Art Metropole

11 Mar. 2020

Announcing The Islands Fall 2020 Arts Writing Residency Recipient - Minh Nguyen

March 11, 2020 (Fogo Island/Toronto) – Fogo Island Arts and Art Metropole are pleased to announce that Minh Nguyen has been selected to participate in The Islands, a two-part residency that aims to encourage arts writing and criticism in contemporary art. Nguyen is a writer and curator of exhibitions and programs based in Chicago, where she is currently completing a master’s degree in Modern and Contemporary Art History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Now in its fifth iteration, The Islands invites emerging and established arts writers and artists with a writing practice to think about the various roles of writing across two unique locations. Nguyen will spend a month on Fogo Island as part of Fogo Island Arts’ residency program, followed by two weeks on Toronto Island at Artscape Gibraltar Point. The residency will culminate in a publication published and distributed by Art Metropole.

The Islands jury for 2020, which included Jaclyn Bruneau, writer, critic, and the editor of C Magazine; interdisciplinary artist Zachary Cahill; Alexandra McIntosh, Director of Programs and Exhibitions, Fogo Island Arts; Jonathan Middleton, Executive Director, Art Metropole, and Nicolaus Schafhausen, Strategic Director, Fogo Island Arts, released the following statement:

“In recent years, Minh Nguyen has produced an incisive body of art criticism that is emblematic of a generation of critics, curators and artists whose practices are rigorously entangled with political exigencies. In her proposal for The Islands, we were thrilled to see Nguyen chart a new course in her writing: an expansive examination of artworks from around the globe that conceive of “the crowd as the form, or anti-form, of our uncertain present.” We look forward to seeing the outcome of this project, which will address cultural production about and around protest movements, political uprisings, and other public assemblies in the scope of an original and creative framework.”

Minh Nguyen is a writer and curator of exhibitions and programs based in Chicago by way of Saigon, Vietnam. She is currently attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a master’s degree in Modern and Contemporary Art History, and has completed a bachelor’s degree in English Literature at the University of Washington, Seattle. Nguyen has organized exhibitions at Chicago Cultural Center (forthcoming); Wing Luke Museum, King Street Station and SOIL Gallery, Seattle. She is currently Curatorial Assistant at Conversations at the Edge (CATE), Chicago, a series of screenings, talks and performances by ground-breaking new media artists. Her writing has appeared in ArtAsiaPacific, Art in America, frieze, Art Practical, and AQNB, among others.

The Islands is a residency partnership conceived and organized by Art Metropole and Fogo Island Arts, with support from Artscape. The next edition of The Islands will take place in 2021.

ABOUT FOGO ISLAND ARTS
Fogo Island Arts is a residency-based contemporary art venue that supports research and production of new work for artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians, curators, designers and thinkers from around the world. Since 2008, FIA has brought some of the most exciting emerging and renowned artists of today to Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada to take part in residencies and to present solo exhibitions at the Fogo Island Gallery. FIA also presents programs in cities across Canada and abroad, including the Fogo Island Dialogues interdisciplinary conversation series, as part of its international outreach. Combining contemporary art, iconic architecture and social innovation in a singular setting, FIA is a world-class institution that is uniquely rooted in community. FIA is an initiative of Shorefast, a registered Canadian charity with the mission to build economic and cultural resilience on Fogo Island.

FIA Advisory Board members include Zita Cobb, Eleanor Dawson, Paul Dean, Katy Graham Debost, Fabrizio Gallanti, Elisa Nuyten, Silke Otto-Knapp, Willem de Rooij, Nicolaus Schafhausen, Kitty Scott and Monika Szewczyk.

ABOUT ART METROPOLE
Art Metropole is a not-for-profit organization with a focus on the production, dissemination and contextualization of artist-initiated publication in any media, especially those formats and practices predisposed to sharing and circulation. Art Metropole was founded in Toronto in 1974 by the artists’ group General Idea. Art Metropole is incorporated under the laws of the province of Ontario and a registered charitable organization.

ABOUT ARTSCAPE
Artscape is a not-for-profit urban development organization that makes space for creativity and transforms communities. Artscape Gibraltar Point is a secluded artist retreat nestled against the magnificent natural backdrop of Toronto Island, the largest urban car-free community in North America just a 10-minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto. Gibraltar Point hosts programmed artist residencies and provides studio rentals year-round and offers the opportunity to engage with the vibrant arts and events of the larger Artscape community.

Media Information:
Alexandra McIntosh
Director of Programs and Exhibitions, Fogo Island Arts
alexandramcintosh@fogoislandarts.ca +1 709-266-1299

Jonathan Middleton
Director, Art Metropole
jonathan@artmetropole.com +1 416 703 4400

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