The Art Gallery of Ontario recently debuted its first international hip-hop exhibit, The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century. The exhibit features both international and Canadian artists who are integral to the hip-hop scene, such as Patrick Nichols and the brand Too Black Guys.
Today on Commotion, hip-hop academic Mark Campbell and emcee and art curator Aaron Francis join Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss the exhibit, their criticisms of it and what it can tell us about the way hip-hop is valued in art institutions.
We’ve included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.
WATCH | Today’s episode on YouTube: [embedded content]
Elamin: I want to make room for some of the tension, this idea that yes, maybe major arts institutions have been doing this for a minute, but not necessarily ours in this country. Mark, the debut of this exhibit ends up sparking this criticism of the AGO’s track record when it comes to making space for contemporary art that actually intersects with hip-hop.
Mark: The context is this is a traveling exhibition. This is the Baltimore Museum of Art partnering with the Saint Louis Art Museum, bringing their 50th anniversary [of hip-hop] show to Toronto. [The anniversary] was two years ago. The kindest kind of criticism is that we get the leftovers from America’s celebration of hip-hop’s 50th, and it’s sprinkled and decorated with one or two or three or four local Toronto artists.
But that’s not the whole story, right? The Art Gallery of Ontario is a crown corporation, it represents the entire province of Ontario. Shout out to Ottawa, the Ottawa Art Gallery did 83 ’til infinity during hip-hop’s 50th year, they did a whole show just on the history of hip-hop in Ottawa. So you have artists from those cities, there are pieces that the AGO could have borrowed and actually represented Ontario a little bit stronger in it.
I think the most important criticism is that it really continues U.S. media imperialism. You have a touring show, it comes outside of the country, and then the local Toronto artists end up being on the periphery of this show. So shout out Patrick Nichols, we have A Great Day in Toronto Hip Hop photo. But look beyond that, look how many pieces there are. And then you have us saying, “Yeah, we’re also here too.” No, we’re right in the middle of this. There are so many acts that don’t become international acts if they don’t come on stage at [Toronto’s] Concert Hall when [Toronto DJ] Ron Nelson’s putting on these events. That’s when Biz Markie, LL Cool J, Rakim, Queen Latifah realize, “Oh, I’m an artist, I’m an international artist.” This is when they get passports, you know what I’m saying? So Toronto is central to hip-hop’s global presence, and the fact [is] that we have to beg and be on the margins and be an afterthought. I mean, the real question is: why isn’t there a hip-hop 50th show in Toronto?
Elamin: Aaron, you are based in Kitchener, you are an emcee and an art curator. When you think about the centrality of how we talk about how important Toronto is to hip-hop, do you find that we tend to centre Toronto too much and maybe not focus on the rest of the regions and their contributions to hip-hop?
Aaron: I mean, that’s not an unfair statement, definitely. There’s no blueprint for how an artist outside of the city of Toronto finds themselves gaining attention in the Toronto art market. I think of artists of Kitchener, such as Simone Patricia or Alana Decker, these are dope artists that have shown in every major institution in KW, several times over, but then how did they make the leap to the AGO? Even in my own experience with Vintage Black Canada, my archive, I’ve done really well for myself, but it wouldn’t be without the patronage that first came from the BAND Gallery Toronto, that I was able to to myself show in the AGO a couple of times.
You can listen to the full discussion from today’s show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Panel produced by Ty Callender.
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