A Brief History of Art Metropole...

Here I am with Art Metropole Board Member, Ian Ah (Ian Murray in RL) outside the entrance to the new Art Metropole property (sim) on Odyssey. This pic was taken approxinately two weeks ago... As you can see, Ian is wearing a construction hat so this snapshot was obviously taken during AM's construction period. Ian is not only a Board Member for AM, he also built the entire Second Life version of Art Metropole entirely by himself :-)


This construction period must have been very stressful for Ian because he took up the nasty habit of smoking cigars during this time...sigh! As you can see, the Art Metropole sim was still for the most part a flattened piece of land. Posing with us with the horns is BL Niven.


Ok, now you can see Ian's grand designs for Art Metropole taking shape... In fact, it appears as if the boardroom he made for AM is literally rezzing into existence! Actually, I am not sure what that console is for but his LED digital clock is Ian's architectural trademark.


So, Ian had not even finished the building when this snap was taken and we were already beta-testing the boardroom while discussing future event plans for Art Metropole. Already, I was thinking that I should historicize the building process for this sim as well as finding ways to quickly educate my in-world audience about what Art Metropole is and exactly how it will enhance and benefit the SLarts community...


Here is a close-up of me typing my own board minutes for my quick convo with Ian as well as looking for convenient data on Ian's computer to copy and paste Art Metropole's RL history for the in-world avatar community...

Hey there performance art fans and art-multiple collectors,

I have decided to post a Brief History about Art Metropole for you this fine evening since their official sim designed by their Board Member Ian Ah has finally been completed and is awaiting its first programmed event (the grand opening, as it were)!

I will blog more about the very first events at the Second Life version of Art Metropole as soon as it takes place.

I am sure that many of the avatars in SL (Second Life) and in RL ("Real" Life) will be reading this blog posting and wondering, "well, what is Art Metropole anyways"?

Since RL has been keeping me very busy, I will have to resort to efficiency ("laziness") tonight and copy and paste for you here the official history and context behind the RL Arts institution in Toronto called Art Metropole....

First, what is Art Metropole?

"Art Metropole specializes in contemporary art in multiple format: artists books, multiples, video, audio, electronic media, and so on. Art Metropole offers artists' products for sale on our premises and through this web site. They also publish, promote, exhibit and distribute artists' products in various formats.

Art Metropole was founded in 1974 by the artists' group General Idea. Art Metropole is a not-for-profit corporation incorporated under the laws of the province of Ontario.

Art Metropole thanks the Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, The Trillium Foundation, and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council for their support."

Contact Information:
Art Metropole
788 King Street West
Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M5V 1N6
t 416.703.4400
f 416.703.4404
info@artmetropole.com

Ok, I am guessing you want more from this intro to Art Metropole...

Now you are asking..what is Art Metropole's detailed history?

"Art Metropole was founded by the Canadian artists collective General Idea as a non-profit artist-run archive and distribution agency for artists' publications and other materials.

The three artists of General Idea had been publishing their periodical FILE since 1972. The enormous interest they found internationally led them to found Art Metropole as a means for other artists to access their distribution system. They had also begun to amass a collection of artists books and ephemera, and this they saw as the beginnings of the Art Metropole Collection. In 1974 they opened their doors to the public in an abandoned space over a Greek restaurant in downtown Toronto. The building had originally been built in 1911 for one of Toronto's earliest art galleries, Art Metropole (which closed in the forties), and from this came the name.

In 1975 Peggy Gale joined Art Metropole to initiate their video distribution service, one of the first in the world. In 1987 they discontinued conventional video distribution and began publishing artists' video in low-cost VHS format.

Art Metropole began publishing books in the late 70s. 'Performance by Artists' in 1977 was the first of a series of resource books on new artists' media. The same year they published '3 death stories' by Tom Sherman, the first of a long series of artists books.

Although they hosted video screenings and book launchings, Art Metropole did not undertake an exhibition until 1982, when they toured the seminal exhibition 'Museums by Artists'. In 1984 they presented the first exhibition on our own premises, a ten-year anniversary overview of the Art Metropole Collection. In the late 80s they established a small exhibition/display space and began their regular exhibition program.

In the meantime Art Metropole continued to produce a series of innovative distribution-based projects such as 'Ads by Artists' (1987) and 'Billboards by Artists' (1997). In both cases Art Metropole commissioned artists to produce art works for conventional advertising space, in one case in the advertising section of international art magazines, in the other, on billboards in downtown Toronto.

In 1997 Art Metropole transferred their permanent collection of over 13,000 items to the National Gallery of Canada."


Ok, so that is AM's RL history... Here is my brief recounting of their recent SL history....I will quote my own realtime writings....heheheheheheh....and I quote...

