Yesterday was Once Tomorrow (or, A Brick is a Tool)

February 11, 2017 – July 2, 2017

Walter Phillips Gallery, Satellite Space 
Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Building, First Floor

Shary Boyle, Charles Cousins, Geoffrey Farmer, Nelson Henricks, Jake Kosciuk, Denis Lessard, Annie Martin, John Massey, Shelley Niro, Edward Poitras, Kathy Slade, Lori Weidenhammer

Guest curated by Kegan McFadden

Opening Reception 
Saturday, February 11
6 - 9 p.m.

Yesterday was Once Tomorrow (or, A Brick is a Tool) is a timely re-visitation of artists’ magazines from the 1990s, allowing many of its key players to take centre stage through the presentation of both original artworks and the reproductions of artist’s graphics. Curatorially this exhibition pinpoints, for the first time, a loose network of activity taking place in major parts of Canada. By making this research visible we can identify interlopers, emerging artists at the outset of well-recognized careers, artists who have fallen away, and desktop design treatments we might rather forget. These magazines found their ways through prison cells, had international correspondents, dealt with issues on the local levels, and even published book reviews by the baby sitter. They are an archive of activity through the most humble of means. Rather than predict the future or focus on the past, they dissected the present. The editors of these magazines reconsidered what was worthy of print, what was important to publish, and how to go about making information accessible to their communities.

Originally produced for Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art (Winnipeg) and Artexte (Montreal), the reprisal of Yesterday was Once Tomorrow (or, A Brick is a Tool) sees the added inclusion of Talking Stick First Nations Arts Magazine, which will act as a touchstone during the upcoming writing residencies this spring, including Indigenous Art Journal and Future Narratives.

Magazines Featured

Texts (Calgary, 1989 – 1993: Amy Gogarty, Robert Milthorp, Andre Jodoin, editors)

Flower (Toronto, 1992 – 1996: David Buchan and Ann Dean, editors)

Talking Stick First Nations Arts Magazine (Regina, 1993-1994: Lynn Acoose and Debra Piapot, editors)

Boo (Vancouver, 1994 – 1998: Melinda Mollineaux, Phil McCrum, Reid Shier, Mina Totino, editors)

The Harold (Winnipeg, 1995 – 1997: Jean LeMaitre and Wayne Baerwaldt, editors)

Cube (Montreal, 1996 – 1998: Pierre Beaudoin and Francois Dion, editors)