An International Visiting Curator Series
The Goldfarb Gallery’s International Visiting Curator Series was intended to bring ten prominent international curators to Toronto over two years. Each visiting curator would give a public talk on their research, conduct studio visits with local artists, and host a curatorial workshop for emerging curators. For this program, we partnered with ten Toronto arts organizations to host each curator and present the talks in various locations across the city. The first four iterations of the series were made possible with funding from Partners in Art and Outset, UK. We have put this program on pause.
Recently, we became aware of a series of public posts regarding The Goldfarb Gallery’s International Visiting Curator program supported in part by the Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Organizations actively protesting Outset have incorrectly suggested that the Gallery “cut ties” with Outset. This is not true and misrepresents the actions of The Goldfarb Gallery and the position of the University. To be clear, York University, and by extension The Goldfarb Gallery, does not negatively screen partnerships based on nationality, country of origin, or political views.
With respect to the International Visiting Curator program, we became aware that collaborating arts organizations, visiting curators and artists had decided to withhold their participation because of funding from the Outset Contemporary Art Fund and therefore the program could not be delivered as we hoped. The University has written to the group that made incorrect public statements in order to ensure the posts are deleted as soon as possible.
Visiting Curator Biographies & Partnering Arts Organizations
2024
MAY • Mariam Zulfiqar is a curator of contemporary art and currently holds the position of Director at Artangel in London, UK. Zulfiqar is primarily interested in commissioning art in contexts that challenge conventional practices of display in museums and galleries. She has an extensive history of academic and professional mentorship both in the UK and abroad, including guest lectures at the Royal College of Art, UK; McGill University, Canada; and the National College of Art, Pakistan. She was instrumental in the development of projects and programs for Art in the Underground from 2010–15 in London, UK, commissioning and presenting artworks in the city-wide public transport system. Zulfiqar was invited to provide her insights on the complex role of making public art on transit by the City of Markham in 2020. Prior to joining Artangel, Mariam led the art programme for Forestry England.
Co-host: The Bentway, established in 2018, leads a creative movement to re-imagine the possibilities of Toronto’s downtown elevated highway, the Gardiner Expressway. As a new type of public space and programming platform, the organization is dedicated to exploring the city as site, subject, and canvas. The Bentway firmly positions their creative partners at the centre of urban change, working with artists, designers, and educators to present free public art interventions, performances, learning, and recreational programs.
AUGUST • Marie Hélène Pereira is a curator and cultural practitioner from Dakar, Senegal. She lives and works in Berlin. She is Senior Curator (Performative Practices) at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin as well as a member of RAW Material Company since 2011 and its Director of Programs from 2019 to 2022. She has organized exhibitions and related discursive programs, including the participation of RAW in We Face Forward: Art from West Africa Today, presented in Manchester, New York, and Shanghai. She co-curated Scattered Seeds in Cali, Colombia, 2015–17, and curated Battling to Normalize Freedom in Mumbai, 2017. Pereira was co-curator of a section of the 13th edition of the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art; part of the artistic team of Still Present!, the 12th Berlin Biennale, 2022; and a recipient of the ICI Curatorial Research Fellowship in 2021. She is profoundly interested in the politics of identity and histories of migration.
Co-host: Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto (MOCA), is a contemporary art focused institution that has served as an important gathering space in Toronto and Canada for artists to experiment, celebrate complexity, and offer thought-provoking responses to the current cultural moment.
SEPTEMBER • Mari Spirito is the Director and Curator of Protocinema, a cross-cultural arts organization based in New York with international operations. Protocinema was founded in 2011 in response to observed disparities and misdistribution of resources between art communities globally. In 2022, Protocinema, with Laura Raicovich, launched Protodispatch, a monthly digital publication of artists’ dispatches on the life conditions that necessitate their work. In 2020, she held a revolutionary group exhibition titled A Few in Many Places, featuring five artists showcasing their work in Philadelphia, Beirut, Berlin, Montreal, and Istanbul. Spirito’s practice is guided by a vested interest in listening and learning, an asset to her role leading Art Basel’s Conversations Program from 2013 until 2018. Her latest exhibition, The Myth of Normal: A Celebration of Authentic Expression, was hosted at the MassArt Art Museum, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Co-host: The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is devoted exclusively to contemporary art, ideas, and conversations. Since 1987, The Power Plant has been on a mission to share creative and inspiring experiences with audiences through free admission to exhibitions and public programs.
OCTOBER • Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy is a contemporary curator from Mexicali, Mexico. She recently held the directorship of Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam, playing a significant role in addressing the organization’s colonial roots through its renaming. She has extensive experience in collecting contemporary art as curatorship, evident in her essay in Ten Fundamental Questions of Curating titled “What about Collecting?” Hernández Chong Cuy has gone on to present her curatorial research at The Power Plant, Toronto; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris; MALBA, Buenos Aires; and the Center for Contemporary Art, Vilnius. She built the contemporary holdings of one of the foremost collections of Latin American art as the Curator of Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York, a position she held from 2011–17. In addition, she has been director of Museo Tamayo in Mexico City and held curatorial positions at Art in General and the Americas Society, both in New York.
Co-host: Art Museum, University of Toronto, is a public contemporary art gallery affiliated with University of Toronto’s St. George Campus that hosts a year-round program of critically engaged exhibitions and events that foster innovative research and interdisciplinary scholarship. Comprised of the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery (Hart House) and the University of Toronto Art Centre (University College), it is one of the largest gallery spaces in Toronto.
This International Visiting Curator Series is currently on pause. Planned future participants to be confirmed.
This International Visiting Curator Series is conceived and led by The Goldfarb Gallery Director/Curator Jenifer Papararo, with support from Liz Tsui and Kalina Nedelcheva, communications assistants. We acknowledge the support and encouragement of Carol Weinbaum for her role in the development of this program. Future installments of this project will be funded by Partners in Art.
