Plug In ICA

Closed for Installation
2019-01-23, 2018-12-31 - 2019-01-21 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Plug In ICA Gallery and Bookstore are closed between exhibitions for installation. To browse our library or browse our bookstore, please ring the doorbell during office hours (Monday – Friday 10am-5pm), or email info@plugin.org to make an appointment.

Artist Talk: Jean-Paul Kelly
2019-01-22 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
In the lead up to Jean-Paul Kelly’s solo exhibition, That ends that matter, Plug In ICA welcomes this perceptive and provocative artist to Winnipeg. Kelly will introduce the complexity of his working process and research methods through a visual discussion of his work.
On Tuesday, January 22, 2019, 7pm, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art presents an artist talk by Jean-Paul Kelly. As an introduction to Kelly’s solo exhibition, That ends that matter, the artist will be speaking about the trajectory of his art practice and how it has led him to the current three-channel video installation which will open at Plug In ICA on Thursday, January 24. Born in London, Ontario and presently based out of Toronto, Kelly has over the last decade traverse through a body of work that has grown to include drawings, found images, animation, sound, photography and video all of which variably address the unstable ideas of truth within documentary frameworks.
That ends that matter will be the first presentation of Jean-Paul Kelly’s work in Winnipeg and in the prairies. He has extensively exhibited and screened works across North America and Europe including Delfina Foundation (London), Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides (Saint-Jérôme), CGP London: Dilston Grove, Oakville Galleries, Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus), The Power Plant (Toronto), Mercer Union (Toronto), and Gallery TPW (Toronto). Screenings include: Canada House (London), Courtisane Festival (Ghent), Vdrome, International Film Festival Rotterdam, New York Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival. He has held artist residencies at the ISCP (New York) and Delfina Foundation; and was a guest artist at the 2018 Brakhage Center Symposium and the 2013 Flaherty Seminar. Kelly received the 2015 Images Festival Award, the 2014 Kazuko Trust Award from the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Associated Programming:

Opening Reception for That ends that matter on Thursday, January 24, 7-10pm
Tournée guidée en français Samedi 16 février par Evin Collis
Video Screening curated by Jean-Paul Kelly on Thursday, March 7; 7pm
Curatorial Tour by Jenifer Papararo Saturday, March 9; 3pm
Respondent Series (TBA)

Acknowledgements:
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art recognizes we are on Treaty One Territory, the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Métis, Cree, Dakota, Dene, and Oji-Cree Nations.
Production of That ends that matter was made possible through funding support of Ontario Arts Council with additional research support from the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Kuzuko Trust Award and Delfina Foundation’s family of individual supporters.
Plug In ICA extends our gratitude to our artists, generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers. With special thanks to our Director’s Circle.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org
For more information on this and our other education programs, contact Luther Konadu at luther@plugin.org. For general information please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043
All public programming is free and open to the public. This exhibition contains explicit sexual and violent content material, and might not be suitable for all ages. Please use discretion.
Image: Jean-Paul Kelly, B.A.A.D.C., water-cut cold-rolled steel, approx. 3.5 x 9 inches, 2016 as part of That ends that matter, three-channel video installation and mixed media.

Plug In ICA • Gallery closed
2018-12-31 - 2019-01-01 | Manitoba

Plug In ICA • Gallery Closed
2018-12-24 - 2018-12-26 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Gallery closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day
Office is closed December 21, 2018 – January 1, 2019

Days of Reading | Curatorial Tour by Sarah Nesbitt
2018-12-15 15:00 - 16:00 | Manitoba
This Saturday, (Dec. 15) JOIN US at 3PM, as co-curator, Sarah Nesbitt conducts a FREE guided tour of our current exhibition, “Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs”. Anyone and everyone’s invited to participate! Cost: FREE (like all of our programming).
*This is our last public program in relation to Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs so please take this opportunity to visit the exhibition and learn about the processes and ideas behind this exhibition.
Did you know that Plug In ICA offers FREE guided tours and educational programs? We invite student groups to participate in our learning programs that include in-depth curriculum guides customized for each exhibition.
For more information on this and our other education programs, contact Luther Konadu at luther@plugin.org. For general information please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043
—————————————————————
INFORMATION ABOUT DAYS OF READING: BEYOND THIS STATE OF AFFAIRS
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art presents, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs. Structured around general notions of indexing, collecting, cloaking and the reveal with a focus on material and an overlay of poetry – the exhibition is grounded in the use of text, often found, poetic, and colloquial, with historical and political narratives interwoven as material, including the popular Black cultural magazine Jet in Theaster Gates’s work Do I Know You , 2017; the Haitian Declaration of Independence in Liberté ou la morte by Fabiola Carranza; strip mall signage in Ken Lum’s 117 Dwight Eisenhower Blvd, 2009; and in recently uncovered medieval graffiti in All Saints Bench , 2018 by Shannon Bool.
.
Natalie Czech, Hassan Khan, and Sylvia Matas present language using banal everyday signifiers: magazine print ads, LED signage, or newspaper clippings, which they parse into poetic and political gestures. Jeanne Randolph, and Sameer Farooq and Jared Stanley activate collections through ficto-criticism (Randolph) and speculative museums (Farooq and Stanley), and Leah Decter, like Carranza, excavates language from the
archive of her maternal grandfather’s ship’s manifest coming in to Canada in her woven work, (through)line(age) 1779-1925-2013, 2013.
.
As part of the exhibition Raven Chacon begins a new book project in dedication to the life of, an early 20th century Yankton Dakota woman that will be comprised of twelve musical scores dedicated to twelve contemporary Indigenous women “working in the field of contemporary music performance or composition.”
.
The exhibition is to be read as one moves through it. Through a paring of objects and texts, how histories are captured and presented surface in prosaic terms, but carry the weight of history’s missteps and misrepresentations.
—————————————————————
Acknowledgments:
Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org
—————————————————————
Installation shot of Natalie Czech’s, “A poem by repetition by Robert Grenier 2,” 2017. [far left]. | Leah Decter’s, “(through)line(age) 1779-1925-2013,” 2013. [centre] & Natalie Czech’s, “A poem by repetition by Vsevolod Nekrasov 2,” 2015. [far right]. Photo credit: Karen Asher

A Reversal of Winds by Sylvia Matas | Bookwork Launch & Signing *offsite
2018-12-15 13:00 - 15:00 | Blinkers, 520 Hargrave St, Winnipeg, MB, R3A 0X8, Canada
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art presents:
A Reversal of Winds by Sylvia Matas | Bookwork Launch and Signing
Saturday, December 15, 2018
***Off-site location: Blinkers, 520 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3A 0X8***
Bookwork Launch and Signing, 1-3pm
As part of Blinkers Holiday Sale, 12-5pm

Stages Speaker Series: Artist Talk by Raymond Boisjoly
2018-12-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Manitoba
***Off-site location: 92 Higgins Ave. Winnipeg, MB, Canada. (wheelchair accessible; loads of parking; #47 bus route)***
On Friday, December 14th 2018, Plug In ICA will present an artist talk with Raymond Boisjoly as part of our STAGES Speaker Series in anticipation of STAGES 2019.*
Boisjoly is in Winnipeg to begin his research for STAGES 2019 and present on his artwork and process, which tussles with the possibility of communicating a sense of indigeneity that is not necessarily crucial to identity. As such he extends his research and actions beyond his personal or ancestral history from a position that is fractured between the desire for representation and the instability of image-making. Boisjoly obscures meaning and a direct form of address. His works are to be deciphered, with meaning often intentionally scrambled, hidden and coded. Through fragmentation and distortion, he conceals his research and reasoning, most commonly using photography and printing as processes to redirect our assumed understandings surrounding Indigenous communities as a means to speak about identity itself.
*With its conception in 2017, STAGES sets out to activate the city of Winnipeg with temporary public sculpture and performances by international and local artists. The Speaker Series is a means of initiating and connecting the artists with local audiences, and introducing visiting artists to Winnipeg.
Raymond Boisjoly has a BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design where he currently teaches. He also has an MFA from UBC and has exhibited work widely across Canada and abroad. Boisjoly has shown work at Platform Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, Winnipeg; The Power Plant, Toronto; Vancouver Art Gallery; Camera Austria, Vienna; Triangle France, Marseille; and most recently at SITElines, Santa Fe. In 2017, he was a finalist for the AIMIA|AGO Photography Prize as well as the Sobey Art Award. Writings on Boisjoly’s work have appeared in Mousse Magazine, C Magazine, and OSMOS Magazine to name a few. He is represented by Catriona Jefferies, Vancouver.
Acknowledgements:
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art recognizes we are on Treaty One Territory, the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Métis, Cree, Dakota, Dene, and Oji-Cree Nations.
Stages Speaker Series & STAGES 2019 is supported by the Winnipeg Foundation.
We thank our community partners Alt Hotel for their continued support of STAGES. And would like to thank Leon A Brown for providing us with this off-site location.
Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org
For more information on this and our other education programs, contact Luther Konadu at luther@plugin.org. For general information please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043
Image: Sly & the Family Stone (Interval: 1971/2013) Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin) 05, 2013, screen resolution lightjet print mounted on dibond, 30 x 40 in. (76 x 101 cm)

French tour led by Evin Collis December 8, 3pm
2018-12-08 15:00 - 16:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Rejoignez-nous le 8 décembre à 15 h, où Evin Collis donnera un tour guidé gratuit en français de l’exposition “Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs”. “Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs”. Structuré autour des notions générales d’indexage, de collecte, de dissimulation et du dévoilement avec un accent mis sur des matériels et un recouvrir de poésie, – l’exposition est fondée dans l’usage de texte, souvent trouvé, poétique, et familier, avec des récits historiques et politiques tissés comme un matériau.

Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth: Video Screening and Discussion
2018-11-21 17:00 - 20:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth
• Screening and Discussion • Free!
Wednesday, November 21st | 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Screening & Discussion: 5:30 pm
______________________________________________________
On Wednesday, November 21, 2018, discover our current exhibition, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs through the interpretive lens of 5 youth participants.
Starting at 5:00 pm, participants of the sixth edition of our Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth [IIY] program, Mark Ginther, Tuva Bergstrom, Dylan VanDamme, Jordan Santiago and Victor Ilunga will offer the presentation of a short interpretive video produced by them in collaboration with Plug In ICA.
The Interpreting Youth program is, yet, another way Plug In ICA provides an entry into conversations and practices happening in contemporary art today. It is integral to the ICA’s educational programming to audiences in the community.
The screening offers a visual reflection of the youth’s collective and individual experience of Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs, and marks the culmination of an intensive four week session, working and thinking together about the exhibition, and about video as an interpretive mode. For this iteration of the program, participants had the opportunity to work closely with our Assistant Curator, Luther Konadu, to discuss process, approach and multi-media content creation.
The youth screening and panel discussion will begin at 5:30 pm, followed by a short reception. Assistant Curator, Luther Konadu, will moderate the panel discussion with IIY participants. Everyone is welcome! Snacks and refreshments will be served.
______________________________________________________
Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth is designed for youth ages 16 to 24. The program reverses a pre-existing interpretive model used within arts institutions that often produce short videos as educational devices. The “Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth” program inversely begins with the youth’s experience of the artwork, challenging conventional models of art interpretation by overturning basic roles of authority and authorship.

Curatorial Tour by Jenifer Papararo
2018-11-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
This Saturday, (Nov. 17) JOIN US at 3PM, as Plug In ICA’s very own, executive director, Jenifer Papararo conducts a FREE guided tour of our current exhibition, “Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs”. ..
Anyone and everyone is invited to participate! Cost: FREE (like all of our programming).
.
Did you know that Plug In ICA offers FREE guided tours and educational programs? We invite student groups to participate in our learning programs that include in-depth curriculum guides customized for each exhibition.
.
@pluginicaThis Saturday, JOIN US at 3PM, as Plug In ICA’s very own, executive director, Jenifer Papararo conducts a FREE guided tour of our current exhibition, “Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs”

Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs | Spanish Tour
2018-11-15 15:00 - 16:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
El día jueves 15 de Noviembre a las 3pm, la artista Francesca Carella Arfinengo brindará un tour guiado de las exposición Dias de Lectura: más allá de la situación actual.
La exhibición está estructurada alrededor de ideas como la indexación, colección, el encubrimiento y la revelación con un enfoque en el uso de materiales y la superposición de la poesía. El uso de texto sirve como cimiento del grupo de obras; el texto es por lo general texto extraído, poético y coloquial con narrativas históricas y políticas entrelazadas como material mismo, incluyendo la revista popular Jet de Cultura Negra en el trabajo de Theaster Gates Do I Know You, 2017; la declaración de Independencia de Haití en Liberté ou la morte de Fabiola Carranza; carteles de centros comerciales en la obra de Ken Lum 117 Dwight Eisenhower Blvd, 2009; y en el descubrimiento reciente de graffiti medieval en All Saints Bench, 2018 de Shannon Bool.
Natalie Czech, Hassan Khan y Sylvia Matas presentan al lenguaje utilizando significantes del día a día: anuncios en revistas, letreros hechos con luces LED y recortes de periódicos, a los cuales analizan sintácticamente transformándolos en gestos poéticos y politicos.
Jeanne Randolph y Sameer Farooq y Jared Stanley activan diferentes colecciones por medio de la crítica-ficcional (Randolph) y museos especulativos (Farooq y Stanley).
Leah Decter, así como Carranza, excava lenguaje del archivo, específicamente del manifiesto marítimo que detallada la llegada de su abuelo materno a Canadá y lo utiliza en su obra tejida en telar (through)line(age) 1779-1925-2013, 2013.
Como parte de la exhibición Raven Chacon empieza un nuevo proyecto, un libro, dedicado a la vida de Zitkála-Šá, una mujer de la nación Yankton Dakota que vivió a los inicios del siglo 20. El libro estará compuesto por doce partituras dedicadas a doce mujeres Indígenas contemporáneas “trabajando en el campo de la composición y la interpretación musical”
La exhibición require ser leída al paso que uno se mueve dentro del espacio. A travez del maridaje de objetos y texto, la manera en la cual historias son captadas y representadas aparece en términos prosaicos pero carga con el peso de los errores y tergiversaciones de la historia misma.

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is eager to announce the opening of our fall exhibition, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs . Structured around general notions of indexing, collecting, cloaking and the reveal with a focus on material and an overlay of poetry – the exhibition is grounded in the use of text, often found, poetic, and colloquial, with historical and political narratives interwoven as material, including the popular Black cultural magazine Jet in Theaster Gates’s work Do I Know You , 2017; the Haitian Declaration of Independence in Liberté ou la morte by Fabiola Carranza; strip mall signage in Ken Lum’s 117 Dwight Eisenhower Blvd, 2009; and in recently uncovered medieval graffiti in All Saints Bench , 2018 by Shannon Bool.
.
Natalie Czech, Hassan Khan, and Sylvia Matas present language using banal everyday signifiers: magazine print ads, LED signage, or newspaper clippings, which they parse into poetic and political gestures. Jeanne Randolph, and Sameer Farooq and Jared Stanley activate collections through ficto-criticism (Randolph) and speculative museums (Farooq and Stanley), and Leah Decter, like Carranza, excavates language from the
archive of her maternal grandfather’s ship’s manifest coming in to Canada in her woven work, (through)line(age) 1779-1925-2013, 2013.
.
As part of the exhibition Raven Chacon begins a new book project in dedication to the life of, an early 20th century Yankton Dakota woman that will be comprised of twelve musical scores dedicated to twelve contemporary Indigenous women “working in the field of contemporary music performance or composition.”
.
The exhibition is to be read as one moves through it. Through a paring of objects and texts, how histories are captured and presented surface in prosaic terms, but carry the weight of history’s missteps and misrepresentations. Please join us Saturday, September 29th for our opening reception programmed alongside an exciting schedule of events including a discussion between Raven Chacon, Suzanne Kite, and Laura Ortman at 6pm, followed by performances by Kite and Ortman at 8pm.
.
Image credit: Ken Lum, 117 Dwight Eisenhower Blvd, 2009, Plexiglas, enamel paint, powder-coated aluminum, 97 x 82 x 2 inches, Courtesy the artist & Royale Projects, Los Angeles

Stages Speaker Series | Artist Talk by Joar Nango
2018-11-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Manitoba
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art presents:
STAGES Speaker Series: Artist talk by Joar Nango

Tuesday, November 13th, 2018 | 7 PM
Off-site location: 227 McDermot Ave, Winnipeg, MB

On Tuesday, November 13th 2018, Plug In ICA will kick off its second iteration of the STAGES Speaker Series in anticipation of STAGES 2019. With its conception in 2017, STAGES set out to activate the City of Winnipeg with temporary public sculpture and performances by nine international and local artists. The speaker series became a means of initiating and connecting the artists with local audiences, and introducing visiting artists to Winnipeg.

Our first speaker in the 2019 STAGES Speakers Series is architect, builder, artist, and self-publisher Joar Nango. Nango’s work often parses out the division between design, architecture, and visual art and uses improvisation as method and process. Belonging to the indigenous peoples from Sápmi, the traditional territories of Sámi, improvisation is a cultural disposition for several communities like his, where the climate is merciless and resources are scarce. As such, Nango’s sculptural practice is stirred by chance, experimentation with localized raw materials, DIY aesthetics, and an in-tuned relationship to place. He creates actions and interventions; makeshift as well as permanent ones, that ultimately add up to our knowledge and connectedness to the environment we stand and thrive on.
A long proponent of printed matter and its political potential to mobilize larger social transformations, Nango along with collaborators have fulfilled publication projects including The Indigenuity Project, The Normadic Library and the self-published zine series Sámi Huksendáidda: the Fanzine. Nango has been part of a number of exhibition projects throughout Canada and elsewhere. Among which includes, the Ottawa Art Gallery, Vancouver’s Western Front, Gallery Deluxe in Halifax, and The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway and Sydhavn Station in Copenhagen, Denmark. He recently presented European Everything at Documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel in 2017.

UPCOMING [SAVE THE DATE] • Raymond Boisjoly will be our second speaker in the 2018/19 Stages Speaker Series on Saturday, December 15, 2018 **OFF-SITE location: 92 Higgins Ave. Winnipeg, MB, Canada. (wheel chair accessible; loads of parking; on the number 47 bus route**

