Art Metropole

Art Metropole is a Canadian artist-run centre and publisher established in 1974 by the artist collective General Idea (artists), functioning as a distribution hub for artists' publications, multiples, and media projects. Founded in Toronto during a period that included the rise of Conceptual art, the institution engaged with networks spanning Vancouver Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, Museum of Modern Art (New York), and galleries across Montreal, London (United Kingdom), and New York City. Over decades it collaborated with figures and organizations such as Michael Snow, Yoko Ono, Vito Acconci, AA Bronson, Lucy Lippard, and institutions like Artforum, Frieze (magazine), and Guggenheim Museum.

History

Art Metropole was founded in 1974 by the collective General Idea (artists)—members AA Bronson, Jorge Zontal, and Felix Partz—to distribute artists' books, editions, and multiples beyond the commercial gallery system. Its early years intersected with movements and venues including Conceptual art, Fluxus, and spaces like Western Front (artist-run centre), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Canada Council for the Arts, and the artist-run centre network that featured Plug In ICA and YYZ Gallery. The organization produced catalogues, hosted exhibitions linked to figures such as Joseph Beuys, Robert Rauschenberg, On Kawara, and maintained exchanges with periodicals including Art in America, October (journal), and Parachute (magazine). During the 1980s and 1990s Art Metropole developed distribution relationships with international distributors like Printed Matter, Inc. and engaged in projects with contemporaries such as Terry Atkinson, Michael Snow, Peter Campus, Barbara Kruger, and Lawrence Weiner.

Collections and Publications

Art Metropole amassed a collection of artists' books, catalogues raisonnés, multiples, prints, and videotapes, reflecting practices linked to Sol LeWitt, Marcel Duchamp, Ed Ruscha, John Cage, Nam June Paik, Hannah Wilke, Cindy Sherman, Bruce Nauman, Rauschenberg, Vija Celmins, On Kawara, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Richard Prince, Robert Smithson, Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Frank, Adrian Piper, Louise Bourgeois, Yves Klein, Daniel Buren, Gilbert & George, Marina Abramović, Chris Burden, Hans Haacke, Wolf Vostell, Stanley Brouwn, Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Joseph Kosuth, Dan Graham, Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Bridget Riley, Brion Gysin, and Ed Atkins. It published works by artists and writers including Lucy Lippard, Benjamin Buchloh, Hal Foster, Robert Storr, Rosalind Krauss, Whitney Chadwick, Griselda Pollock, Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Marshall McLuhan, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari. The publishing program included monographs, exhibition catalogues, and artist multiples that connected to institutions such as Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Haus der Kunst, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, British Council, and Smithsonian Institution.

Exhibitions and Programming

The organization curated exhibitions and projects featuring artists associated with Fluxus, Conceptual art, Performance art, and Video art, staging presentations with artists like Vito Acconci, Marina Abramović, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, John Baldessari, Bruce Nauman, Vito Acconci, Paul Thek, Janine Antoni, Pipilotti Rist, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Hiraki Sawa, Lisa Steele, Martha Rosler, Sherrie Levine, Kara Walker, Richard Hawkins, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Barbara Kruger, Terry Fox, Michael Snow, Franklin Furnace, Documenta, Whitney Biennial, and gallery networks like Carnegie International. Public programming included screenings of works by Nam June Paik, Tony Conrad, Peter Campus, Steina Vasulka, Paik, and partnerships involving National Film Board of Canada and festivals such as Sundance Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

Education and Outreach

Educational initiatives connected Art Metropole to academic and community partners including Ontario College of Art and Design University, University of Toronto, York University, Concordia University, McGill University, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and public programs with libraries like Toronto Reference Library and archives including Canadian Centre for Architecture. Workshops, lectures, and panels featured critics and theorists like Hal Foster, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Rosalind Krauss, Griselda Pollock, Donald Brook, and curators from Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Museum. Residencies and collaborative projects involved local collectives and artist-run spaces such as A Space Gallery, Gallery TPW, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, and exchanges with international centers including Kunsthalle Bern and ICA London.

Governance and Funding

Governance structures were informed by artist-run centre models and involved boards, advisory committees, and funders like Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, and philanthropic entities including The Canada Foundation for Innovation and private donors linked to institutions such as The J. Paul Getty Trust and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Partnerships with museums and universities—National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Tate Modern, and Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto—supported programming and acquisitions. Financial challenges and policy shifts mirrored debates in arts funding in Canada and internationally, engaging stakeholders from municipal agencies like City of Toronto to national cultural policymakers and arts advocacy groups.

Category:Art galleries in Toronto Category:Artist-run centres