THE TRIANGLE ARTS NETWORK – Contemporary Art and Transnational Production
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THE TRIANGLE ARTS NETWORK – Contemporary Art and Transnational Production by Miriam Aronowicz A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto © Copyright by Miriam Aronowicz 2016 The Triangle Arts Network: Contemporary Art and Transnational Production Miriam Aronowicz Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This dissertation presents a historical overview and contemporary analysis of the Triangle Arts Network, an international network of artists and arts organizations that promotes the exchange of ideas and innovation within the contemporary arts. It was established in 1982 through a workshop held in Pine Plains, New York and quickly grew into an international network of artist led workshops around the world. More than twenty years later the network continues to grow and includes a roster of ongoing workshops as well as artist led organizations and centres. This dissertation situates Triangle as a major global phenomenon, yet one that operates outside the mainstream artscapes. My research follows the network’s historical links from Saskatchewan, Canada, to New York and onto South Africa. This web-like evolution demonstrates the complexity of global art networks and the fluidity of boundaries needed for contemporary art discourse. This research explores how the movement of ideas, artists and infrastructures complicate our understanding of clearly defined boundaries within contemporary ii art and globalization. Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a metaphor for the Triangle Network, I attempt to unpack the complexities of an art system without objects, a process without product and the entangled relationships between artists, workshops and grassroots models of production. iii Acknowledgements It is with deep gratitude that I completed this thesis under the supervision of Professor Elizabeth Harney. Dr. Harney – Thank you for all your close readings, for sharing your time and your expertise throughout this project. I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to read and comment on my work, most notably my committee members, Professor Mark Cheetham and Professor Barbara Fischer, and my examiners Professor Carl Knappett and Professor Anthony Gardner. Thank you to Jill Trappler and everyone at Greatmore Studios in Cape Town, Sarah Walko at Triangle New York, Terry Fenton in Saskatoon and all those who helped me throughout my travels. The kindness of all the artists, critics, curators, administrators and historians whom I met along the way made this project possible. Finally, a special thank you to my own “network,” my family. Mom and Dad, you’ve instilled in me a deep value for education and intellectual curiosity that I hope to pass on to my own children. Larry and Sandy, your encouragement and excitement for this project meant the world to me. My little Orly, Ezra and Leo – you were born into this project and the reason I stepped away from it at times. Yet, it was your endless smiles, laughter and beautiful chaos that gave me the balance and perspective I needed to complete this work. Brent Martin, when we met I was beginning my graduate studies, and you made this project your priority as much as mine. I dedicate this project to you, for making it possible in more ways that you will even know. iv Table of Contents List of Figures – p. 6 List of Appendices – p. 8 Introduction – p. 9 Chapter 1 - The First Triangle Workshop: Modernity in Crisis – p. 24 Chapter 2 – Emma Lake - Triangle’s Humble Beginnings – p. 69 Chapter 3 – The Thupelo Workshops: A Case Study – p. 109 Chapter 4 - The Triangle Network: A Means to an End or an End in Itself? - p. 177 Conclusion – p. 212 Bibliography – p. 215 Appendices – p. 235 v List of Figures All figures omitted for copyright reasons Figure 1. Cover page of Emma Lake Summer School Brochure, with naturalistic landscape painting on the front, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, 1936. Figure 2. Artist Unknown, Map of Emma Lake, University of Saskatchewan Summer Art School Yearbook, drawing, 1936. Figure 3. Edyth Clarke, Eva Mildred Hart, Olga Pitchko, Selections of sketches from the early Emma Lake Yearbooks, charcoal on paper, 1936-1940 Figure 4. Eli Bornstein, Saskatoon, 1954. Figure 5. The Regina Five posing in front of a classic Lincoln Continental behind the former Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, 1964 (source: http://www.mackenzieartgallery.ca/engage/exhibitions/the-regina-five-50-years- later) Figure 6. Graham Peacock, Mediterranean Blue Oval, 1985 Figure 7. Anthony Caro, Emma Dipper, Painted Steel, 1977 Figure 8. Graham Peacock, Sentry Red, 1987 Figure 9. Flyer for Great Walk and More Festival featuring the Open Day at Greatmore Studios in 2010 (Left-Front / Right-Back) Figure 10. Woodstock Starlights at annual Kaapse Klopse parade (Source: http://blog.sa- venues.com/provinces/western-cape/great-walk-more-exhibition/) Figure 11. Veryan Edwards, Community Gratitude, Rough Sketches