My thesis examines the policy of the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) as it affected the representation of art in its community in the 1960s and '70s. It was begun in order to understand what determined the changes in policy as they were experienced during this period, which saw an enormous expansion in the activities of the Gallery. To some extent the expansion was realized by means of increased cultural expenditure by the federal government, but this only made programmes possible, it did not carry them out. During the 1960s the Vancouver Art Gallery gained a measure of international recognition for its innovative programming, which depended to a degree on the redefinition of its relationship to the local, whether that signified its traditional patronage, Vancouver artists or the "man in the street". VAG's new outreach programme was not unique, but it was contemporary with developments in other locations. Given the popular and critical success of his policy, VAG director Tony Emery pushed it to the relative exclusion of the more traditional type of gallery programme, in this manner angering VAG's "more conservative" audience. With the first indications of a fiscal crisis in the 1970s, the government began reining in public expenditure, including that on the arts. There was first a freeze on funding to the larger arts institutions, which by now included the Gallery, and then the slow withering of government support. VAG's experiments in programming, which had been made possible through this support, became expendable, and there was soon a re-orientation towards more traditional programmes, accompanied by another redefinition of the Gallery's audience. The Gallery's structure, policy and programme were gradually transformed to fit an increasingly corporate model or paradigm in order to secure the extra funds it needed to remain solvent. A crucial aspect of this change was the plan to move the Gallery into larger quarters, which would be more attractive to donors and collectors, and which would allow prestigious exhibitions to be brought into the city. The thesis undertakes to examine the vagaries of Gallery policy with the aid of the current literature on museums and government cultural policy, and with government and Gallery documents. The other major section examines the formation of the reputation of Robert Rauschenberg, as it bears on the reception of a group of his works exhibited at VAG in 1978. Rauschenberg was an artist in frequent contact with Vancouver through exhibitions of his work at a private gallery, and the consolidation of his reputation following the 1976 retrospective of his work by the Smithsonian made his work apt for the promotion of VAG. Rauschenberg's use-value for VAG depends on a particular reading of his work which had become generalized after 1963, and reinforced in 1976, which was appropriate to the new Gallery role promoted by VAG's paladins. This interpretation, which was developed by Alan Solomon in 1963, fixed Rauschenberg's works as celebrations of a way of looking at one's environment and of what was looked at. Solomon's reading became the accepted one, but by an examination of the reception of Rauschenberg's art prior to 1963, and by an analysis of two of his works, I argue that it is neither the only possibility nor even the most accurate one. In the 1970s, critics conflated Rauschenberg's earlier and later work within the context of Solomon's interpretation, which has hardly been expanded upon. They have usually tried to establish an identity of the earlier and later work, based upon Solomon's reading, where I am trying to establish their difference. An analysis of two of the works which appeared in the 1978 Works from Captiva exhibition at VAG indicates the differences with the earlier work and the susceptibility of their iconography to the new role the Gallery was attempting to promote. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

This paper explores urban design possibilities for the enhancement of the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape. It is understood that urban public places are necessary for not only the daily functioning of society, but as venues of and for celebrations, demonstrations, and communication. All public urban spaces have the potential to serve as significant locations of human experience. The designed urban landscape should have the capacity to elicit response and heighten our perceptions, thereby furthering our understanding of the world. Understanding the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape as a central urban space of significant civic importance, it is necessary that its design illuminate the interactions between humans and the physical world - the actors, the audience, and the stage. A literature review is conducted in order to discern possible connections between museum processes and designed landscapes. Analogies are drawn between the processes and display of art within and around galleries and museums, and the cultural meanings associated with these displays. These processes also reveal themselves in the designed landscape. Second, museum-landscape analogs are proposed, and from these, precedents are researched in order to identify criteria that support and reinforce these analogs. These analogs are typologies that may serve to inform the urban design, and landscape architectural process. In response to the research, the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape is designed according to one of the types (analogs) identified - Landscape as Theatre. The design provides a model for the expression of the theatrical aspects of urban life that contribute to the vibrancy and cultural richness of the urban landscape. The conclusions drawn herein are suggestive of urban design enhancement opportunities that exist within central downtown Vancouver, in particular the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape. It is recognized that significant investment in our urban spaces is a requirement for ensuring the successful evolution of urban life. In addition to the enhancement of human experiences within the city, successful urban projects that elicit international acclaim and recognition further the economic growth of, and investment in the city. Certainly, when public spaces are used and enjoyed steadily and repeatedly the experiences of places are enriched, and human experience is enhanced.

