February 22–24, 2018, 9am
TransCultural Exchange’s international conferences are the only of their kind, bringing together hundreds of international artists, residency directors, art teachers, administrators, biennale organizers, cultural attachés, high-level critics, curators, grant-makers and those in other fields looking to work with artists.
For artists, they are an essential forum for networking with their peers around the globe:
“…TransCultural Exchange[’s] Conference on International Opportunities was the single most exciting and productive art event that I have ever experienced… it was a fully interactive conference structure that provided a limitless number of opportunities for artists to meet and exchange ideas with residency directors, museum curators, and other artists and arts professionals. As a result, I was invited to participate in two international residencies and three exhibitions.”
Conference overview
What constitutes a studio practice, an artwork, the art market and the role of art today is expanding in ways never before imagined. Relatively new, and yet to be concretely defined terms such as “artistic research,” “trans-disciplinarity” and “the creative industries” are now common quoted rhetoric. Digital technologies have become standard tools in an artist’s arsenal, fabrication and outsourcing are readily accepted and a Ph.D. in the arts is gaining ground in some countries—while the arts are completely omitted from the education system in others. Meanwhile, the traditional support mechanisms for artists—such as a gallery or patron—continue to be out of reach for most, while artist-run initiatives and artist-in-residence programs are rising in popularity, popping up around the globe in hospitals, schools and social services. What does all this mean for today’s artists and their practice?
To consider these developments and help the attending artists navigate this exciting new terrain, TransCultural Exchange’s 6th International Conference on Opportunities in the Arts: Exploring New Horizons will take place February 22–24 in Québec City, Canada – the 2016 Cultural Capital of the Year.
This is the first time that the Conference is taking place outside of the nonprofit’s home base of Boston. “With Québec City recently being awarded UNESCO’s ‘Creative City’ status,” TransCultural Exchange’s Director Mary Sherman notes, “we see the city as a perfect match for our global, art forum. We’ve, thus, arranged for Conference panels and activities to take place throughout the Old City (itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site), including art and architecture tours, a preview presentation of Robert Lepage’s future incubator of innovation Le Diamant and a closing reception at city’s impressive conclave of artists run centers, Medusé.”
With more than 100 speakers from nearly 40 countries—from as far away as Japan, Australia and Cameroon and as close as Europe, the US and South America—the ratio of attendees to speakers is nearly 3:1, making this an ideal chance to meet such presenters as the curator of the State Department’s Art in Embassy’s program Sarah Tanguy, international curator and Founding Director of the NTU CCA Singapore Ute Meta Bauer, Director of the Swiss artists-in-labs program Irène Hediger, Founding Director of Québec City’s Maison de la littérature and general manager of Le Diamant Bernard Gilbert, Founding Director of Akademie Schloss Solitude Jean-Baptiste Joly, Co-Director of research at the Society for Art and Technology (SAT) Luc Courchesne, Program Manager for Visual + Digital Arts Creative Residencies at The Banff Centre Brandy Dahrouge, Program Manager of TransArists Marie Fol, CEO of PAMAR - Pan American Art Research Inc. Jan Hanvik, Executive Director of the Alliance of Artists Communities Lisa Hoffman, Artistic Director of the Symposium international d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul Sylvie Lacerte, Secretary General of On the Move Marie Le Sourd, Founder of the Lighton International Artists Exchange Program Linda Lighton, Resident Director at the MacDowell Colony David Macy, Co-Director of Japan’s Youkobo Art Space Tatsuhiko Murata, Manager of London’s Acme Studios International Residencies Programme Lea O’Loughlin, President & CEO of the National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network Caitlin Strokosch, Founder of Montreal’s ELEKTRA and BIAN International Digital Arts Bienniale Alain Thibault, and project leader for the art/science programs at swissnex Boston Cécile Vulliemin, among many others.
About TransCultural Exchange
TransCultural Exchange is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to foster a greater understanding of world cultures through high-quality art exhibitions, cultural exchanges and, most notably, a biennale International Conference on Opportunities in the Arts. Since its grassroots inception in 1989, TransCultural Exchange has worked directly with hundreds of artists, arts organizations, foundations, galleries, museums and cultural centers in more than 60 countries to produce over 350 exhibitions. This over two-decade history of service has earned TransCultural Exchange awards from institutions such as the Northeast Chapter of the International Art Critics Association (AICA) and support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Asian Cultural Council, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Boston Foundation and swissnex Boston, among others.
About the Society for Art and Technology (SAT), the Conference’s most recent institutional affiliate:
Founded in 1996, the Society for Arts and Technology [SAT] is a non-profit organization recognized internationally for its active, leading role in developing immersive technologies, virtual reality and creative use of high-speed networks. With its double mission as a center for the arts and research, SAT was created to support a new generation of creators/researchers in the digital age.
Other sponsors include Auberge Internationale de Québec, Austrian Cultural Forum, Austrian Embassy Ottawa, DutchCulture, Centre for International Cooperation, Goethe-Institut Montreal, National Endowment for the Arts (for online accessibility), Nordic Summer University, Québec City Business Destination, Royal Jordanian airlines and swissnex Boston.
Contact: TransCultural Exchange, The Artist Building at 300 Summer Street, Unit 36, Boston, MA, 02210, USA, T 1617 670 0307, info [at] transculturalexchange.org
