Art Metropole

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Art Metropole was founded in 1974 by the Canadian artists' group General Idea as a not-for-profit corporation incorporated under the laws of the province of Ontario. It is located in Toronto, Canada.

Art Metropole is an Artist run centre that publishes, promotes, exhibits, archives and distributes artists' publications and other materials. Art Metropole specializes in contemporary art in multiple format: artists books, multiples, video, audio, electronic media, and offers these artists' products for sale on the premises and through their web site http://www.artmetropole.com.

[edit] HISTORY

The three artists of General Idea had been publishing their periodical FILE since 1972. The enormous interest they received internationally led them to found Art Metropole as a means for other artists to access their distribution system. They had also begun to amass a collection of artists books and ephemera, and this they saw as the beginnings of the Art Metropole Collection. In 1974 they opened their doors to the public in an abandoned space over a Greek restaurant in downtown Toronto. The building had originally been built in 1911 for one of Toronto's earliest art galleries, Art Metropole (which closed in the forties), and from this came the name for the shop Art Metropole.

In 1975 Peggy Gale joined Art Metropole to initiate AM's first video distribution service, one of the first in the world. In 1987 it was discontinued and began publishing artists' video in low-cost VHS format.

Art Metropole began publishing books in the late 70s. "Performance by Artists" in 1977 was the first of a series of resource books on new artists' media. The same year AM published "3 death stories" by Tom Sherman, the first of a long series of artists books. You can find the complete list of AM publications here: [1].

Although AM hosted video screenings and book launchings, AM did not undertake an exhibition until 1982, when AM toured the seminal exhibition "Museums by Artists". In 1984 AM presented the first exhibition on their own premises, a ten-year anniversary overview of the Art Metropole Collection. In the late 80s AM established a small exhibition/display space and began their regular exhibition program.

In the meantime AM continued to produce a series of innovative distribution-based projects such as "Ads by Artists" (1987) and "Billboards by Artists" (1997). In both cases AM commissioned artists to produce art works for conventional advertising space, in one case in the advertising section of international art magazines, in the other, on billboards in downtown Toronto.

In 1997 AM transferred their permanent collection of over 13,000 items to the National Gallery of Canada.