This thesis addresses the need for the Vancouver Art Gallery to expand to accommodate its large and ever-expanding art collection. Situated in the current debate of whether to expand on site or move to a new site altogether, this thesis proposes a contemporary addition to the existing neo-classical building which houses the current Art Gallery. To find opportunity in this historic setting, strategies involving scale and perspective, joining the old and the new, and strengthening the connection of art to the downtown core are explored. The site for this thesis is in central downtown Vancouver, BC. The new addition is located adjacent to the existing Vancouver Art Gallery on City Block 51, which is bounded by Robson, Howe, Hornby and West Georgia Streets.

This paper explores urban design possibilities for the enhancement of the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape. It is understood that urban public places are necessary for not only the daily functioning of society, but as venues of and for celebrations, demonstrations, and communication. All public urban spaces have the potential to serve as significant locations of human experience. The designed urban landscape should have the capacity to elicit response and heighten our perceptions, thereby furthering our understanding of the world. Understanding the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape as a central urban space of significant civic importance, it is necessary that its design illuminate the interactions between humans and the physical world - the actors, the audience, and the stage. A literature review is conducted in order to discern possible connections between museum processes and designed landscapes. Analogies are drawn between the processes and display of art within and around galleries and museums, and the cultural meanings associated with these displays. These processes also reveal themselves in the designed landscape. Second, museum-landscape analogs are proposed, and from these, precedents are researched in order to identify criteria that support and reinforce these analogs. These analogs are typologies that may serve to inform the urban design, and landscape architectural process. In response to the research, the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape is designed according to one of the types (analogs) identified - Landscape as Theatre. The design provides a model for the expression of the theatrical aspects of urban life that contribute to the vibrancy and cultural richness of the urban landscape. The conclusions drawn herein are suggestive of urban design enhancement opportunities that exist within central downtown Vancouver, in particular the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape. It is recognized that significant investment in our urban spaces is a requirement for ensuring the successful evolution of urban life. In addition to the enhancement of human experiences within the city, successful urban projects that elicit international acclaim and recognition further the economic growth of, and investment in the city. Certainly, when public spaces are used and enjoyed steadily and repeatedly the experiences of places are enriched, and human experience is enhanced. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

Collaborating in the Electric Age: [onto]Riffological Experiments in Posthumanizing Education and Theorizing a Machinic Arts-Based Research is a study about locating opportunities and entry points for introducing consideration of the nonhuman and posthuman to pedagogical perspectives that are traditionally concerned with human beings and epistemological subjects. The research, herein, engages doings in collaborative effort, during conditions of unprecedented interconnectedness facilitated by the electric age. Steeped in a environment thus created by technologies’ immense ubiquity and influence, this collaboration endeavours to recognize their full research participation, alongside that of humans. This research presents collaboratively conducted, published inquiries that have been coauthored by myself and fellow doctoral candidate Richard Wainwright. Each facilitates, then attempts to articulate ways to decentre the human in educational contexts, beginning with our own human perspectives. As exercises in broadening our considerations of the life forms, matter, and nonhuman entities that surround humanity, this research prompts us to recognize much more than what humanity typically acknowledges as existing, given the anthropocentric frameworks it has constructed. We reorientate the nature of these relationships—posthumanizing them—and in doing so, disrupt our own thinking to work something different than our circumstances have hitherto informed us to consider. We have co-developed a study and conducted research in collaboration with human and nonhuman research participants.Five nationally and internationally published co-authored journal articles, a book chapter, and five intermezzos (short “observational” pieces) comprise this study that explores collaboration and recombinatoriality during “the electric age” (McLuhan, 1969, 10:05). Recognizing humanity’s increasingly inextricable relationships with technologies, this collaboratively conducted study draws into creative assemblage Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s philosophical concepts; new materialism as cultural theory; the prescient observations and predictions of Marshall McLuhan and a media studies curriculum he co-developed over forty years ago; arts-based research; museum exhibitions; features of music production such as sampling, mashup, remix, and turntabling; among many other notes and tones. A conceptually developed riff mobilizes our inquiries as “plug in and play,” while its academic study is theorized as [onto]Riffology. Ontological shifts beget a machinic arts-based research (MABR) that develops a posthuman critical pedagogy inspired by Negri and Guattari (2010). Collaborating in the Electric Age: [onto]Riffological Experiments in Posthumanizing Education and Theorizing a Machinic Arts-Based Research celebrates collaborativity, discovery, and learning during the electric age. / Graduate / 2023-01-07