That Directionless Light of the Future: Rediscovering Russell FitzGerald

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Please come and explore this compelling new exhibition rediscovering the work of American artist and writer Russell FitzGerald which is drawn from the collection of UBC's Belkin Gallery.

Offering the potential for ongoing research and reconsideration, the Belkin’s collection emphasizes artists’ practices that challenge the status quo, with an emphasis on the Canadian avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s which developed an international network and continues to have a significant impact on the art of today.

Through an invitation to guest curator Jon Davies to respond to the Belkin’s collection, he has developed an exhibition that considers our collective responsibilities as caretakers of artworks and as shapers of reconsidered and increasingly urgent narratives.

Jon Davies’s work as a writer and curator is grounded in contemporary art, cinema and queer studies. His exhibition That Directionless Light of the Future features rarely seen works by American artist and writer Russell FitzGerald (1932-78) and his contemporaries, largely from the Bay Area, to explore how secret and subcultural knowledge complicates archiving and transmission. In doing so, the exhibition reveals how FitzGerald shines a new light on the aesthetic, sexual, racial and spiritual imaginaries of the postwar avant-garde. Strong accompanying themes of sexuality and anti-racism create an interesting tension in many of the works.

That Directionless Light of the Future: Rediscovering Russell FitzGerald will be shown concurrently with An Opulence of Squander, curated by Weiyi Chang.

Links

• Gallery Hours + MORE belkin.ubc.ca
• See the line up for the entire festival UBC ARTIVISM: Heart on Fire arts.ubc.ca

Organizer

UBC Arts & Culture District

This event is presented as part of the UBC Arts & Culture District's 8th annual ARTIVISM Festival. This year the theme of the festival as articulated by student Artistic Director Jesse Metros is "Heart On Fire" which highlights love as a revolutionary force. This year’s festival celebrates existing cultures of care, and invites new realities centered on compassion. Through radically creative spaces and marginalized artistic expressions, we invite you to ignite love towards liberation & set oppressive systems ablaze.

Produced by UBC Arts and Culture District with 2024 festival Artistic Director Jesse Medros, in partnership with the Exposure UBC student club team, this annual festival highlights stories of resilience and both community and student activist art that challenges dominant narratives through live performances, poetry, music and more. There is something for everyone; the events include a wide range of in-person activities.

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