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A founding figure of the Vancouver art scene, Iain Baxter&
(prononced “Baxterand”) remains little-known
in Europe but is a mainstay of major collections in
North America, where there is renewed interest in his
work of late. The Centre National d’Art Contemporain
de la Villa Arson, in collaboration with VOX, Centre
de l’Image Contemporaine (Montreal), is mounting
the first significant show of Baxter&’s work
in France; it includes major projects from 1964 to the
present day.
By turns Duchampian and McLuhanesque, prolific albeit
a tad scattered, a conceptual artist and pioneer of
photoconceptualism, Baxter& has for forty years
now mapped out a unpredictable, singular oeuvre, freed
from the shackles of artistic and cultural hierarchies
and resonant with contemporary social issues. He also
broke new ground when he situated his artistic practice
in a company, the N.E. Thing Co. (soon to be internationally
renowned, it was founded in 1966, officially incorporated
in 1969 and co-presided over by Baxter& with his
wife, Ingrid Baxter, from 1970 to 1978). Its mission
was to “produce sensitivity information”
via its eleven departments—among them the Research,
Projects, Consulting, COP (Copying or Plagiarism) and
Film departments, and not one but two Thing departments.
Baxter& adopted a singular tone, marked by a derisive
nominalism, in developing an out-of-the-ordinary aesthetics
that would borrow from the widest possible variety of
fields, eventually to encompass site-specific interventions,
marketing, telecommunications, investigation, publishing,
documentation, teaching, the environment, a restaurant
business, circulation, surveying and activism in every
field—as well as borrow from a fair share of artistic
languages, including photography as a practice documenting
the everyday.
This exhibition, an extension of the one originally
mounted by VOX en September 2005, brings together some
forty works along with an imposing amount of documentation,
all testifying to the spirited approach and methods
of N.E. Thing Co. and Iain Baxter&. Marie Josée
Jean, Artistic Director, VOX Contemporary Image Gallery,
and Paris-based art critic Christophe Domino prepared
the exposition with the collaboration of the artist,
who will on the occasion of the exhibition lead a workshop
with Villa Arson students.
Iain
Baxter& est représenté par la Galerie
Corkin Shopland à Toronto.
Remerciements
: Frac Bretagne, Ambassade du Canada en France, Banque
d'oeuvres d'art du Conseil des Arts du Canada et les
concessionnaires Chrysler de Nice.
Exposition
réalisée dans le cadre du Septembre de
la Photo 2006 avec le soutien de la Ville de Nice, le
Ministère des Affaires étrangères
et du Commerce International du Canada.
La
Villa Arson est financée par le Ministère
de la Culture et de la Communication (Délégation
aux arts plastiques), et reçoit le soutien du
Conseil Général des Alpes-Maritimes, de
la Région Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur et
de la Ville de Nice.
Contact
presse : Céline Chazalviel, chazalviel@villa-arson.org,
04 92 02 73 84
Le Centre National d’Art Contemporain est ouvert
tous les jours de 14h à 19h, fermeture le mardi.
Entrée libre.
20 avenue Stephen Liégeard F-06105 Nice cedex
2
T 00 33 (0) 4 92 07 73 73 F 00 33 (0) 4 93 84 41 55
cnac@villa-arson.org www.villa-arson.org
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