C Magazine Winter 2018 - 2019

This issue, on Institutions, picks up threads from the fall 2018 issue on Trust, acting as a kind of sister publication. As the Trust issue came together earlier this year, it was clear that one of the most critical sites in which trust is at stake is in relation to institutions—in art and otherwise. In that issue’s editorial, C Magazine’s editor Jaclyn Bruneau and I wrote: “The theme’s reach grew, with trust (and breaches of trust) revealing itself as a fundamental principle through and against which we are all working today, where public trust has been eroded, and where interpersonal trust must endlessly be redefined.” Many—or most, or all—of us working in the arts have witnessed or experienced instances of institutional failure, have observed outdated processes and protocols upholding institutional…

The C New Critics Award, now in its 10th year, is designed to help develop and promote the work of emerging art critics. Writers are invited to submit an 800-1,000 word review of an exhibition, performance, moving image work, or site-specific intervention by Sunday, April 21, 2019. The winner will receive $500, a two-year subscription to C Magazine, and editorial support on a 2,000-2,500 word essay to be published within one year of receiving the award. All participants will receive a one-year subscription. For the purposes of the award, an emerging writer is defined as anyone who has not published more than one piece of writing in a recognized print or online publication, exclusive of student-run journals and magazines. The competition is open to anyone residing in Canada, or Canadians…

Desert Hearts Desert Hearts (1985) is a lesbian love story set in Reno, Nevada in the ’50s; it’s the first feature film from director Donna Deitch and is based on the novel Desert of the Heart (1964) by Jane Rule. I happened upon it one day while browsing through the Criterion Collection’s digitized film archive, procrastinating in anticipation of a looming deadline, needing to start a piece of writing. But the beginning—it always hurts. To ease the pain of self-sabotage, I scrolled through the romance section, as I often do, for distraction and comfort. As the story goes, a straight-laced English professor named Vivian Bell from New York City arrives in Reno to establish residence for a “quickie” divorce. She stays in a guest house on a ranch run by…

The dancers move through the entire building, weaving through the audience,embracing stairs like descending sunlight. In 1982, a study was done with two flocks of adult sheep. The first weresubjected to daily walking on a concrete surface, while the second walkedon wood chips. After two years, the scientists observed a significantdecrease in the cartilage density and alteration in the bones around theknee joints of the first flock. One of the dancer’s feet, bare and baroque, has become swollen.They continue nevertheless, offering a tenderness and softnessto the concrete floor: more than it deserves. Despite its seeming neutrality, concrete is dynamic.When you press yourself against its surface, it presses backagainst you. It will try to take from you more than you can give. As I watch them dance, I lean against a…

“Hey you! Just wanted to let you know that I think you are dangerously retarded. Hope you have a fucked up day!” Derek W wrote pithily to me from the discreet address dmw0714@gmail.com one smoky afternoon late July past. The dues paid for being the first signatory listed in an open letter penned collaboratively with my colleagues from a number of organizations, urging Arts Commons—a performing arts hub in Calgary, Alberta—to reconsider hosting Jordan Peterson for a “one-of-akind uplifting lecture, where he discusse[d] overcoming life’s biggest obstacles, how to improve oneself, and his new book: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.” People phoned me at work to call me fascist. Someone named Dwain Lowe emailed me (from his iPad) to tell me that he thought I was a…

Meaningful inclusion necessitates investment in long-term interpersonal relationships, between artists, institutions, curators, educators, publics and surrounding communities. The interrelationships of the individuals within a space define the accessibility of the place, and these relationships are a product of lasting, intentional care. In the privileged arena of the museum, a radically new order can be created through a series of commitments that transfer value from objects to people, both as audience members and content-creators. Here, we focus on the responsibility of institutions and curators to activate these relationships so that individuals who are marginalized can claim access to cultural platforms. This is the story of how we convened around these ideas and came to clarify how inclusion can be meaningful. We have been collaborating on a project that reimagines accessibility and…