As part of our ongoing Respondent Series, on Thursday, February 16th starting at 7pm, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art presented a talk by Evelyn Forget. Forget is an economist, and is the Academic Director of the Manitoba Research Data Centre, as well as a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba.

For her talk, “Markers of the Middle Class”, Forget responded to the shifting markers of social class provoked in Angie Keefer’s exhibition FIRST CLASS, SECOND THOUGHTS, INTERMINABLE SWELL on display at Plug In ICA between January 20th and March 26th, 2017. Here, Forget presented speculations about whether a perceived decline in the middle class accounts for the rise of populist movements today. She traced the evolution of the middle class and its characteristic attributes from the Netherlands in the 16th century, through the French Revolution to its peak in postwar America. As outlined by economist and historian Deirdre McCloskey, Forget identified a set of bourgeois virtues attributed to the middle class, and also the vices more often seen by outsiders – artists and bohemian critics.

Evelyn Forget is an economist and professor from the Rady School of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. Her research attempts to answer the question: “How can we best ensure that everyone has access to the tools and resources they need to live a full life?” She works in the areas of health economics and the history and philosophy of economics. Her public policy work examines the relationships between poverty, inequality, health and social outcomes, and quality of life. Most recently, she recovered and analyzed the data collected during a Guaranteed Annual Income experiment (called Mincome) that was conducted in Manitoba during the 1970s, and is currently involved in the development of a similar experiment to be conducted in Ontario this spring.

Angie Keefer, FIRST CLASS, SECOND THOUGHTS, INTERMINABLE SWELL is generously sponsored by Video Pool and William F. White International Inc., Winnipeg.

Plug In ICA extends our gratitude to our generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We thank the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for their support of our 2016 and 2017 program, as well as Investors Group and Wawanesa Insurance for the direct support of our youth programs.

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 plugin.org/support or by contacting Angela Forget:angela@plugin.org

For media inquiries please contact: Sarah Nesbitt at sarah@plugin.org or by phone at (204) 942-1043. For general information please contact: info@plugin.org. For media inquiries please contact Sarah Nesbitt: sarah@plugin.org

RELATED PROGRAMS:

Thursday, March 16 | 7:00pm: Respondent Series: Talk by Howie Chen
Friday, March 24 | 7:00pm: Respondent Series (Fred Sandback exhibition): Talk by Edward A. Vazquez

Related exhibit:
Angie Keefer, FIRST CLASS, SECOND THOUGHTS, INTERMINABLE SWELL