borderLine catalogue produced by Remai Modern and The Art Gallery of Alberta for the 2020 Biennial of Contemporary Art. The Exhibition runs from September 26, 2020–February 14, 2021.

A border defines an edge. Its marks beginnings and endings, a line between yours and mine, between in and out. Borders attempt to define and delineate, striving to create order and to make sense of tangible and theoretical ways of being in the world. Borders are permeable and unfixed yet they are formidable. This exhibition examines the metaphysical, geopolitical and geographical separations between realms to reveal the sites where they meet, diverge and blur. 

borderLINE seeks to probe the ways borders are defined, who has the power to enforce them, and who (or what) is confined by their limits. The artists included in the exhibition speak to these critical questions on a formal and conceptual level, uncovering both physical borders and those that exist in our subconscious and unconscious. The works in this exhibition consider how we live with the land and with each other, exposing privilege, reciprocity and erasures. Bringing together 34 artists and collectives across two provinces and five treaty territories, borderLINE calls attention to what is at stake when borders are drawn and where borders are contested.

The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) in Edmonton is partnering with Remai Modern to develop and present borderLINE, the 2020 Biennial of Contemporary Art. The exhibition will run concurrently in both Edmonton and Saskatoon with different artists and works being presented in each city.

Remai Modern's exhibition features work by Judy Anderson and Cruz Anderson, Cindy Baker, Elisabeth Belliveau, Heather Benning, Lisa Birke, Bill Burns, Thirza Jean Cuthand, Wally Dion, Don Gill, Laura Hale, Laura Kinzel, Michèle Mackasey, Barbara Meneley, Tim Moore, Lyndal Osborne, Nurgül Rodriguez, Laura St. Pierre, and Blair Fornwald and Nic Wilson.

CURATORIAL TEAM

Sandra Fraser, Curator (Collections), Remai Modern

Felicia Gay, Guest Curator, Remai Modern

Lindsey Sharman, Curator, Art Gallery of Alberta

Franchesca Hebert-Spence, Adjunct Curator of Indigenous Arts, Art Gallery of Alberta