and Final Installation for house #54, Paint, Woodstock, Cape Town, 2010. Figure 12. Chris Ofili: The Holy Virgin Mary, 1996, paper collage, oil paint, glitter, polyester resin, map pins and elephant dung on linen. Figure 13. Yinka Shonibare, Girl Ballerina, Mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, 2007. Figure 14. Maya Radanovic, Zipper installation, 2010 Figure 15. Igshaan Adams, Through Brian’s Eyes, Weaving, 2010 vi Figure 16. Jenny Parsons, Skyline, Painted mural, 2010 Figure 17. Patrick Tagoe-Turkson, Too Late, Mixed Media installation, 2010 Figure 18. Jill Trappler and Anne Sasson, Take a Photo, Photographs and mixed media, 2010 Figure 19. Pamphlet for Networked Dialogue & Exchange in the Global Art Ecology, November 26 & 26, 2011 vii List of Appendices Appendix 1 - Current active network partners (2016) Appendix 2 – List of artists and critics invited to lead the Emma Lake Workshops viii Introduction This dissertation began with an interest in the contemporary arts of South Africa. It was John Peffer’s book Art at the End of Apartheid (2009) that first introduced me to the Triangle Arts Network through its in depth discussion of the workshops known as Thupelo.1 The Thupelo Workshops became not only an intriguing entry point into South African art production but a gateway for my research into the much larger Triangle Arts Network. As an isolated case study Thupelo uncovered the complex social and political environment that artists, particularly black artists, faced under apartheid. Peffer’s book focused largely on the South African workshops that occurred at the end of apartheid. In a brief footnote he mentioned that the workshops were ongoing, an area of study he had not pursued. His writing also alluded to a much larger international web of artists, policy and ideologies that were intertwined into what presented itself as a local event but undoubtedly had greater international connections. It was these larger openings that lead me into this project. From this locally focused South African perspective, my dissertation evolved into a comprehensive introduction to the Triangle Arts Network, which I address in the chapters that follow. Today, the Triangle Arts Network is an international network of artists and arts organizations that promote the exchange of ideas and innovation within the contemporary arts. It was established in 1982 with an initial workshop held in Pine Plains, New York and from there grew into the international network it is today. The network continues to grow and includes a roster of ongoing workshops as well as artist led organizations and centres. In the first chapter I address the humble beginnings of the first Triangle workshop as a 1 John Peffer, Art at the End of Apartheid (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009). 1 moment born from a crisis in the New York Modern art scene.2 Chapter two traces the conceptual beginnings of this workshop movement at the 1960’s Emma Lake workshops in Saskatchewan. This chapter not only draws upon a Canadian connection but also highlights larger issues of provincialism and the global relationships between the centre and periphery. In chapter three I return to the starting point of my research, presenting a detailed case study of the ongoing Thupelo Workshops in South Africa. As one of the longest running workshops in the Triangle Network, Thupelo enables me to explore the complexity of the network’s transnational production from a grassroots perspective. I use this case study to argue that contemporary art history benefits from the inclusion of more counter-spaces for global art production. In looking at global spaces outside of major art spectacles and centres, one can create alternative reference points to diversify the narrative of contemporary art. In my final chapter, I turn to Actor- Network Theory (ANT) as an approach that is not traditionally used in art history but helps one understand the linkages between seemingly disparate yet intricately connected sites. 2 The “Modernism” practiced at the early New York workshops were closely aligned with Clement Greenberg’s ideas about high Modernism. This narrow version of modernism was based upon a linear narrative emergent out of older European traditions and belief in the primacy of formal purity. This was central to the core group of initial participants. Ideas surrounding Greenbergian Modernism were furthered in subsequent critical writing by Michael Fried (who attended the early New York workshops as visiting critic), and aligned to many of the early critics and artists throughout Triangle’s early history (i.e. Tony Fenton, Karen Wilkin, Willard Boepple). Today, the Triangle Network represents a multitude of Modernisms that coexists around the world, and the global workshops are often spaces where these alternate versions of Modernism interact with one another. The diversity of modernisms at the contemporary workshops are a strong foil to the rigid, exclusionary and debunked narrative of a singular “Greenbergian Modernism” initially practiced at the early New York site.