French philosopher Jacques Derrida called it "archive fever," the desire we have to create collective memory. The Art of the Archive looks specifically at how this desire plays out through the photographic and video images we choose to keep and share.  

The Art of the Archive is one of the inaugural exhibitions heralding the arrival of the Ryerson Image Centre (RIC), Toronto's newest public gallery. All the emerging artists involved are students or recent alumni associated with Ryerson's School of Image Arts. The exhibition includes works by Alyssa Bistonath, Kyle Brohman, Julia Callon, Jenna Edwards, Tara Ernst, Daniel Froidevaux, Elisa Gilmour, Ben Lenzner, Marc Losier, Eugen Sakhnenko, Kate Tarini, and Andrew Williamson.

"In aestheticizing the archive these young artists take their place within an artistic enterprise long in the making," says Dr. Gaëlle Morel, the RIC's first Exhibitions Curator. "The appropriation and study of images from the past play an important role in photography's recognition as an art form."

Family history, the evocation of childhood, political history and the architecture of the spaces that house archives are just some of the themes explored in The Art of the Archive. 

"Archives were once relegated to a subordinate position in the history of art," says Morel. "But now the archive enjoys a prominent place in contemporary artistic practice."

"The Ryerson Image Centre will showcase student work alongside the œuvre of the world's top professional artists, curated by national and international experts in the field," says Doina Popescu, Director of the Ryerson Image Centre. "We are proud to make work by advanced Ryerson University students in photography, film, new media and installation art available to the many diverse communities on campus as well as to the public."

The work featured in The Art of the Archive includes installation-based projects, film and large-format photographs. The exhibition is built on the popular theme of capturing memory and history through photographs and video, using personal experience as a point of departure. In an era when the fascination with documentation through photography and video has never been greater, The Art of the Archive is a timely, insightful look at how we archive our lives. 


The Art of the Archive 
September 29–December 16, 2012
Ryerson University students and alumni investigate time, memory and history through photographic and video images. Works by Alyssa Bistonath, Kyle Brohman, Julia Callon, Jenna Edwards, Tara Ernst, Daniel Froidevaux, Elisa Gilmour, Ben Lenzner, Marc Losier, Eugen Sakhnenko, Kate Tarini, and Andrew Williamson. Part of the grand opening of the Ryerson Image Centre.


The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC), Toronto's newest cultural destination, is an international centre of excellence for the exhibition, research, study and teaching of photography and related disciplines, including new media, installation art and film. The new museum-standard facility consists of approximately 4,500 square feet of exhibition space; a Great Hall for lectures, conferences, screenings and receptions; a glassed-in entrance colonnade with the Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall, a 16-foot new media wall visible from the street; a temperature and humidity controlled vault for our growing collection; and a state of the art, professionally staffed research centre. International in scope, the Ryerson Image Centre features three interrelated areas of activity: an exciting program of public exhibitions where innovative work by professional Canadian and international artists addresses social, cultural, historical and aesthetic issues; a world-class research centre that conducts research into the history of photography and documentary media, and offers an array of workshops, conferences and publication programs; and the collection, which is home to the famous Black Star Collection of black and white photojournalistic prints, as well as important fine art photographic holdings and artist archives. The public can find more details, and subscribe to the Ryerson Image Centre email newsletter, at www.ryerson.ca/ric.