Mediated Memory: Canadian Focus Exhibition at the Sixth Beijing International Art Biennial 2015

Curated by Matthew Brower and Zhou Yan

National Art Museum of China, Beijing
September 24-October 15, 2015

Sara Angelucci, Douglas Coupland, Wally Dion, Pierre Dorion, Angela Grossman, Yam Lau, Gord Peteran, Ed Pien, Max Streicher, and Carol Wainio.

2015 marks the 45th anniversary of the normalizing of diplomatic relations between Canada and China. To mark this anniversary, Yan Zhou and Matthew Brower were invited by the Sixth Beijing International Art Biennale to curate an exhibition of contemporary Canadian art. The project brings together a group of ten Canadian artists whose work takes up the material mediation of memory, to engage with the theme of the Biennale “Memory and Dream”.

These artists’ practice examines the role of memories and dreams in contemporary society. Using range of approaches, the artists foreground the role of mediation in the experience of remembrance as a cultural phenomenon. The selected artists explore facets of their personal and social experiences and identities in artworks that foreground the material and cultural processes which shape how those memories and dreams are available to them and how they can be shared with others. In this exploration, the artists reveal what Marshall McLuhan suggested in his prescient analysis of the role of technology in shaping culture: “The Medium is the Message.”

The 6th Beijing International Art Biennale is a major contemporary art festival hosting approximately 600 exhibition from around the world. The Canadian Focus Exhibition is one of 6 special focus exhibitions hosted by the Biennale this year. The other special exhibitions present works from Southeast Asia, Armenia, Ecuador, South Africa, and Chile.

Catalogue Essay

In advance of the opening of the exhibition, Ambassador Guy Saint-Jacques will host "Canada in Conversation" event at the Canada Embassy in Beijing. Curators Yan Zhou and Matthew Brower, and artist Ed Pien will have a discussion with moderator Dr. Wang Chunchen, the Head of the Department of Curatorial Research of CAFA Art Museum at the Central Academy of Fine Arts China, and Adjunct Curator of The Broad Art Museum of Michigan State University.