The World Upside Down
Richard William Hill

The world upside down, as visualized by artists, is one in which the symbolic order is turned on its head. This publication of a group exhibition surveys the strategy of symbolic inversion used by contemporary artists, while also providing historical context on Western and Indigenous North American traditions of inversion. As an artistic strategy, inversion illuminates and challenges the visual conventions that police social hierarchies. In each inversion documented here the artist turns a hierarchical dichotomy upside down. In most cases the dichotomy does not survive the experience, ultimately breaking down under the strain of its own absurdity and liberating us - if only for the moment - from its tyranny. Among the many artists using a wide variety of strategies are Rosalie Favell, Shelley Niro, Lori Blondeau and General Idea.

Musée d'art de Joliette / Agnes Etherington Art Centre / Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (01/2009)
176 pp 43 col. ill. 11 x 7.5 in hardcover 978-1-894773-28-7 $29.99 Can $32.00 U.S. (20 euros)

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Art Metropole: The Top 100
Kitty Scott, Jonathan Shaughnessy, Peggy Gale & AA Bronson

Founded in 1974 by artist group General Idea, Art Metropole was one of the first artist-run centres in Canada as well as one of the first to collect and preserve international art ephemera from the 1960s on. These rare multiples, mail art pieces, artist's books and audio works by major figures such as Maria Abramovic, Christian Boltanski, Chris Burden and John Cage, are now housed in the National Gallery of Canada. From the collection of over 13,000 items, one hundred have been chosen to illustrate a movement and a time. Among the writers, Peggy Gale provides a history of both Art Metropole and General Idea. AA Bronson, co-founder of General Idea, offers a text generated from the alphabetical checklist of 'The Top 100'. The artist uses both objects and people as starting points for anecdotal and personal commentaries on individual works and artists. This singular publication is an essential resource for students, teachers and anyone interested in the origins of contemporary art practice as related by those who were there.

National Gallery of Canada (12/2006) 140 pp 100 ill. 9 x 7 in softcover 9-780888-848215 $32.00 Can./U.S. (26 euros)

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General Idea: Showcards
Peggy Gale

Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography/ Musée canadien de la photographie contemporaine (1994) 28 pp ill.,10 x 7 No ISBN $0.25 Can./U.S.

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