Anne Ramsden @ Artexte

Summer 2016

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

Artists, curators and writers all at some point reflect back on the body of work they have realized over an extended period of time. Modern art institutions formalized the contemplation of past artistic achievements through the form of the retrospective exhibition, an exhibitional mechanism that, within the context of rapidly evolving institutional practices, has recently been partially displaced by the survey exhibition. Researching an array of documents in different media for her project entitled Objects in mirror are closer than they appear, Anne Ramsden considers the function and utility of retrospective and survey exhibitions from an artist’s perspective, exploring what it means to think about past artistic production.

Co-founder of Artexte and co-director from 1980 to 1987, Anne Ramsden is a Montreal-based multidisciplinary artist. Grounded in conceptual art, feminist and critical theories, her work explores connections between manifestations of the everyday, the museum and the collection. She has exhibited her work in North America, Europe, Scandanavia and Asia. She was an Editorial Assistant for Parachute magazine from 1980 to 1982 and taught at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts in Vancouver from 1987 to 1998. She currently teaches at the Université du Québec à Montréal.