The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery

Profile

The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery's mandate is to research, exhibit, collect, publish, educate and develop programs in the field of contemporary art and in contemporary approaches to the practice of art history and criticism.

The Gallery is not limited to particular media or disciplines. However, we place special emphasis on the areas of the Canadian avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s, the international network developed at the time and its role in the art of today; emerging artists; Vancouver's post-war art history; practices and projects that challenge the status quo including exhibition concepts initiated by artists.

Through a regular program of exhibitions, publications, loans, traveling exhibitions, special projects and exchange programs, the Belkin Art Gallery participates in the national and international community of institutions concerned with contemporary art.

Collection

The University Art Collection is an important cultural amenity. Since 1995, the gallery has developed a program of collecting significant works by Canadian and international artists and is the recipient of numerous annual donations of artwork. The Collection contains more than 2,500 objects, making it the third largest public art collection in the province. Works from the collection are showcased in annual exhibitions at the Belkin, and are regularly loaned to major institutions and smaller centres for exhibition nationally and internationally.

The Gallery also holds over 30,000 archival items relating to the post-war history of art in Vancouver and the avant-garde narratives of the 1960s to 1970s including: the Peter Day Concrete Poetry Collection; the Kenneth Coutts-Smith Archive; the Morris/Trasov Archives; and the archives of Eric Metcalfe and Kate Craig.

Critical Curatorial Studies

Since 2001, the Belkin Art Gallery has participated in the training of young curators at the graduate level in the Critical and Curatorial Studies program in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory. The Master of Arts program aims to address the growing need for curators and critics who have theoretical knowledge and practical experience in analyzing institutions, preparing displays and communicating about contemporary art.

CCST is an emerging field of scholarship and training that looks directly at the roles and responsibilities of curators and critics as mediators between objects, institutions, experiences, individuals and groups. As part of the curriculum, graduate students curate exhibitions and programs in collaboration with the Belkin and local galleries, with support from the Killy Foundation and the Audain Endowment for Curatorial Studies through the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory.