Updates, Changes, and Cancellations
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art | 1, 460 Portage Ave | Winnipeg MB | Canada | R3C 0E8
This is a very challenging and unprecedented time, and here at Plug In ICA, as we work from home and monitor the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, our focus and thoughts are on the many artists and arts organizations that have been impacted by all this. As per our mandate, Plug In is committed to being a public forum for contemporary art and education. As we all social-distance, Plug In will continue to make contemporary art accessible by supporting and highlighting the work of the many artists and cultural producers we have worked with, and continue to work with, through our online and social media platforms.
Over the years, Plug In ICA has committed to making our content accessible to the public in many different ways. One way in particular has been through our online video archive that includes lectures, artist talks, panel discussions, screenings, readings and performances from our many public and educational programs such as our Respondent Series, Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth, STAGES Speaker Series, and Summer Institutes. For this week in particular, we’d like to highlight the video made by our Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth participants who this past winter engaged our exhibitions Towards Evenings by Chen Zhe, and NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism by Hyphen-Labs. This is a great time to re-visit these exhibitions and experience them through the interpretations and expressions of our youth participants.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to announce some good news in regard to changes in staff. As of April 2020, Madeleine Dafoe, our Communications Intern will join Plug In’s team more permanently as Communications Coordinator. Madeleine graduated from the Environmental Design program at the University of Manitoba in the fall of 2019 and has been heavily involved in the design community in Winnipeg for many years. Since joining Plug In back in October, Madeleine has updated our video archive, was lead in designing and managing Plug In’s most recent edition, Exhibition Notes: Days of Reading: beyond this state of affairs, coordinated and disseminated our press releases and communiques, documented our events and programs, provided technical assistance, and managed our social media platforms. We couldn’t be more pleased to continue to have Madeleine on our team.
We are also excited to announce that Luther Konadu will join Plug In’s team as Public Program Coordinator. Luther Konadu is a visual artist and writer. He also runs Public Parking: a publication for critical thoughts and tangential conversations. Since 2017, he’s worked at Plug In in various capacities in administration and has been the coordinator for our youth outreach program, Interpreting [Interrupting] Youth. We are thrilled to have Luther continue with us at Plug In more permanently.
Since our temporary closure on March 16th, 2020 due to the pandemic of COVID-19, Plug In ICA has had to make some changes in our programming. Please note that the Summer Institutes for 2020 have been cancelled and we are no longer accepting applications. Please stay tuned for changes in the schedule for our spring exhibition openings as we continue to navigate through uncertain times. Although our galleries and offices are physically closed, please remember that our online bookshop remains open for orders with shipments going out once a week.
Our staff will continue to be available via email during this time. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. In the meantime, we wish you and your family good health, and we look forward to celebrating our upcoming programming, The Modernist by Catherine Opie and The Cedar, The Birch, Our Hands At Full-Mast, Behind The After by Kandis Friesen when we reopen.
Acknowledgments
We are on Treaty 1 Territory. Plug In ICA is located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Plug In ICA extends 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 enables us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor here plugin.org/
For more information on exhibitions and public programs contact Nasrin Himada at nasrin@plugin.org.
For general information please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043.