Preserving the hidden history of Canadian contemporary art

Head up to the third floor of the multihyphenate cultural building known as the 2-22 and look for a simple, white-walled rotating exhibition space. Turn right and discover a passageway of moveable library stacks, each shelf lined with countless files. Walk through, and enter a bright reading room. Desktop computers sit ready for use alongside colourful volume and pamphlet displays.

This nonprofit contemporary art library, research centre, and exhibition space is known as Artexte.

Founded by Angela Grauerholz, Anne Ramsden, and Francine Périnet in 1980, it revolves around a simple mandate: Collect documentation on contemporary Canadian art from 1965 to today. Items must be public documents by professional artists (ie; at least one non-student exhibition).

Cataloguing historical omissions

Collection Librarian Léa Boisvert-Chénier describes Artexte’s broad acquisition policy as rooted in an ideology of democratization, rejecting the biases and filling the gaps in institutionalized narratives of Canadian art history.

“We try to go where there have historically been omissions,” she explains. “Because we are so open in the types of documents, this allows us to record practices that maybe are not inside ‘official’ institutions.”

This has led to accumulated stacks of fanzines, pamphlets, invitations, self-publications, art objects, and other ephemera. Items are wacky and unique, like a loaf of white bread with writing and illustrations by various artists tucked in between the slices.

“Information is information,” Anabelle Chassé, Communications Coordinator at Artexte, adds—even if a piece did not pass through dominant institutional channels or is culturally regarded as lowbrow.

An ever-evolving collection

“The collection is an opportunity to create a visual map of the art ecosystem at certain moments (in time), and what subjects mattered to certain artists, curators, magazines, and institutions,” Anabelle explains. “You can really see how Canadian contemporary art history evolved through the years throughout this collection.”

Atypical materials allow Artexte to be flexible and expansive when cataloguing and tracking these practices.

“We can go in directions that maybe other institutions can’t, because they have to go through so many policies,” Léa says. “There’s always space for people to point out biases and for us to change the structure.”

Artexte’s collection is 80% donations, with the remainder purchased on an acquisition budget. Objects directly reflect the artist community around the library, and exhibits and events revolve around the interests of that audience and of researchers in residence.

“The collection is there to serve the communities—communities, plural,” Anabelle asserts. “Each of their questions is also a question for us. We’re always trying to expand the different points of view the collection can have.”

Come as you are

The team stresses that the environment is lowkey, and independent research is encouraged, as is reaching out to the team for guidance ahead of time or in person.

“People are kind of scared of libraries. It's an intimidating space,” Léa says. “Our goal is to break down this fear in people and just be like: Come with the knowledge level that you have. We are never going to judge someone, because we're also learning!”

Anabelle describes the collection as “complementary” to university and public libraries in Montreal: “You can really find pieces of information here that will take your research in a whole new direction.”

Conservation serves access

When received, an item is evaluated, cataloged, indexed, and filed in a pre-existing or newly created artist file before being placed in the temperature-controlled collection stacks. For extra-fragile documents, steps may be taken to prevent disintegration or stains. 

Each acquisition is read through so keywords can be logged, making documents more easily discoverable. 

“Because our priority is access, the conservation process serves the access,” Léa explains.

Apart from a select few files requiring gloves or larger format items, open stacks allow researchers unmediated physical access to items. Online, e-artexte features digitized versions of thousands of collection documents.

Intern Jenna Coutts undertook a project to digitize Artexte publications, enhancing the collection's accessibility for individuals with visual impairments by making them compatible with assistive technologies.

“The democratic aspect of Artexte is embedded within our mandate and our mission, but also in our approach to the collection and every service that we offer to the public,” Anabelle says.

In tandem with accessibility, Artexte prioritizes exposure and visibility for artists. 

While most institutions limit author listings to three names, Artexte catalogs up to 10 artists for pieces by multiple authors, meaning more names and practices are documented and searchable.

Visibility in practice

Regular tours are given to fine arts programs at downtown universities, introducing students to Artexte early on so they can later submit professional works for inclusion in the database.

What they’ll find is that Artexte is a testament to a belief in a documentary practice rooted in nuance and plurality rather than strict categorization or overly deterministic narratives. Its ongoing work reflects a decades-long commitment to flexibility, and the result is a goldmine of knowledge contributed to the perpetually unfolding story of Canadian art.

“It's important for artists to bring their work here, in order to be part of this new narrative of what Canadian art is, this always changing notion of what Canadian art is,” Léa urges. “You will be part of this history forever, and you can change the way that history looks like by putting yourself into the archive.”