If you are from BC, interested in the visual arts and yet unfamiliar with Artichoke magazine, visit www.artichoke.ca) "Chris, I hope your call to action in Opus Newsletter 191 will result in artists organizing their own events during the 2010 Winter Olympics. It's essential they take matters into their own hands and not rely on promises made by the 2010 officials. I was a member of one of the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics cultural festival working committees. These committees were groups of a dozen or more volunteers who worked collaboratively for several years to organize events that would put the best of Canadian talent on show during the Games." "Collectively, the committees had decades of experience and expertise in facilitating large scale cultural events. We were led to believe that our efforts and ideas would be realized; however, as the Games drew nearer, planning for cultural events was arbitrarily taken over by the IOOC officials who dismissed our project planning and hired their own experts. The betrayal was not only to the volunteer committee members; it was felt throughout the arts community. Ironically (or perhaps an example of divine justice), the only cultural event that caught public attention during the 1988 Winter Olympics was the huge controversy about The Spirit Sings exhibition at the Glenbow." "The IOOC requires host countries to complement the athletic competitions with cultural events. In the end, however, all decisions regarding Olympic cultural events are made to satisfy political and, overwhelmingly, corporate and television interests. Even in the best of situations, artists and the arts are perceived as window dressing. My experience at both Habitat and the '88 Winter Olympics is that local residents and visitors alike do not attend the visual art events. Audiences attracted to these types of international events want performance, not contemplation. Equally, they want to buy cheap souvenirs, not works of art. If local artists-organizers keep these realities in mind, along with the fact that, at the Olympics, television media rarely move the camera away from the athletes, I'm sure they can devise innovative ways to showcase the incredible talent we have here on the West Coast." Paula reinforces all that I believe. The onus is on us to do for ourselves whatever can be envisioned to show the world what BC visual artists can do. Were there a public meeting organized to consider how BC visual artists could best be showcased at the 2010 games, would you be interested in attending? Let me know at the e-mail address below. I would work to organize such a meeting were there sufficient interest.
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