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art co-presents with the School of Art, University of Manitoba and hosted by the Winnipeg Art Gallery | Artist Talk by Ken Lum
2018-11-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Manitoba
As part of our fall exhibition Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs, Plug In ICA is fortunate to welcome Ken Lum, one of the exhibiting artists, to Winnipeg. In collaboration with the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the School of Art, University of Manitoba, Lum will be presenting a talk covering the scope of his multi-decade oeuvre.
A frequent writer, artist, and educator, Lum recently described, “it is through art that I am constantly challenged to understand the world and my place within it, even if that place is one that I am not entirely at home in.” He declared this sentiment in an essay comparing his experiences as a resident of the United States to his life growing up in Canada where he began his career as an artist. In many respects, this assertion fittingly doubles as an undergirding principle to every image, object or monument he has imagined and put out into the world. If one’s self-examination becomes heightened with a shift in a sense of place and geography, then it is with this same grasp of self in tandem with a social one that becomes the thriving pulse for Lum’s work as an artist, educator, and individual.
With a long career like Lum’s, it feels superfluous to reiterate his immeasurable achievements but needless to say, Lum is one of Canada’s most essential artists living today. Though he is currently making home in Philadelphia as the chair of Fine Arts at University of Pennsylvania’s School of Art & Design, his resonance continues to be intertwined within contemporary art dialogue being generated in Canada. Lum’s public works across major metropolitan cities in Canada remain iconic markers not only for a cities’ cultural identity but illuminate the nation’s historical memory. His work is taught as part of art history curriculums at universities across the country and he continues to be an indispensible artist among prominent cultural institutions throughout the world. Lum is currently the chief curatorial advisor for Monument Lab; a city-wide public art and architectural exhibition in Philadelphia. In Winnipeg his work is on exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery as part of the 80s Image and at Plug In ICA as part of Days of Reading. He will be conducting a seminar at the School of Art, University of Manitoba.
Related exhibit:

Days of Reading

STRANGE ILLUSIONS Plug In ICA Gala and Art Auction
2018-10-27 19:00 | Manitoba
Celebrate with Plug In ICA and over 350 gala attendees in the abandoned basement of the Bay for our largest fundraising event of the year on Saturday, October 27, 2018. This year’s gala will be a costumed event and fine dining experience you won’t want to miss! The evening will feature Winnipeg’s top chefs, a showcase of work by 35 leading contemporary artists from Canada and beyond, and a dance floor you won’t be able to resist.
Our annual Gala and Art Auction raises funds in support of Plug In ICA programming, including our Respondent Series, Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth, STAGES Biennale, newly commissioned artwork from contemporary artists, critical publications, youth workshops, engaging events and unparalleled exhibitions. Most importantly your attendance and ongoing support keeps our galleries and events FREE TO ALL.
Strange Illusions sets the theme for this spectacular. Raise your glass in raising funds for Plug In ICA!

The Abandoned Bay Basement, 450 Portage Ave, Entrance on Vaughan Street
#PlugInGala

COSTUME POLICY
This year’s Plug In ICA Gala and Art Auction is a costumed* event themed ‘Strange Illusions.’ We’d like to remind everyone attending that costumes inappropriately representing other people’s struggles, such as poverty, violence, racism, or disability are not welcome. Plug In ICA reserves the right to deny entry or ask attendees to leave who are wearing culturally inappropriate and insensitive costumes. If you are unsure what this means please view the links below. (Thank you to QPOC, Winnipeg for sharing the first two of these links).
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN2WaZAUY2U
• https://goo.gl/NQwjtA
• http://proud2bme.org/content/offensive-halloween-costumes-never-ever-wear%E2%80%A6and-what-wear-instead

TICKETS
Regular Gala Tickets: $200
Supporting Tickets: $300
Table sponsor (seats 10): $3000
After Party Ticket: $20
* Charitable tax receipts for a portion of the ticket sale will be available. Tickets also include a one-year Plug In ICA membership.

Purchase tickets:
1) Call Plug In ICA during ofﬁce or gallery hours at (204) 942-1043
2) Visit the Plug In ICA Art Book Shop during gallery hours at 460 Portage Avenue
3) Purchase tickets online at – https://shop.plugin.org/collections/plug-in-ica-gala-2018.

Fall Exhibition | Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs |
2018-09-30 - 2018-12-30 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is eager to announce the opening of our fall exhibition, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs.Structured around general notions of indexing, collecting, cloaking and the reveal with a focus on material and an overlay of poetry – the exhibition is grounded in the use of text, often found, poetry, and the everyday, with historical and political narratives interwoven as material, including the popular Black cultural magazine Jet in Theaster Gates’s work Do I Know You, 2017; the Haitian Declaration of Independence in Liberté ou la morte by Fabiola Carranza; strip mall signage in Ken Lum’s 117 Dwight Eisenhower Blvd; and in recently uncovered medieval graffiti in All Saints Bench, 2018 by Shannon Bool.
Natalie Czech, Hassan Khan, and Sylvia Matas present language using banal everyday signifiers: magazine print ads, LED signage, or newspaper clippings, which they parse into poetic and political gestures. Jeanne Randolph, and Sameer Farooq and Jared Stanley activate collections through ficto-criticism (Randolph) and speculative museums (Farooq and Stanley), and Leah Decter, like Carranza, excavates language from the archive of her maternal grandfather’s ship’s manifest coming in to Canada in her woven work, (through)line(age) 1779-1925-2013, 2013. As part of the exhibition Raven Chacon begins a new book project in dedication to the life of Zitkála-Šá, an early 20th century Yankton Dakota woman that will be comprised of twelve musical scores dedicated to twelve contemporary Indigenous women “working in the field of contemporary music performance or composition.”
The exhibition is to be read as one moves through it. Through a paring of objects and texts, how histories are captured and presented surface in prosaic terms, but carry the weight of history’s missteps and misrepresentations.
– Curated by Sarah Nesbitt and Jenifer Papararo

Performance | Raven Chacon, Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite | September 29, 8pm
2018-09-29 20:00 - 21:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Performance | Raven Chacon, Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art | 1, 460 Portage Ave | Winnipeg MB | Canada

As part of Plug In ICA’s Respondent Series for the exhibition, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs, we present a conversation between, artist and composer Raven Chacon, and experimental musician’s Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite.
Raven Chacon’s participation in Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs begins with a new book project and sound piece that will comprise twelve musical scores dedicated to twelve contemporary Indigenous women “working in the field of contemporary music performance or composition,“ alongside essays and performance notes.
This work in progress is in dedication to the life of Zitkála-Šá, an early 20th century Yankton Dakota woman who was a prolific writer, musician, and activist. Zitkála-Šá’s life is interpreted through music, and, in dialogue with collaborators Suzanne Kite and Laura Ortman, in an abstract form that subordinates language and clarity, never prescribing itself as one view that is presented as an authentic biography.
The public discuss will focus of Chacon’s research and the collaborative participation of Suzanne Kite and Laura Ortman. Chacon, Kite and Ortman will perform in Plug In ICA’s foyer shortly following the conversation and as part of Days of Reading’s opening reception.

