FIFTY YEARS — Networks
zine project published through Open Space, 2022
Edited by Dani Neira
FIFTY YEARS is an irregularly-published, xeroxed zine which functions as a container for research, archival selections, and participatory engagements as Open Space considers what it means to be in operation for 50 years on lək̓ʷəŋən land.
This issue pulls from Open Space’s archive to build a non-chronological assemblage of images, clippings, correspondences, and artist projects. Drawing inspiration from early mail art networks, the zine features an “Artist Classifieds” list which compiles requests and contact information submitted to us by artists.
Both mail art and artist-run culture arose from a desire to build decentralized networks and alternative avenues for artistic production and collaboration. Over fifty years later, our lives are arguably more interconnected than ever, and artist-run centres have become established in the ecology of the Canadian art system. By considering what the methodology of networks might offer us today, we can create a generative tie between pre- and post- internet life. Through this temporal relationship we can explore how we have — and continue to — tend to our networks, human or otherwise. As we negotiate the artist-run centre’s current and potential role within the arts system, this archival engagement provides an insight into the ethos which built it, and considers the artistic and bureaucratic relationships which sustain it.
