unbefuckinglievable.
- sally mckay 2-10-2010 3:09 pm

The best part is when he says "tell me where these artists are", or some such thing ... and the reporter has already shown the audience TWO exhibitions in Ottawa (and it is not a big city, and one of them was at the GG's house, so I'm sure he was invited to the opening ...) featuring artists from various heritages.

Note to Marc -- "these artists" are a five minute limo drive from your office. I'll pay the fare, if it's an issue.
- RM Vaughan (guest) 2-10-2010 3:23 pm

My spidey senses told me to transcribe the Marc Mayer bits from that video. CBC video is glitchy and they have annoying ads. This bit starts about about 2:30.

Jelena Adzic: [The National Gallery] has no dedicated galleries for artists from other ethnic communities who colour outside the lines of the European Western tradition. Marc Mayer is the director of the National Gallery. He says it's not his job to showcase multi-culturalism.

Marc Mayer: Our real mandate is excellence. We do think about diversity however, ah, but ah...

JA: You just don't put it in the gallery?

MM: No. We're only interested in excellence, so we put what we find in the Canadian Art Scene that is excellent and we're blind to colour or ethnic background or even whether you were born in Canada...we don't care.

[cut to Chris Craden Kelly who is great, "If you're talking about artistic excellence the first thing you have to say is that it's culturally specific..."]

JA: Meyer has a different explanation for why there are so few people of diversity making it as artists.

MM: The reason is they can't make a living doing it, so they'd be crazy to. Certainly if they're just starting out, here in a new country...as I said, I think that's the real reason.

[back to Kelly, "to imply that every artist of colour just arrived off a boat is also kind of ignorant in a way. There are plenty of communities that have been here for hundreds of years, some of them have been here almost as long as the white settlers have been year {he doesn't mention that some have been here much longer, but point taken-sm} but those communities, and people from those communities are making art.]

cut back to MM (sporting a cunning "I gotcha smile"): Where are they?

JA: You really don't know where they are?

MM: No, we never see them! We don't see them, we're looking for excellence.

JA: But you're not looking for them.

MM: We are looking for them, that's all we're interested in is excellence, we're looking for excellent art. We don't care who makes it.

It gets crazier by the second! Marc Mayer was never terribly concerned about issues of representation, but even for him this is outrageous. In addition to being concerned only with the neutral category of excellence (!), he seems to think that Caucasian artists become artists because they'll make money (dumb Caucasians) whereas clearly the artists of colour are smart enough to know that they can't make their living as artists.

Mayer should take a lot of flack for this, but the CBC made some big goofs too. Artists of diverse backgrounds are not "outsider artists" as the intro claims (Soheila Esfahani, who is in the video, is a dedicated and interesting artist who's competing her MFA at Western; outsider art is something else altogether).
- JWyman (guest) 2-10-2010 4:01 pm

good points, JWyman!
- sally mckay 2-10-2010 4:09 pm

excellent! Mroooooohahahaha!
- J@simpleposie (guest) 2-10-2010 4:10 pm

This is all wrong in so many ways. So many.


- Maranda (guest) 2-10-2010 4:31 pm

It's embarrassing. Ottawa! Wake up! simpleposie recently asked the question, "Do you think Canada has ever looked this bad ?" in regard to the recent cuts to magazines that will seriously threaten our the little-ish - little (ie: most) art mags.
- sally mckay 2-10-2010 4:32 pm

So I'm curious, do gallery directors and curators at the national gallery run from exhibition to exhibition hoping to be surprised by excellence?
- L.M. 2-10-2010 5:05 pm

no need. We all know excellence rises to the top on its own accord. They just have to meditate in their offices for a few moments, and the excellent artworks appear, hovering before their eyes.
- sally mckay 2-10-2010 5:08 pm

Mayer also blew an opportunity to explain the process of National Gallery acquisitions as well as the criteria.
- L.M. 2-10-2010 5:21 pm

I think a public apology is in order. I wonder if it's occurred to them.
- sally mckay 2-10-2010 6:23 pm

I edited the post to add images of the glorious Camille Turner.
- L.M. 2-10-2010 7:23 pm

Glorious and excellent!
- sally mckay 2-10-2010 7:37 pm

on a happier note...I love Miss Canadiana.
- thom (guest) 2-10-2010 9:08 pm

i cannot get the video to work
- anthony (guest) 2-11-2010 7:59 am

EXCELLENT EXCELLENT THIS POST IS SO EXCELLENT WHY AM I YELLING?

