Institutional archives like the Archives of Ontario commonly act as the repository for documents, photographs and other forms of memory. What happens when artists assume that role, and turn the archive into a creative medium? Find out by visiting Archives by Artists, a new exhibition at the Archives of Ontario. Curated by the DisplayCult<https://www.displaycult.com/> collaborative Jim Drobnick and Jennifer Fisher, the exhibition brings together fascinating works from the 1960s to the present by diverse Canadian and international artists, offering a unique opportunity to experience how these artists have unboxed and reimagined archives.

The exhibition showcases items typically found in archives — such as photos, postcards, letters and clippings — alongside unconventional items, including artists’ books and multiples, card decks, vials of scents and objects with sound. Through these innovative interpretations of the archive, the exhibition foregrounds archival strategies in artistic practice, examines timely issues about memory and preservation, and questions the nature of the archive itself.

The exhibition includes work by Ioannis Anastasiou and Majka Dokudowicz, Christian Boltanski, Nick Cave and Bob Faust, Amanda Chestnut, William N. Copley, Dora García, Kiran Kumār, Kiwi Menrath, Sophie Nys, Jürgen O. Olbrich, Dieter Roth, Vicky Sabourin, Camille Turner and Yaniya Lee, Danh Vō and Laurie Young. Their creative output reveals many ways to think about what archives are and what they say about how and why we document our histories. It also invites new ways of expressing and preserving what is worth remembering.

Come check out this free exhibition in the Archives of Ontario’s Reading Room, on now until June 21, 2024. The Archives is located at the following address on York University’s Keele Campus in Toronto, just a short walk from York University subway station:

            Archives of Ontario
            134 Ian Macdonald Blvd.
            Toronto, ON
            M7A 2C5

            Hours of operation: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

More information about visiting the Archives is available on the Archives of Ontario’s webpage<https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/about/prepare.aspx>.

For those unable to visit the exhibition in person, or to learn more about it and its creators, follow @archivesbyartists<https://www.instagram.com/archivesbyartists?igsh=MmUyZWloaWVtNzEw> on Instagram.

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