An ambitious undertaking to gather artwork from every region around the world will be the subject of a talk in Port Moody next week.
Toronto curator Jennifer Karch Verzè has been assigned to collate the Western Canada portion for Imago Mundi — a non-profit, cultural project created by Luciano Benetton, the founder of the Italian clothing brand the Benetton Group.
Besides her talk in the City of the Arts next Wednesday, Karch Verzè will also be receiving at least 50 pieces collected by Janice Cotter, the visual arts co-ordinator for the Port Moody Arts Centre. In April, PMAC put a call out to artists and distributed the canvasses supplied by Imago Mundi.
In total, Karch Verzè hopes to gain about 210 artworks from emerging and professional artists as a result of her Western Canadian tour this summer.
The works — each measuring 3.9 x 4.7 inches — will be documented for a catalogue and exhibited for international audiences.
What’s best about Imago Mundi is that artists have been given free rein. “It’s totally open,” Karch Verzè told The Tri-City News last week. “Anyone can do whatever they want. We want the best from the west.”
Still, she hopes to collect work that’s varied, in subject matter and media.
Once all the canvasses are received, Karch Verzè has a big job ahead of her. She’s required to write biographies on every participating artist and research their backgrounds, send the text and photographs to the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche for editing, and proof the final product before publication.
Afterward, she’ll be responsible for distributing the catalogues to the artists (another curator is handling eastern Canada for a separate edition). “I don’t know if anybody has ever documented all the contemporary work of Canada before,” she said. “It’s something unique.”
Already, Karch Verzè has compiled catalogues on Contemporary Art of Namibia and Contemporary Art of North American Indigenous Artists. So far, Imago Mundi has mapped more than 43 collections in 71 countries; its goal is to collect works from every country by next year. “It’s art of the world, for the world,” Karch Verzè said.
• Jennifer Karch Verzè will be at the Port Moody Arts Centre (2425 St. John’s St.) on July 29 from 6 to 9 p.m.