Related exhibit:
Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs

Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs | Opening Reception | September 29, 7pm
2018-09-29 19:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs

September 30, 2018 to December 30, 2018
Shannon Bool • Natalie Czech • Fabiola Carranza • Raven Chacon (with Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite) • Leah Decter • Sameer Farooq & Jared Stanley • Theaster Gates • Hassan Khan • Ken Lum • Sylvia Matas • Jeanne Randolph.
Curated by Sarah Nesbitt and Jenifer Papararo

Artist Talk with Shannon Bool
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Sameer Farooq, Jeanne Randolph & Jared Stanley in conversation
Friday, September 28, 2018
Nuit Blanche Opening
Saturday, September 29, 2018 | 7pm – 1am
Panel Discussion with Raven Chacon, Laura Ortman & Suzanne Kite
Saturday, September 29 , 2018 | 6pm
Performances by Laura Ortman & Suzanne Kite
Saturday, September 29, 2018 | 8pm
Artist Talk by Ken Lum
Thursday, November 1, 7pm |

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is eager to announce the opening of our fall exhibition, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs.Structured around general notions of indexing, collecting, cloaking and the reveal with a focus on material and an overlay of poetry – the exhibition is grounded in the use of text, often found, poetry, and the everyday, with historical and political narratives interwoven as material, including the popular Black cultural magazine Jet in Theaster Gates’s work Do I Know You, 2017; the Haitian Declaration of Independence in Liberté ou la morte by Fabiola Carranza; strip mall signage in Ken Lum’s 117 Dwight Eisenhower Blvd; and in recently uncovered medieval graffiti in All Saints Bench, 2018 by Shannon Bool.
Natalie Czech, Hassan Khan, and Sylvia Matas present language using banal everyday signifiers: magazine print ads, LED signage, or newspaper clippings, which they parse into poetic and political gestures. Jeanne Randolph, and Sameer Farooq and Jared Stanley activate collections through ficto-criticism (Randolph) and speculative museums (Farooq and Stanley), and Leah Decter, like Carranza, excavates language from the archive of her maternal grandfather’s ship’s manifest coming in to Canada in her woven work, (through)line(age) 1779-1925-2013, 2013. As part of the exhibition Raven Chacon begins a new book project in dedication to the life of Zitkála-Šá, an early 20th century Yankton Dakota woman that will be comprised of twelve musical scores dedicated to twelve contemporary Indigenous women “working in the field of contemporary music performance or composition.”
The exhibition is to be read as one moves through it. Through a paring of objects and texts, how histories are captured and presented surface in prosaic terms, but carry the weight of history’s missteps and misrepresentations.
– Curated by Sarah Nesbitt and Jenifer Papararo

We would like to acknowledge Video Pool Media Arts Centre as co-producers of For Zitkála-Šá by Raven Chacon, which is a work in progress.

Panel Discussion | Raven Chacon, Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite | September 29, 6pm
2018-09-29 18:00 - 19:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Panel Discussion and Performance | Raven Chacon, Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art | 1, 460 Portage Ave | Winnipeg MB | Canada

As part of Plug In ICA’s Respondent Series for the exhibition, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs, we present a conversation between, artist and composer Raven Chacon, and experimental musician’s Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite.
Raven Chacon’s participation in Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs begins with a new book project and sound piece that will comprise twelve musical scores dedicated to twelve contemporary Indigenous women “working in the field of contemporary music performance or composition,“ alongside essays and performance notes.
This work in progress is in dedication to the life of Zitkála-Šá, an early 20th century Yankton Dakota woman who was a prolific writer, musician, and activist. Zitkála-Šá’s life is interpreted through music, and, in dialogue with collaborators Suzanne Kite and Laura Ortman, in an abstract form that subordinates language and clarity, never prescribing itself as one view that is presented as an authentic biography.
The public discuss will focus of Chacon’s research and the collaborative participation of Suzanne Kite and Laura Ortman. Kite and Ortman will perform on Plug In ICA’s rooftop shortly following the conversation and as part of Days of Reading’s opening reception.

Related exhibit:
Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs

Respondent Series | Panel Discussion with Sameer Farooq, Jeanne Randolph and Jared Stanley | September 28th, 7pm
2018-09-28 19:00 - 20:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Respondent Series | Panel Discussion with Sameer Farooq, Jeanne Randolph and Jared Stanley

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art | 1, 460 Portage Ave | Winnipeg MB | Canada
As part of Plug In ICA’s Respondent Series for the exhibition, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs, we present a conversation between, prominent cultural theorist and writer, Jeanne Randolph, and Toronto-based artist and designer, Sameer Farooq, along with Farooq’s collaborator, poet and artist, Jared Stanley, moderated by our Director Jenifer Papararo.
For the exhibition Jeanne Randolph, and Sameer Farooq and Jared Stanley activate collections through ficto-criticism (Randolph) and speculative museums (Farooq and Stanley). Centered on these methodologies, their public discussion will focus on the convergence and practice of their distinct approaches to forms of writing and display in relation to consumerism and historical narratives.

Associated Programming:

Tuesday, September 25 | Artist Talk by Shannon Bool, 7pm
Saturday, September 29 | Nuit Blanche, Exhibition open 7pm to 1am

7-11pm | Opening Reception
6pm | Panel Discussion with Raven Chacon, Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite (in partnership with Video Pool Media Centre)
8pm | Performances by Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite

Thursday, November 1, 7pm | Artist Talk Ken Lum Hosted by the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Eckhardt Hall, 300 Memorial Boulevard, Winnipeg, and presented by the School of Art, University of Manitoba & Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art

Related exhibit:
Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs

Respondent Series | Artist Talk with Shannon Bool | September 25, 7pm
2018-09-25 19:00 - 20:00 | Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, 460 Portage, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Respondent Series | Artist Talk with Shannon Bool

Berlin-based artist, Shannon Bool, will be presenting a talk on Tuesday, September 25th, 2018 at 7pm. The talk is in conjunction with the exhibition, Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs, which opens Saturday, September 29th, 2018. The Canadian born artist’s stream of work has always permutated in diverging forms to include murals, sculpture, tapestries, and photograms. She continues to concentrate her works in visual codes that are entrenched in popular culture, art history, pre-historic and ancient civilizations. Bool’s talk will cover her expansive practice, as well as her commissioned contribution for the upcoming fall exhibition: All Saints Bench. This new work is an extension from a previous line of work that is also involved with surface, ornamentation and their historical, emotional and poetic resonance.
This is the first presentation of Bool’s work in Winnipeg. We are privileged to host her work along with an esteemed list of artists gathered for Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs.
We would also like to recognize Daniel Faria for his support of All Saints Bench and Fabris and Watts for their support in producing this new work by Bool.