I'm going to lose it, badly, if I hear excellence as a sole justification for anything ever again by a curator, critic, or writer (or even an artist for that matter).
- jennyhead (guest) 2-11-2010 3:06 pm

It's a total cop out. And its disrespectful to anyone and everyone who is not sitting in that position of authority passing judgement on what is or is not excellent. Sure we appoint people to make these decisions because of their expertise, but we also want the process to be transparent. What if Mayer had said something like this:

Yes, the National Gallery is and has been focused on a European-influenced Western art tradition. This is an important part of Canadian art history, and we represent the canon very well. All museums everywhere are facing a similar challenge now, as we realise that our traditional notions of Art History are simply not adequate to represent the breadth and depth of cultural production in this country. We need to re-examine our criteria of excellence and challenge the canon. But museums work slowly. There are structural and budget concerns and many other complicating factors and so the desired changes may not be happening quite as quickly as they should be. We remain committed to excellence, and we are working hard to broaden our understanding of excellence. Part of the problem is patronage. Many of our acquisitions are made possible through private donations. Our education and outreach departments are working hard to foster a broader appreciation for the importance of works beyond the Group of Seven. In short, it's a process. And you are right, we aren't where we want to be yet. But we're working on it.

I've never heard an artist use that idiotic term to seriously talk about work. And in all fairness, I've rarely heard it from curators in conversation. (but then I know a lot of very smart thoughtful curators)
- L.M. 2-11-2010 3:46 pm

Anthony, it's still working for me. There's a help button at the top of the page that tells you what the system requirements are for watching CBC video.
- sally mckay 2-11-2010 3:49 pm

The problem with "excellence" as a single word criteria is that it implies an exceeded standard that is neither apparent, defended, nor explained. It takes things out of play - off the table and consequently lets critics and curators off the hook in a way that even "beautiful" or "good" would never allow.
- J@simpleposie (guest) 2-11-2010 3:52 pm

For the first part of the video I thought the outrage was going to be about the gross missus of the term "outsider art". Then all of a sudden ... crazy dude! Go crazy dude, it's your birthday!
Sally I love your "what he should have said" rewrite. I think he might even go for it on account of your use of "excellence" twice in one sentence. A letter of apology is an "excellent" idea, although I'd be happy if we could just get him to sign your letter.
Earlier you say "he doesn't mention that some have been here much longer" - but the video itself does mention that the gallery has a first nations section, and his clips are so short that he may well have made that point but it didn't make the piece. In other words, you're right to point it out but I'd be quicker to accuse the editor / producer of the segment rather than him. (ie the same person who doesn't fully understand what "outsider art" means).
- joester (guest) 2-11-2010 4:17 pm

Miss Canadiana is my new hero, btw. That's an awesome website.
- joester (guest) 2-11-2010 4:21 pm

Sally, I love the proposed words you would like to see come out of Marc Mayer's mouth! Can you be Director of the NGC one day? And do articulate interviews with the CBC that aren't an embarassment to our country?

L.M., it's true that artists don't often explicitly use the word 'excellence' to justify what they do. But I do think some of them make choices in their work for the express purpose of trying to flip the 'excellence' switch that exists inside the head of many curators.

I guess what I will never get over is how curators on the one hand are allowed to say shit about how "excellence" is their key criteria, but then they get their panties all in a knot about how art should never be confused with "entertainment," or other such value-charged absolute statements.

And while I'm ranting - I believe people in position of authority like curators have a moral imperative (yes, I said MORAL IMPERATIVE, everyone please jump on me and disagree) to be critical of the values they use as their guiding principals of selection and presentation. Curators (and especially their institutions if they are institutional curators), in my opinion, should always be critical and questioning what they do, and why, and for whom. To do anything less than this is LAZY LAZY LAZY. And elitist. And wrong.

But again, this is just my opinion. And old news. But whatevs.
- jennyhead (guest) 2-11-2010 4:22 pm

The reason I can't be director of a major art museum (besides my slacker wardrobe) is that you have to spend your time hanging out with rich, white Canadians trying to get money out them. I'm sure there are plenty of dinner parties where the word "excellence" gets glasses clinking all around the table.

I agree about the moral imperative. And not only does that critical questioning need to happen, but a healthy institution will communicate the process and not keep it behind locked doors in strategic planning meetings.

And yeah, it is old news. That's why its so shocking that the NG seems to have no clue. I don't just blame Mayer, this is a major FAIL at the institutional level.
- sally mckay 2-11-2010 4:35 pm

thanks for the help button but thevideo does not work with linux
- anthony (guest) 2-11-2010 4:54 pm

A REAL National Gallery curator candidate would be able to solve linux video playback issues!
- Joester (guest) 2-11-2010 5:51 pm

:D... ?.....:/....:D!
- rev. earl chunx (guest) 2-12-2010 4:37 am

http://excellenceatthenationalgallery.blogspot.com/
- mjacques (guest) 3-03-2010 2:58 am

thanks mjacques. that is an excellent open letter.
- sally mckay 3-04-2010 1:24 am