Building Museums: Building Cities

Sunday, May 24, 2015, 2-5pm

Co-presented with the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization (CAMDO)

Panel discussion exploring how arts/cultural building projects can change a city.

This panel discussion conceptualizes the role of the art museum as a contributor to city building. Drawing on their own experiences with capital projects, as well as observations of the field of museum buildings, panelists discuss what museums contribute to a place and a city. What contextual considerations go into the conception of a new building? To what extent do cities shape and inflect the kinds of museums that are built, and how does the design of an arts building reflect considerations of place, location, and urban context? How do ideas of future programming affect design for a new building? The panel will discuss the physical and conceptual changes that transpire in a capital project, but also the possibilities of urban renewal, potentially also urban regeneration, or engagement in city building (in a local and international sense). To what extent do museums and cultural buildings shape a city—financially, physically, culturally— and to what extent can they enhance the quality of life within an urban area?

Presenter:
Barbara Fischer, Executive Director/Chief Curator, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery | University of Toronto Art Centre

Moderator:
Shawn Micallef, Toronto Star columnist, co-owner and an editor of Spacing magazine, co-founder of the mobile phone public space documentary project [murmur], and instructor at the University of Toronto.

Panelists:
Kathleen Bartels, Director, Vancouver Art Gallery
Stephen Borys, Director & CEO, Winnipeg Art Gallery
Gregory Burke, Executive Director & CEO, Mendel Art Gallery and Remai Modern Art Gallery of Saskatchewan (2016)
Catherine Crowston, Executive Director/Chief Curator, Art Gallery of Alberta
Bruce Kuwabara, OC, OAA, FRAIC, AIA, RIBA, Founding Partner, KPMB Architects, Toronto
Line Ouellet, Director and Chief Curator, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Reid Shier, Director/Curator, Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver
Matthew Teitelbaum, Director and CEO, Art Gallery of Ontario