New Remai Modern exhibition explores the Great Plains
For immediate release — June 1, 2022
SASKATOON, CANADA — On June 4, Remai Modern opens a new exhibition centred on the Great Plains region, showcasing how artists help bring this place into focus. In the Middle of Everywhere: Artists on the Great Plains features work in a variety of media by 25 artists from the region.
The exhibition is part of an ongoing inquiry by Remai Modern’s curatorial department that seeks to trace the physical, social and psychological contours of the Great Plains. It is tied the museum’s new strategic plan and the goal to become an institution rooted in place.
“The plains are physically and conceptually expansive in a ways that are not easily defined,” said Michelle Jacques, Remai Modern’s Head of Exhibitions & Collections/Chief Curator, who curated the exhibition alongside the museum’s entire curatorial team. “Having a multiplicity of voices, not only from an artistic but a curatorial perspective, was important to help reflect the complexity of the region and the many different experiences of this place.”
Located in the geographic middle of North America, the Great Plains encompass a vast territory framed by forests to the north, mountains to the west, and great rivers to the east and south. Remai Modern is situated on the grasslands of the northern Great Plains region.
The largest ecosystem on the continent, the plains support an extensive network of living relations. Deep forms of kinship, inherited histories and economic and political systems bind people to this geography.
The artists featured in the exhibition reach across time and location, working in a wide variety of media, and with distinct voices. Their work connects around themes that recur across the exhibition: the geography of the Great Plains; histories of movement and migration; living with the land; the prevalence of the grid in Plains culture; and the Nēhiyaw concept of Wahkohtowin (kinship). Following topographical features rather than political boundaries, this exhibition reorients the museum to the Great Plains and asks: What makes this place itself?
In the Middle of Everywhere: Artists on the Great Plains is presented by IG Wealth Management. The exhibition runs until February 2022 in Remai Modern’s Marquee Gallery.
On June 3 and 4, Remai Modern will host a program to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.
Friday, June 3, 6-9 PM
Exhibition preview. Public admission is by donation. Members get in free.
Saturday, June 4
11 AM: Artists in the gallery. Join exhibiting artists Marie Lannoo, Mindy Yan Miller and Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson in the Marquee Gallery for rotating artist talks. Drop-in, no registration required.
2 PM: Artist’s talk. Join international multimedia artist Edgar Heap of Birds for a talk in the SaskTel Theatre about his art practice. Space is limited. Please arrive early to guarantee your seat.
3 PM: Artist panel. Artists featured in In the Middle of Everywhere share conversation and insights into their art practices and their connections to place in the SaskTel Theatre. Space is limited. Please arrive early to guarantee your seat.
7 PM: Performances by Tristen Durocher, Michel Boutin, and Matthew Cardinal and Stephanie Kuse. Tickets are free for members and $12 for non-members. Reserve your ticket at remaimodern.org.
Artists featured in In the Middle of Everywhere:
- Lori Blondeau
- Deanna Bowen
- Victor Cicansky
- Dana Claxton
- Reta Cowley
- Ted Douglas
- Aganetha Dyck
- Marcy Friesen
- Raven Halfmoon
- Cannupa Hanska Luger
- Kaija Sanelma Harris
- Edgar Heap of Birds
- Luther Konadu
- William Kurelek
- Marie Lannoo
- Agnes Martin
- Gordon Parks
- Leon Polk Smith
- Otto Rogers
- Peter Rupchan
- Marigold Santos
- Allen Sapp
- Wendy Red Star
- Grace M. Waters
- Mindy Yan Miller
- Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson
About Remai Modern
Remai Modern is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Traditional Homeland of the Métis. We pay our respects to First Nations and Métis ancestors and reaffirm our relationship with one another.
Remai Modern is a new museum of modern and contemporary art in Saskatoon. The museum presents and collects local and international modern and contemporary art that connects, inspires and challenges diverse audiences through equitable and accessible programs.
Open since October 2017, Remai Modern is the largest contemporary art museum in western Canada and houses a collection of more than 8,000 works, including the world’s foremost collection of Picasso linocut prints.
Remai Modern would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Frank & Ellen Remai Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture through the Sask Lotteries Fund, SK Arts and the City of Saskatoon.
For additional information contact:
Stephanie McKay, Communications Manager
306.975.2242
smckay@remaimodern.org
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