tenant profile

YYZ Artists Outlet Programming Assistant Mallory Wilkinson and Director Ana Barajas

YYZ Artists Outlet Studio 140

In many ways YYZ Artists Outlet (Studio 140) is a 401 Richmond institution. Founded in 1979, YYZ it is one of the oldest artist-run centres in Toronto and was also part of the first wave of exhibition spaces to establish a home on the ground floor of our building. Like many artist-run centres in the city, YYZ was formed by a group of artists who were looking for a non-commercial space to exhibit their work. As Director Ana Barajas notes, their mandate was and continues to be the artist: artists self-curate their exhibitions they have the final say in what is shown, how, and who writes about it. We try to make our exhibitions as much about the artist as possible with YYZ as a support mechanism for making that happen. More recently, YYZ has been playing with a slightly unconventional exhibition model based on flexibility around how artwork is both conceived and shown. On any given visit you may encounter spaces in limbo or partially installed, artists working on creating the work in situ, or fully realized installations. A combination of exhibiting artists and a residency program generates the in flux nature of the space. As Ana describes, as part of the submission process we look at artist practices as a whole, including past projects that have been realized, instead of reviewing a specific project proposal. If we decide that theyre a good overall fit, we leave what they will do in the space a bit open-ended. This flexibility includes playing with time (with two projects currently spanning a year and evolving as the artist intervenes) and starting to incorporate varying practices that might not work for a solo show in alternative, smaller scale areas. 4 YYZs unpredictability can be surprising for audiences who have been trained to view work in galleries in a certain way a gallery is closed for installation, it opens when the show is completed, and your only opportunity to meet the artist is usually at the opening. People are sometimes unsure about how to interact when they come upon an artist in process. This opportunity for engagement is important for both the audience and YYZ; it allows for greater interaction with the artists while having the rare chance to watch the artwork change and grow. YYZ has also changed and grown since they moved to 401 in 1997. Over the last decade they have been cultivating the publishing arm of their centre releasing at least one book a year. They have two titles coming up this year and as Ana pointed out, their resources are too little for their ambitions. In response to the question, why publishing? Ana said we think its important to support critical writing and a critical view of Canadian art practice because we really dont have a lot of it. Now we need to figure out how to make it sustainable and set the terrain for YYZBOOKS to continue to produce something every year. Coming up, in keeping with YYZs innovative programming, Brian Groombridge will be curating his own restrospective. The show will include some new works alongside two emerging artist interventions with the intent to create a dialogue around his practice. www.yyzartistsoutlet.org