Re-Hatching the AMS Permanent Art Collection
'Re-Hatching the AMS Permanent Art Collection' was a semester-long research project that was undertaken by the students of the UBC course, ARTH443 Seminar in Canadian Art: Art and Activism. This multidisciplinary and collaborative project was co-authored and created by Dr. Erin Silver (the instructor of the seminar), Reiko Inouye (Hatch Director 2020-21) and James Albers (Hatch Assistant Director 2020-21).
Questions, Aims and Goals of the Research Project:
"What stories do we inherit from art collections, and how might we activate art's histories in relation to art collections, otherwise? For this semester-long project, students will be asked to interrogate the bounds of the art collection--the histories its evidence and ephemera attempts to tell us, and what has been pruned from the "official" history. What kind of knowledge does a collection truly hold? And, more importantly, what knowledge(s), histories, stories, voices, bodies, do collections withhold? What might it mean/look like to think of activism within our institutions?"
Explore these links below to view the projects that were created within this course!
PROJECTS:
Tatiana Povoroznyuk
https://amsartsale.wordpress.com/ <- CLICK THIS LINK TO ACCESS THE PROJECT
Description of the Project:
"This is a website that attempts to record and remember how the AMS sold art, starting in 2010 and continuing through to present day. It works as an annotated research guide; presenting the scholarly context of what it means to sell art, an annotated archival record, and links to every document in full. It is a product of hardcore sleuthing and was made for like-minded AMS subjects past and present."
Asumi Oba & Yoobin Shin
- Canva presentation slides: Link (view only) <- CLICK THE LINK BUTTON TO VIEW THE PROJECT
- Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMS_Art_Collection <- CLICK TO VIEW THE WIKI ARTICLE
Description of the Project:
"We examined the omission of photograph works in the history of the AMS Art Collection. Two photograph pieces joined the collection in 2007, which partially met the criteria set by the AMS Art Gallery Committee. In response to the lack of documentation and inaccessibility to the archival resources, we published a Wikipedia article so that the history of this collection becomes more accessible to the public and can be written democratically. (Research credit: Yoobin Shin and Asumi Oba)."
Melanie Crist & Olivia Bird
PDF Download of the Script for "THE MEETING". -> DOWNLOAD ME.
Description of the Project (PREFACE):
"Embarking on this assignment, we intended to bring the Alma Mater Society (AMS) archives to life. We wanted to create a scripted scene that we could immerse ourselves into; an imagined world where we could piece together real life events and real people as a way to re-engage a history of the collection in our present.
In these strange COVID-19 times, we had the opportunity to access the online AMS archives and dive into these documents remotely. We discovered a multitude of correspondence relating to a tumultuous history of the collection: vandalism, theft, in-fighting. However, the documents that really piqued our interest, academically and creatively, were those that pertained to the conversion of the former SUB Art Gallery into a lounge. We were primarily concerned with the nature of that decision making process as decisions were seemingly made by the Student Council without the support of the Art Committee, and there appears to be no trace of a vote or referendum.
We decided to piece together an imagined scenario surrounding this decision. We pulled quotes and information directly from archival correspondences and transplanted them into a fictional meeting between Student Council representatives, Art Committee representatives, and a Ubyssey reporter.
This play is written as a means to highlight the implications of decisions made in private on behalf of the public. Throughout our research, we question who makes decisions in owning and operating a collection for a public, and how these decision-histories are traced.
We want to acknowledge that we are observers and learners in this scenario, and that our actions and assumptions in writing this play may further contribute and/or perpetuate myths surrounding the history of the collection."
Live Performance of "THE MEETING" over Zoom. April 19th, 2021.
Violetta Lapinski
Keri Mcleod & Yamsine Semeniuk
PDF DOWNLOAD of their joint essay: -> CLICK ME TO DOWNLOAD
Description of the Project:
"This project is an attempt to navigate the histories of the AMS Permanent Collection. In bringing the the past into conversation with the present we can see there is no singular narrative to the collection, rather intersecting stories, bizarre anecdotes and pointed opinions so disparate that it seems impossible to distill it all into a single (hi)story of the collection."