Associated Programming:
Friday, September 28, 7pm | Sameer Farooq, Jeanne Randolph and Jared Stanley in conversation
Saturday, September 29 | Nuit Blanche, Exhibition open 7pm to 1am

7-11pm | Opening Reception
6pm | Panel Discussion with Raven Chacon, Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite (in partnership with Video Pool Media Centre)
8pm | Performances by Laura Ortman and Suzanne Kite

Thursday, November 1, 7pm | Artist Talk Ken Lum Hosted by the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Eckhardt Hall, 300 Memorial Boulevard, Winnipeg, and presented by the School of Art, University of Manitoba & Plug In Institute of Contemporary

Related exhibit:

Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs

Plug In ICA Annual General Meeting 2018
2018-09-17 18:00 - 20:00 | Manitoba
Plug In ICA Annual General Meeting 2018
Monday, September 17, 2018 | 6pm
Rae and Jerry’s Steakhouse
1405 Portage Ave, Winnipeg, MB

Plug In ICA will hold its Annual General Meeting on Monday, September 17, 6pm at Rae and Jerry’s Steakhouse located at 1405 Portage Avenue. Everyone is welcome; but in order to vote you must be a member in good standing. Membership must be paid for a day before the meeting commences. (Membership maybe purchased online: https://plugin.myshopify.com/collections/memberships
Plug In ICA will present our annual report and KPMG will present our audited financial statements for the year ending March 31, 2018. New members of the Board of Directors will be elected.
For further inquiries please contact: Angela Forget at angela@plugin.org or by phone at 204-942-1043.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our esteemed Board of Directors for their dedication, thoughtfulness and hard work. Plug In is dependent on their volunteer contributions. Through committee work they share professional knowledge and experiences, guiding the organization in reflection of its history into the future.
Board of Directors: Sotirios Kotoulas (President), Samuel McLaughlin (Secretary) Jordan Sodomsky, (Treasurer), Uzoma Asagwara, Irene Bindi, Dr. Julie Nagam, Brad German, Zia Hameed, Dr. Hee-Jung Serenity Joo, Dr. Serena Keshsavjee, Silvester Komlodi, Karine Pelletier.
Board Emeritus: Daniel Friedman, Noam Gonick, Marlene Stern, Meeka Walsh.

Plug In ICA extends our gratitude to the artists we work with, our generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers. With special thanks to our Director’s Circle. You make a difference!
Galvanizers: The Asper Foundation, Susan Glass & Arni Thorsteinson, Dave Johnston, Chrysoula & Konstantinos Kotoulas, Michael Nesbitt
Instigators: CGM Engineering Ltd., Daniel Friedman & Rob Dalgliesh, Samuel and Aveeve McLaughlin
Motivators: Danny Bubis & Jennifer Blumenthal, Kat Kupca, John MacAuley, Paula Mitchell & Arnold Leventhal, James A. Richardson, sotirioscorp, Gary Ursell

Beyond individual support, we have benefited from numerous corporate and foundational support for our various programs. A list of our 2017/2018 sponsors are as follows:
Youth Tours: Payworks, Wawanesa
Summer Institute Session I: Cliff Eyland
STAGES 2017: Susan Glass & Arni Thorsteinson; Daniel Friedman &Rob Dalgliesh; Winnipeg Foundation; Alpha Masonry
Gala 2017: Montrose Ltd.; CGM Engineering & Tony Mitousis; KPMG, PRA

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without your continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all. Enable us to continue presenting excellent programs! Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/supporter by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org

Closed for Installation
2018-09-10 - 2018-09-28, 2018-08-25 - 2018-09-06 | Manitoba
Plug In ICA Gallery and Bookstore are closed between exhibitions for installation. To browse use our library or browse our bookstore please ring the doorbell during office hours (Monday – Friday 10am-5pm), or email info@plugin.org to make an appointment.

Plug In ICA's Prairie Art Book Fair
2018-09-07 16:00 - 2018-09-09 17:00 | Manitoba
Prairie Art Book Fair
Friday, September 7: 4-8pm
Saturday, September 8: 11am-7pm
Sunday, September 9: 11am-5pm
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art
Unit 1- 460 Portage Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 0E8

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is extremely excited to present our inaugural Prairie Art Book Fair September 7-9, 2018. As a means to acknowledge the critical relationship between contemporary art and publishing with a regional focus on the Prairies, the weekend will showcase over twenty-nine exhibitors and present numerous events with highlights including collaborative hole punch drawing with Winnipeg born artist Micah Lexier; a talk connecting DIY tattooing and artist multiples by Maxine Proctor (Director and Co-founder of the Toronto Art Book Fair and Managing Editor of BlackFlash Magazine), and a workshop with key presenter Jeff Khonsary (Co-Founding and Artistic Director of Fillip and Director of New Documents) on alternative book fair models, looking at the economics and social space of the book fair model itself.
Explore diverse and accomplished publications from over twenty-five publishers, artists, and galleries ranging from zines, catalogues, artist editions, fiction, poetry, criticism, and periodicals.
A complete list of exhibitors and events are listed below.
Exhibitors include:
aceartinc. | Winnipeg
ARP Books | Winnipeg
Articulate Ink Press | Regina
Association of Manitoba Book Publishers | Winnipeg
At Bay Press | Winnipeg
Bison Books | Winnipeg
BlackFlash Magazine | Saskatoon
Blinkers | Winnipeg
Border Crossings | Winnipeg
Carnation | Winnipeg
Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber | Winnipeg
Esker Foundation | Calgary
Cliff Eyland | Winnipeg
Galleries West | Calgary
Gallery 1C03, University of Winnipeg | Winnipeg
Jeff Khonsary (Fillip and New Documents) | Vancouver/Los Angeles
MacKenzie Art Gallery | Regina
Martha Street Studio | Winnipeg
Parameter Press | Winnipeg
Public Parking | Winnipeg/Regina/Calgary/Steinbach
Red Rising Magazine | Winnipeg
Remai Modern | Saskatoon
The Third Rail | Minneapolis
University of Calgary Press | Calgary
Urban Shaman Gallery | Winnipeg
Video Pool Media Arts Centre | Winnipeg
Walter Phillips Gallery | Banff
Warehouse Journal | Winnipeg
Whiny Femmes | Winnipeg

