The Globe and Mail - 24.10.2019

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LIFE&ARTS ARTS&REVIEWS| OPINION| PUZZLES | WEATHER

NEWS |

I

n her midtown Toronto office, Mia
Nielsen, the new director of the Art
Toronto fair, is trying to think of an-
other term for “booth.”
“Maybe we should just start calling
them ‘dedicated exhibition spaces.’ Booth,
it’s not a great word,” she says with a
laugh, reflecting on the inevitable tension
between avant-garde culture and big-buck
commerce that is at the heart of an art
fair.
If anyone can straddle that divide, it
should be Nielsen, who takes over as di-
rector of the fair just as it celebrates its
20th year in Toronto. She was previously
curator of exhibitions and director of
events at the Drake Hotel, where she
earned a reputation for shows that were
both significant and accessible, helping a
commercial venue build its status as a cul-
tural hub.
Art Toronto, which opens Thursday
evening with a fundraiser for the Art Gal-
lery of Ontario and continues through the
weekend, is broadly curated by Nielsen

and juried by a committee that selects

which galleries will participate, but it’s al-

so a place where 20,000 visitors come not

just to see art, but to buy it.

“Through an art fair you have an imme-

diate entry point to all kinds of different

art scenes,” Nielsen said. “For a lot of peo-

ple, [commercial] galleries are still intimi-

dating, this kind of sacred space. For the

average person wanting to live with art

spending every weekend going to galleries

is a daunting experience. ... Art fairs are a

brilliant way to test the waters, figure out

as a viewer what interests you.”

So, for one quick weekend, the art fair

offers a shortcut to contemporary art col-

lecting: all the stuff in one place, browsing

expected and buying a definite possibility.

“People are more interested in visual

culture than in decades past and an art

fair is an extension of that, but it creates

the possibility of acquisition,” she said.

“You can see something and bring some-

thing home. You can connect in a way you

don’t with other kinds of cultural experi-

ences.”

Indeed, that is why participating in the

fair is a must for commercial galleries in

Canada.

Founded by Linel and Ella Rebenchuk

in Vancouver and moved to Toronto in

2000, Art Toronto attracted top Canadian

dealers from the start; six of the original

exhibitors will be there again this year, in-

cluding Christopher Cutts, Miriam Shiell,

Odon Wagner and Jane Cor-

kin – all from Toronto – and

Michael Gibson of London,

Ont.

The exhibitor list includes

a handful of international

galleries, and curator Joao

Ribas is organizing the Focus

section, this year dedicated

to Portugal. He’s set to de-

molish stereotypes of that

country as a traditional cul-

ture, including in his selec-

tion Walk & Talk, a gallery in

the Azores with a reputation

for large-scale public inter-

ventions.

Still, most of the approxi-

mately 100 commercial and

public galleries that participate come

from Canada. Nielsen notes with pride

that while many art fairs are metropolitan

events providing an overlook on a single

city’s art scene, Art Toronto is more of a

national gathering that summarizes the

whole Canadian community. This year, for

example, as well as numerous Toronto

galleries, the participating commercial

dealers include Vancouver’s Catriona Jef-

fries and Calgary’s TrépanierBaer, Slate

Fine Art from Regina, many Montreal ex-

hibitors including René Blouin and Pari-

sian Laundry, Studio 21 of Halifax and

Christina Parker from St. John’s.

Part of Nielsen’s job is to make sure this

does not merely produce a long parade of

booths filled mainly with painting, draw-

ing and photography.

For the first time, this year, visitors will

be greeted by five public installations as

they enter the Metro Toronto Convention

Centre before they have to buy an admis-

sion ticket – Nielsen wants to strengthen

the fair’s commitment to public art – and

then 10 more installations

on the show floor. These in-

clude a life-size car made of

collapsing textiles by Que-

bec artist Jannick Deslau-

riers, as well as Toronto art-

ist Laura Moore’s hand-

carved limestone sculptures

of old computer monitors.

Nielsen is keen to give

younger artists such as these

the opportunity to show

monumental work. She is al-

so trying to figure out how

the fair can include more

VR, kinetic sculpture and ce-

ramics, arguing that three-

dimensional and time-based

work is probably more rep-

resentative of the contemporary moment

than the two-dimensional.

Still, she promises: “There will always

be booths.”

Art Toronto runs Oct. 25-27 at the Metro

Toronto Convention Centre. See arttoronto.ca

for details.

ArtTorontodirectorMiaNielsenstandsalongsidetheartworkofTessarLoofthePatelGalleryonWednesday,twodaysbeforetheArtTorontofairkicksoffatthe
MetroTorontoConventionCentre.TIJANA MARTIN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

ArtToronto’snewdirectorfindsthe

balancebetweencultureandcommerce

MiaNielsenaspirestomaketheannualfair,celebratingits20thyear,ahubfor

publicinstallationsthatspotlightinnovationandup-and-comers–whilealso

continuingitsroleasaplaceforthousandsofcollectorstomakebigpurchases

KATE
TAYLOR

VISUAL ARTS

For the average

person wanting

to live with art

spending every

weekend going to

galleries is a

daunting experience.

... Art fairs are a

brilliant way to test

the waters.

MIANIELSEN

DIRECTOR, ART TORONTO