AGW Showcases Downtown During Triennial Exhibit

The Director of the Art Gallery of Windsor, Dr Catharine Mastin poses with an interactive display of The 2017 Windsor-Essex Triennial of Contemporary Art, on 19 October 2017.
Photo by Ian Shalapata.

(WINDSOR, ON) – The Art Gallery of Windsor is presenting the final program of 2017 to mark Windsor’s 125th and Canada’s 150th anniversaries. The 2017 Windsor-Essex Triennial of Contemporary Art, curated by Jaclyn Meloche, is a large group-artist exhibition profiling artists working in Windsor, Detroit, and southwestern Ontario.

This initiative continues the AGW’s long history of creating important contemporary shows from the region, which dates back to the 1940s.

Downtown/s – Urban Renewals Today for Tomorrow, the theme of the 2017 Triennial, brings together examples of contemporary art made by 22 artists living and working in the region, as well as examining the works of William Stidworthy, Isabelle Hayeur, and David Milne.

“Together, these three exhibitions instigate an important conversation surrounding what it means to be urban, what it means to occupy downtown, and how we, as active citizens, engage with these spaces,” said Meloche. “There is an interaction and engagement with the actual materiality of our city.”

Wooden pallets, otherwise destined for disposal, have been repurposed as an art piece and part of the The 2017 Windsor-Essex Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Windsor.
Photo by Ian Shalapata.

Since 2008 and the major economic downturn, Windsor has seen a significant amount of change in the intervening years. Reflecting the expanding footprint of Windsor’s downtown core, artists are engaging with and presenting work in additional venues. In its entirety, this year’s Triennial is a call to action and an invitation to the public to experience anew the city of Windsor.

Triennial Highlights

Long-time Windsor landscape painter William Stidworthy offers a larger historical context for this Triennial and recalls the city’s past while commenting on the ways in which this region has grown, evolved, and become urban.

Isabelle Hayeur reveals the ways in which a downtown urban landscape is influenced and transformed by civic politics and false hope.

From the AGW collection, the work of modernist David Milne is re-examined as part of the Triennial.

Fridays Live! is the official launch for all Fall/Winter exhibitions tonight from 7:30pn until 10:30pm. The event is free for AGW members and $15 for non-members.

For more information on the opening weekend events, visit the AGW online.

The 2017 Windsor-Essex Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Windsor, was curated by Dr Jaclyn Meloche, and launched on 19 October 2017.
Photo by Ian Shalapata.