Art Matters Archive Show: VAV Finissage
Art Matters is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
As North America’s largest student-run Fine Arts festival, Art Matters spotlights emerging artists and curators studying at Concordia every year. In honour of its 25th year of uplifting the local, student-based arts community, this year’s festival—which is ongoing until March 28th—is centered around examining collective pasts and futures through their theme of Adapted Visions.
Photographed by Dalia Alloca (@wearearte.ca on Instagram).
Meticulously organized and led by the dazzling Art Matters team composed of Renée Edmona Matthews, Isabela Markus, and Inka Kennepohl, this year’s iteration features ten shows highlighting creative student excellence. All of these exhibitions are facilitated by Concordia’s Fine Arts students, gaining experience in working within established gallery spaces with a myriad of fellow student-artists. Not only does this year’s festival celebrate the growing potential of our fellow students’ skill and dedication towards upholding the arts community, but it also underscores the festival’s evolution since its conception in 2000. Thus, to commemorate its history, the festival kicked off with an archival show hosted at Concordia’s VAV Gallery at the end of January curated by Elena Martin, Art Matter’s archivist, to pay homage to the festival’s legacy. To highlight Elena’s dedication to the festival’s history and its future, I conducted an interview with them to provide insight into the process of archival research, as well as the festival’s rich and significant development of creation, community, and collaboration.
What were your impressions going through all of these resources?
I was very excited to sift through the Art Matters archive, which is dispersed across online storage, CDs, VHS tapes, filing cabinets and boxes. It was amazing to see how many people have contributed to the festival over time, with numbers reaching into the thousands. I've become very familiar with how the festival has progressed over time, becoming more polished and professional as time goes on. This year, for the 25th anniversary, we tried to call back the grungier, DIY, messy roots of the festival that celebrate the Fine Arts student body and how they operate within the institution of the university. It's been really insightful to see how different student groups have collaborated in the past and how different organizers have brought their unique expertise, aesthetics, and values into Art Matters. I've become inspired by some of the wackier festival events of the past, such as a wedding event that seemed to be somewhat conceptualized out of the desire to kiss strangers. I've also found it really interesting to learn more about how students have mobilized over time and how artists that took part in the festival have used their work to push back against Concordia's efforts to silence political movements that the students care about. By flipping through many newspaper clippings and internal correspondences, I saw a lot of student efforts that are reminiscent of the current landscape at Concordia. This really revitalized my interest in the importance of student groups and the power of working together to achieve our goals.
Photographed by Dalia Alloca (@wearearte.ca on Instagram).
How long did the process take?
Phew. Countless hours. The festival hasn't had an archivist for several years so the organizational system has landed in a bit of disarray. When I first signed on to Art Matters a lot of my work was just locating and organizing files. I digitized a lot of material as well and have been attempting to create a system for the future where everything can be easily found in one place. I didn't initially plan to look through every physical artifact from the festival but I ended up doing just that. There are comprehensive binders of most years that include anything and everything festival related. I've looked through so many photo albums that there are certain people from festivals past that I've come to know and recognize. With the archival show, I really wanted to offer some of the same experience to the public. This is why I chose to include binders with many of the documents I found really interesting or striking for visitors to flip through at their own leisure, as well as a vitrine filled with printed photos and memorabilia that people could sift through and take home with them. I wanted to offer this experience of discovery and let people find what speaks to them from our archive.
What were your intentions when producing this exhibition and showcasing the festival's history?
I wanted to do the archives justice and I wanted to show as much material as possible. A lot of these items remain in storage, so it was important to me to let them be seen and handled by the public for the 25th anniversary. I wanted to celebrate people who have been involved in the past, including our founders, and pay homage to them. The festival isn't only the current team on board, but all those who have come before us. It was really important to me that I didn't censor the festival's more controversial moments but embraced that these things are part of what Art Matters is. I wanted to share this feeling of excitement I had while learning about the festival's history and let people explore which aspects intrigued them.
Photographed by Dalia Alloca (@wearearte.ca on Instagram).
How are you hoping the show will be received in conjunction with the upcoming festival?
I really wanted this show to remind everyone of how we got to where we are today. Alongside our achievements, I wanted to showcase some of the work that goes on behind the scenes of the festival. With the upcoming festival approaching, I hope the show garnered some excitement for what's to come. The team this year is really amazing, and seeing what they have planned has been really great. They're working super hard and it's evident everyone contributing to this year's edition is really passionate about creating a special experience for all involved and those who will attend. I hope the archival show solidified that this festival is completely run by students, which is a pretty impressive feat, and reminded people that the festival is really what we choose to make it. It's ever evolving, adapting, and shifting to meet our current needs and desires.
Inspired by Art Matters’ past and want to see what the team is up to now? You can! The festival is going on during the whole month of March, with its next show, Written/Unwritten, facilitated by Madeline Savoie, taking place at Ada X from March 11-21 with a vernissage on March 14 from 6-9 p.m. Take this opportunity to talk to the artists and facilitators, see their work, and continue to foster Concordia’s expanding artist community! For more information on all upcoming shows, as well as their extensive archival material, check out their website: https://artmattersfestival.org/.
The celebration of Art Matter’s 25th Anniversary did not end with the fantastic show at the VAV, so if you missed it, do not fret! CUJAH is collaborating with Art Matters to produce a catalogue book highlighting both its past and future, an ode to those who have come before and who will foster the continuation of the festival in coming years. More info to come, stay tuned!