Notice Board

The Edge of a Moment: Where do we go from here?

Andrew Hunter’s Art Now lecture will feature works from the exhibitions Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood (AGO) and 150 Acts: Art, Activism, Impact (Art Gallery of Guelph), projects that critique the Canada 150 year. These exhibitions serve as a lens to consider the state of public galleries and museums in Canada and the challenge to effectively transform and de-colonize these institutions. Hunter will also speak about his career as an artist working in a curatorial role and the importance of maintaining core values and being an activist for social change through art.

Andrew Hunter is an accomplished curator, artist, writer, educator and community researcher. He recently became the Senior Curator at the Art Gallery of Guelph. From 2013 to 2017 he was the Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art, at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Hunter has held curatorial positions across Canada and, as an independent artist and curator; he has produced exhibitions and publications in Canada, the United States, England, China and Croatia. A graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Hunter is known for his innovative narrative-based museum interventions and his ongoing creative research performance Professor William Starling’s Perambulations of Inquiry. With Lisa Hirmer, he founded the international creative research project DodoLab and has been Adjunct Faculty at the Ontario College of Art and Design University and at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Hunter’s curatorial work emphasizes inter-disciplinarity, collaboration and narrative and he is committed the museum as a truly publically engaged institution of community learning and progressive thought.

Hunter has curated and co-curated a number of significant Canadian exhibitions including: The Other Landscape (Art Gallery of Alberta), Tom Thomson (AGO and NGC, with Dennis Reid and Charlie Hill), Emily Carr: New Perspectives (a multi-curator collaboration with the NGC and VAG), Carl Schaefer (Museum London), and To A Watery Grave and Dark Matter: The Great War and Fading Memory (Confederation Centre). Hunter was Adjunct Curator at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and his work for the institution included Ding Ho/Group of Seven (with Xiong Gu). His major AGO exhibitions included Alex Colville and The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris (with Steve Martin and Cynthia Burlingham) and he lead the expanded version of this exhibition in Toronto accompanied by his book In The Ward. He co-curated the current exhibition Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood (with Anique Jordan), a critical reflection on the Canada 150 moment featuring over 40 contemporary artists.

Hunter lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with his partner Lisa, daughters Maggie and Claire, 2 dogs, 2 cats, multiple birds, numerous fish and a rabbit. A flock of 100 turkey vultures has recently taken up residence in their backyard joining the family of skunks who live under the front porch.

Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood (AGO, 2017) works by: Meryl McMaster, Michael Belmore, Camille Turner and Camal Purbhai Photo credit: Andrew Hunter