"I met Ian AH in Second Life when he built a squat directly below my PR office on Odyssey Island. His squat quickly evolved into a couple of media lounges for screening movies. I introduced him to Sugar Seville who runs Odyssey and managed to convince her to give Ian free space to expand his ideas on the island without fear of eviction. Ian realized that Odysesey needed legit institutions to float Odyssey's overhead so he managed to convince Art Metropole to set up shop on the island. Next thing you know, Ian has donned a construction hat and has begun to build the whole thing himself. He even created a poodle-esque avatar named 'Invoice Writer' to handle the financial aspects of AM. Within like two weeks, the AM sim's archictural infrastructure was built and ready to go...now all AM needed was some artists to make some collectibles unique to SL. I am glad to see that the former Prez of AM is in-world...That individual's name is 'Jormantic Yifu'. So maybe Jormantic can help out with the programming and everything else. I also offered to help curate some stuff there and maybe even produce some collectible art for the institution...I really think Art Metropole will be the first institution in Second Life to empower those artists whose work is unique to the properties of SL and will allow the fruits of their labour to last within the artworld once SL disappears...I would imagine also that Art Metropole will eventually set a standard for what a next-generation gallery/museum/store should look like in avatar worlds... I am so excited! I mean, I first heard about General Idea when I was literally in diapers in RL and some of my RL artist buddies have their work up for sale in Art Metropole's store...Also, I have heard that Sonic Youth has played some gigs in their RL sim...whoa! I can taste the hipness!" - Wirxli Flimflam

Ok, that was my quickie subjective historial overview of Art Metropole...now for some more photos of the pre-history of the building of AM in SL...

Left to right: Ian Ah, Wirxli Flimflam (me), BL Niven and Great Escape (sitting in his Pac-Man chair).
I swear that this snapshot here documents the minute that the idea of Art Metropole on Odyssey was being discussed. Here we all are having a discussion on Great Escape's property on Stone Pike. I wish I could remember exactly what we were saying...sigh! I think this was taken about 2 months ago(?) I am not totally sure anymore...here are some more photos of this event...


In this pic, Gazira Babeli has joined us with her dress still rezzing...


Ok, I guess this really nothing more than the same thing but at a different angle..I am not sure what aspect about Art Metropole we had discussed at this time but let me tell you that I think with this one meeting alone, we fleshed (hashed) out alot of non-productive theory together....


Hmmm..the only person I recognize here for sure is Marco Manray. Some of the rezzing gals look familiar but I am not positive of their ID...Maybe they will start some Art Metropole copycat sims? heheheheheheh....

Here is a change of scenery for you...This snapshot was taken about 3 weeks after that Stone Pike brainstorming session and this was at the point where Ian had literally flattened the coastline...I really like the palm tree and floral arrangement! If I remember correctly, he had not designed his version of a Baghdadesque fortified Green Zone yet...heheheheheheh! On the left is DorkbotSL and Avatar Orchestra Metaverse founder, Maximillian Nakamura.

...Oh, I must be going senile or something as now I noticed that Ian had in fact built a basic open-plan structure for the Art Metropole sim to allow for some fresh tropical air to blow in....Art institutions could certainly use some more ventilation! Oh wait a sec, I think this pic was taken a few days after that lounging around session with Max...geez! Time accelerates into a singularity in SL or is it just the drugs staying in the system?


This pic was taken about 3-5 days after that and this is when Chi5 Shenzhou (torso featured in this pic) was helping Ian with the actual architectural infrastructure of the Art Metropole sim. I really like these ladders that were built and displayed in this pic...I hope Ian keeps them installed in time for AM's grand opening.


This gives you a better sense of the ladders' relationship to the conference/board-room area...In addition, you get a better sense of what Chi5 looks like :-)


So, at the time this pic was taken, Art Metropole had pretty much been built and was/is more or less ready to go...Here is my good buddy Fau Ferdinand and yours truly beta-testing the board-room chairs...


Left to Right: Jaytri Allen, Wirxli FLimflam (me), Sugar Seville and Ian Ah.
Here we are simulating Art Metropole's first in-world board meeting..I am glad I am not a board member...phew! Even posing for a board-meeting is hard work!

Ok, once again, we have the same event at a slight different angle...why do I blog almost every angle that archive on my hard drive? Sigh! Sometimes, I am a full-on nutbar!


The only difference with this angle is that Cyrus Huffhines joined us for the board-room simulation.


Ok Ok, now THIS is getting more historical! The Guru of Avatar-Worlds and their histories, Digi Weaver (the dude with green hair) joined us for this board-room simulation...now Art Metropole has been written into history for sure :-)


Here is another pic of Fau and myself faffing around in the board-room area.


Ok, I guess this documentation is getting a little tedious now...In this pic, ShaneV Bellman has joined us to watch an in-world screening of Second Front's 'Martyr Sauce' performance video...


Yeah yeah yeah...more humdrum historical stuff for the archives filing cabinet...

Ok people! Stay tuned for more instantly-historical postings about Art Metropole in the near future... I will try to be more selective with what I blog next time, ok?

Enjoy scrolling down the blog to read about other stuff...