Events:

FRIDAY:
4:00pm-8:00pm | Opening
6:00pm-8:00pm | Plug In ICA Book Launches: STAGES: Drawing the Curtain supplementary publications (with Fillip Publishing) & Exhibition Notes: Entering the Landscape

SATURDAY:
11:30pm-12:30pm | Launch and Reading: Whiny Femmes Volume 2
1:30pm-2:30pm | Talk: Jeff Khonsary “How to Buy and Sell Books at Art Book Fairs” (working title)
3pm-4pm | Talk: Maxine Proctor, “Body Talk: Reclaiming Community, Identity, and Language with Tattoos, Flash, and Artists’ Multiples”
4:30pm-5:30pm | Hannah Godfrey Reading: “Not For The World Would I Compare It To Anything” presented by Parameter Press
6pm-7pm | aceartinc. Event (details tbd)

SATURDAY & SUNDAY:
12:30pm-1:30pm | Micah Lexier: Collaborative hole punch drawing

We offer our sincere thanks to Paula Mitchell and Arnold Leventhal for their generous support of our book fair. Thank You!
Plug In ICA extends our gratitude to our artists, generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers. With special thanks to our Director’s Circle. You make a difference!
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all. Enable us to continue presenting excellent programs! Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/supportor by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org
For more information or for media inquiries please contact: Erin Josephson-Laidlaw at erin@plugin.org; (204)942-1043.

BUSH gallery Open Studios and Summer Party
2018-08-24 19:00 - 23:00 | Manitoba
Celebrate with Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art and BUSH gallery as we close Site/ation the second session of our 2018 Summer Institute. Join us this Friday, August 24th at Plug In ICA from 7-11pm as we celebrate the final weeks of summer with BUSH gallery open studios including performances, installations and a screening. BUSH gallery (Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Peter Morin and Tania Willard) and Summer Institute participants Lacie Burning, Jane Harms, Liz Ikiriko, Audie Murray, Joseph Naytowhow, Dana Qaddah, Emiliano Sepulveda, Christian Vistan, Diana Warren and Bo Yeung host a night of art, music, food and fun. On the rooftop patio enjoy dancing, eating or socializing to BUSH gallery’s special summer play list. Cash bar will be open! Everyone welcome!
Enacting a principal of Site/ation, BUSH gallery Summer Institute grounded its programming in developing knowledge of and with the land. Working from a position of respect for their status as uninvited guests, Site/ation emphasized respect for local knowledge by initiating a talk with Niigaan Sinclair on Treaty 1, a plant walk with Elder Carl Smith, and participating in the Broken Head Pow Wow. Art Elder Joseph Naytowhow guided the group in song, picking choke cherries, learning to sing ‘all shook up’ in Cree and so much more. They made NDN peanut butter, went swimming in Lake Winnipeg, and projected videos on the trees and makeshift screens. BUSH gallery collective gave a performative lecture, including interventions by Tania Willard’s children; we all learned Metis jigging with curator Cathy Mattes; and played basketball at the Jackson Beardy Memorial Mural. Over the course of three weeks, BUSH gallery participants camped, laughed, made, ate, and conjured ideas and dreams that fed the ancestors. Please join us in celebrating the culmination of this transformative Summer Institute session.

For More information on BUSH gallery and the Summer Institute, Session II, see: https://plugin.org/exhibitions/bush-gallery/

Plug ICA gratefully acknowledges the RBC Foundation and the Johnston Group for their support of our 2018/2019 Summer Institute Program. We extend our gratitude to our artists, generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers. With special thanks to our Director’s Circle. You make a difference! We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all. Enable us to continue presenting excellent programs! Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org

Summer Institute Session II: Indigenous Art History at the BUSH by Cathy Mattes | Wednesday, August 15, 10:30am
2018-08-15 10:30 - 11:30 | Manitoba
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present “Indigenous Art History at the BUSH,” a talk by Cathy Mattes as part of Site/ation by BUSH gallery (Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Peter Morin and Tania Willard). As an internationally distinguished curator Mattes is known for strategies that emphasize audience participation, direct engagement, and Michif cultural protocols and practices. As an educator at Brandon University, Mattes makes connections between politics and art with the understanding that artists can enact social change. Drawing attention to marginalized art histories, Mattes contributes essential labor towards shifting dominant narratives in the presentation of contemporary art and curatorial practice.
For this presentation, Mattes will speak about her curatorial work, including the Rielisms exhibition, and Inheritance, a recent exhibition of work by Amy Malbeuf that included collaborative elements such as ‘kitchen table talk’ and jigging after artist talks.
Mattes’s talk is part of Plug In ICA’s second session of our 2018 Summer Institute, Site/ation facilitated by BUSH gallery. BUSH uses a radical approach to curating and art-making, born from active engagements and lived experiences on the land, land marking, contemporary art, the reserve, and the gallery. Using Indigenous methodologies to build a transformational space, that is open to everyone, BUSH seeks to de-centre the gallery, and the city as epicentres of contemporary art.
Cathy Mattes is a proud Michif writer and curator based in rural Southwestern Manitoba. Her practice focuses on the intersection of Indigenous issues and art, with an emphasis on community, which she sees as a complicated concept, to be explored, questioned and located. Interested in creating better conditions for Indigenous cultural workers, Mattes has served on the board for the Urban Shaman Gallery, and collaborated with Indigenous cultural workers in Australia and Venice. Her curatorial projects include Frontrunners, Urban Shaman Gallery and Plug In ICA; Blanche: KC Adams & Jonathan Jones, Chalkhorse Gallery, Sydney Australia; Rockstars & Wannabes, Urban Shaman Gallery, and Transcendence – KC Adams, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba. She has lectured nationally and internationally, and in 2010 she was selected as a delegate on the Canada Council for the Arts’ Aboriginal Curators Delegation to New Zealand and Australia. In addition to her freelance work, Mattes was the curator at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba between 2003 and 2005, and has been a consultant for various government agencies and arts organizations. She is an Assistant Professor teaching art history at Brandon University in the Visual and Aboriginal Arts Department, and is pursuing her PhD at the University of Manitoba in Native Studies.

