​Focus Programs​
 

In December 2012, SBC launched its new initiative of long-term, research-based programming that focuses on pertinent cultural, social and political issues. The first of these programs is centered on the topic of sovereignty and takes place over an 18 month to two-year period. Approaching the subject from a wide range of cultural, academic, institutional, geo-political and judicial perspectives, SBC’s 2012-2014 program brings together artists and other interdisciplinary practitioners from around the globe to develop exhibitions, workshops, screenings, conferences, publications and events for sustained discussion around the subject.

 

For this first focus research period on sovereignty, SBC offers the platform to a number of artists and other thinkers, inviting them to put forward analyses, pose questions, articulate possibilities for creative action and to re-assess the complexities of present-day political paradigms. Among other topics, the program addresses pressing concerns about the recent wave of alternative strategies for attaining peaceful change in urban centres like Cairo, New York, Montréal, Mexico City and the ongoing struggles in the Middle East, in Latin America and elsewhere in the world. Research takes into account the widespread uncertainty about the efficacy of established strategies for governance, the reliability of the media and the changes in accountability in all political forums – ‘democratic’ and other – with the impact of the new social-media ‘witness’. 

 

While artists have always created work that reflects the conditions of the world around them, today politics and an inherently interdisciplinary approach lie at the heart of the most important international cultural production. SBC aims to provide a forum in which to explore strategies of political action that have been generated by cultural, youth, labour, immigrant, feminist and other political movements both historically – often under the banner of decolonization or emancipation – and today. In its commitment to foster and represent creative contemporary cultural practices, in 2012-2014 SBC invites local and international artists, filmmakers, art historians, activists, sociologists, architects, political analysts, human rights practitioners and theorists and law specialists, among others, to contribute to the debate. 

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Sovereignty / 2012-2014



The 2012-2014 project proposes a far-ranging inquiry into questions around the sovereign self in light of ac- cepted notions of citizenry and of orthodox state/subject power relations.

 

SBC will work closely with artists and others whose prac- tice relates to the geo-political and juridical construct of the sovereign - a paradoxical notion at best - as it is employed globally. According to the UNHCR there are over 10 million refugees and over 12 million displaced or stateless persons in the world. What impact does this necessarily have on accepted notions of sovereignty? What legal role do these non-citizens play? Can the new territorial occupation of the non-citizens of the world offer anything like the basis for a constructive way of think- ing political action and conceptualization of pertinence, or rather, ‘pertaining to’ a place or language or commu- nity? What are the rights of the non-citizen when the discourse of human rights is hinged on birthplace and nationality? What is the role of the International court in relation to the human rights of non-citizens? How does the legal panorama need to change? In what ways are governing bodies’ policies constrained by linguistic, geo- graphical and juridical limits or frames?

 

The topic of sovereignty will be addressed through clustered and overlapping research in the areas of language, territory, governance, representation, the institution and the law. The sovereign self lies at the heart of the research. The exhibitions, workshops, talks, screenings and other events organized by SBC – and in collaboration with other venues and spaces throughout the city, across Canada and internationally – will seek to foster engaged publics and to provide opportunities for sustained inten- sive discussion around subjects which are enormously pressing in the world we occupy. 



 

Pip Day 

 

 

Exhibitions Sovereignty



 

​FAULT LINES / LIGNES DE FAILLE
December 6, 2012 to February 16, 2013
Artists:  Yael Bartana, Bertolt Brecht, François Bucher, Sophie Castonguay,
Angela Melitopoulos & Maurizio Lazzarato
Curator:  Pip Day



THE IMAGE FACTORY / LA FABRIQUE DES IMAGES

February 28 to May 11, 2013
Artists: Harun Farocki, Hito Steyerl
Curator: Pip Day





DÉBARCADÈRES / LANDINGS

May 23 to July 6, 2013
Artists: Dustin Wilson, Zacharias Kunuk, Peter Pitseolak / Joanasie Salamonie
Curator: Sarah Watson



 

Upcoming

 

Mois de la photo à Montréal - TREVOR PAGLEN

September 7 to November 9, 2013

Artist: Trevor Paglen

Curator: Paul Wombell

 

 

STAGE SET STAGE

dates and artists to be announced

Curator: Barbara Clausen