To celebrate the Art Gallery of Alberta’s 100th anniversary, we have created a series of exhibitions that showcase Alberta art and artists in the AGA’s Collection. Many of the works are rooted in conceptions of time: revealing the passage of time or snapshots of time; capturing subtle or dramatic changes over time; or exploring the eternal or ideas of timelessness. Themes of time—including duration, seasons, history, memory, generations, and the future—connect across these anniversary exhibitions.
AGA100: Act 3 Words to Worldmaking focuses on people, communities, history and storytelling. Many of the works employ words and language to explore forms of human communication, while others more broadly examine the ways how we interact with each other, with the land, and with things that are greater than ourselves. These works communicate over time and space.
The Collection includes over 6,000 works of art with new works acquired annually. Works in the Collection are also researched, reevaluated and recontextualized on an ongoing basis. The Collection is an ever-changing, living document that is reflective of shifting values and interests over time. The AGA’s Collection does not represent the totality of artistic production in Alberta but, because of its mutability, there is opportunity within its gaps. The Collection charts a trajectory to this point but can also direct us to where we want to be and where we will go.
Organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Catherine Crowston, Lindsey Sharman and Danielle Siemens.