Summer Institute Session II: Public Talk, Site/ation with BUSH gallery
2018-08-14 18:00 - 19:00 | Manitoba
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to host a talk by BUSH gallery (Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Peter Morin and Tania Willard) as part of the public programming for Site/ation, session two of our 2018 Summer Institute program, facilitated by the experimental curatorial and artist collective, BUSH gallery. Everyone welcome!
BUSH gallery statement:
BUSH gallery acknowledges the Indigenous Nations that have ancestral ties to the Treaty 1 Territory and the Métis Nation homeland. As uninvited guests,* we strive to connect what we are doing as Indigenous artists with valuing and circulating within local Indigenous economies and communities, while also creating space for conceptual, experimental and performative land-based Indigenous led contemporary art. By practicing reciprocity and value-based systems of Indigenous knowledges, centred by our specific cultural backgrounds, we make galleries of thought, colour, land, sky, text and interrelationality.
The 2018 summer intensive with Plug In ICA enacts ideas of site/ation. How are we influenced, challenged, changed and politically tied to the lands in our communities and in our orbits?
Using art as strategy to guide resources and value Indigenous led spaces that acknowledge the land as the first gallery, as our gallery as BUSH gallery we come together to laugh, to make, to eat and to conjure ideas and dreams that will feed the ancestors.
BUSH gallery functions as a space that allows for dialogue, experimental practice and community engaged work that contributes to an understanding of how gallery systems and art might be transfigured, translated and transformed by Indigenous customs, aesthetics, performance and land use systems. BUSH gallery is a trans-conceptual galleryspace. Trans-conceptual repositions ideas born within Indigenous and western epistemological conditions. The trans-conceptual space requires your body to be in a constant state of flux. Never settling like the flow of water in a river. One of the goals of BUSH gallery is to articulate Indigenous creative land practices, which are born out of a lived connection to the land.

* When we use ‘uninvited guest’ it means we acknowledge that due to dispossession of Indigenous lands and territories across Canada we operate outside of protocols that would make the local territory we are visiting within the authority of the traditional Indigenous land rights holder.

Summer Institute Session II: Site/ation with BUSH gallery
2018-08-07 - 2018-08-24 | Manitoba
Plug In ICA Summer Institute Session II:
August 7-24, 2018
BUSH gallery: “Site/ation”
For Session II of our Summer Institute, post-graduate research program, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is excited to partner with BUSH gallery. Over three weeks, from August 7-24, Tania Willard, Peter Morin and Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill will lead Site/ation, pushing a radical approach to curating and art making, born from active engagements and lived experiences on the land, land marking, contemporary art, the reserve, and the gallery. Using Indigenous methodologies to build a transformational space, that is open to everyone, BUSH seeks to de-centre the gallery, and the city as epicentres of contemporary art.
BUSH gallery Project Statement:
BUSH gallery acknowledges the Indigenous Nations that have ancestral ties to the Treaty 1 Territory and the Métis Nation homeland. As uninvited guests,* we strive to connect what we are doing as Indigenous artists with valuing and circulating within local Indigenous economies and communities, while also creating space for conceptual, experimental and performative land-based Indigenous led contemporary art. By practicing reciprocity and value-based systems of Indigenous knowledges, centred by our specific cultural backgrounds, we make galleries of thought, colour, land, sky, text and interrelationality.
The 2018 summer intensive with Plug In ICA enacts ideas of site/ation. How are we influenced, challenged, changed and politically tied to the lands in our communities and in our orbits. Participants will camp on the land together, read relevant texts, go for walks on the land, dream new relationships, and will research and learn by making and doing.
Using art as strategy to guide resources and value Indigenous led spaces that acknowledge the land as the first gallery, as our gallery as BUSH gallery we will come together to laugh, to make, to eat and to conjure ideas and dreams that will feed the ancestors.
BUSH gallery functions as a space that allows for dialogue, experimental practice and community engaged work that contributes to an understanding of how gallery systems and art might be transfigured, translated and transformed by Indigenous customs, aesthetics, performance and land use systems. BUSH gallery is a trans-conceptual galleryspace. Trans-conceptual repositions ideas born within Indigenous and western epistemological conditions. The trans-conceptual space requires your body to be in a constant state of flux. Never settling like the flow of water in a river. One of the goals of BUSH gallery is to articulate Indigenous creative land practices, which are born out of a lived connection to the land.

* When we use ‘uninvited guest’ it means we acknowledge that due to dispossession of Indigenous lands and territories across Canada we operate outside of protocols that would make the local territory we are visiting within the authority of the traditional Indigenous land rights holder.

Participants for Summer Institute II include:
Lacie Burning, Kevin Lee Burton, Jane Harms, Liz Ikiriko, Audie Murray, Joseph Naytowhow, Dana Qaddah, Christian Vistan, Daina Warren, Bo Yeung. Bio’s available here.

Plug In ICA extends our gratitude to our artists, generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers. With special thanks to our Director’s Circle. You make a difference!
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. Plug ICA gratefully acknowledges the RBC Foundation and the Johnston Group for their support of our 2018/2019 Summer Institute Program.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all. Enable us to continue presenting excellent programs! Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/supportor by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org
For media inquiries please contact: Sarah Nesbitt: sarah@plugin.org or (204)942-1043.

Talk with Artist, Writer, and Curator Aria Dean
2018-07-02 18:00 - 19:00 | Manitoba
Writer, artist and current Assistant Curator of Rhizome’s net art program, Aria Dean will be giving an artist talk at Plug In ICA as part of our Video Speaker Series for Thumbs That Type and Swipe: The DIS Edutainment Network (Session I of Plug In ICA’s 2018 Summer Institute).* Everyone welcome!
For a full list of the DIS: Session I, Visiting and Video Speakers: https://plugin.org/exhibitions/summer-institute-dis-edutainment-network/
* For Session I of our 2018 Summer Institute Program we are extremely pleased to have DIS collective member, Marco Roso as our lead faculty (June 25-July 7, 2018). Framed by our summer exhibition of the same name, DIS’s seminar Thumbs That Type and Swipe: The DIS Edutainment Network circles around a series of exhibitions organized by DIS and framed by dis.art, a new streaming edutainment platform. Through direct engagement with the artists of dis.art, the session will contemplate a series of linked concerns, including: the nature of belonging in a rootless-seeming, networked world; the changing relationship to the ways one owns, lends or gives time through occupations, bodies, or other forms of value-creation. Some of the topics DIS will cover: Money: what is it?; information consumption; the future of citizenship; reparations; love and humor.
