The works by students and recent graduates of the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Image Arts in this inaugural exhibition of The Image Centre deal with such varied subjects as the notion of family history, the evocation of childhood, the political history of the United States and the architectural standards of the spaces where archives are housed. More specifically, this diversity of themes reflects a common irrepressible desire: to explore the past by appropriating, reinterpreting and reproducing its emblematic objects in a manner that responds to what the French philosopher Jacques Derrida has called "le mal d'archive" or "archive fever."
By using archival images, depicting the structures that house them and exploiting their aesthetics, the participating artists investigate common notions of time, memory and history. Using their personal experiences as a point of departure, the artists contribute to a collective imagination through their creative experimentations.
This booklet is the second in a series published by the RIC, and accompanies the exhibition The Art of the Archive, TMU Students and Alumni, curated by Gaelle Morel, Exhibitions Curator at the IMC.
Editor/Curator: Gaelle Morel
Essay Translator: James Gussen
The Image Centre, 2012