Renny Pritikin
Curator

Notes on the Role of Contemporary Art

How we can make a niche for our museums that allows them to be full participants in the life of their communities, a site for activity and generation of art which positions us as equals among labour unions, senior centres, universities, or shopping malls? How can we become ensconced in the fabric of our towns so that we are never seen as elitist, but as welcoming and engaged, as well as challenging? Five things I think about: the use of the ideas and passions of amateurs, in the literal sense of the word, to develop exhibitions with them from those stakeholders' expertise (e.g. comic books, boxing, surfing, biking); use of galleries in non-traditional ways: performance, artist's studios, audience interaction; collaboration between science, history and art museums, and other kinds of agencies; multidisciplinary festivals on themes that cross performance, film/video, and visual arts boundaries; and the inclusion of material culture alongside fine arts.