Clive Robertson (artist)
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Clive Robertson, (born 1946) is a Canadian performance and media artist, critic, curator, publisher and retired Queen's University art history professor. He is based in
Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...
.


Life

Clive Robertson immigrated to Canada in 1957, settling in Traynor, Saskatchewan and in 1971 moved to
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
, Alberta. He is a son of RAF pilot, actor, and Canadian educational TV pioneer Alan Robertson. Robertson attended Plymouth, Cardiff and Liverpool Colleges of Art in the UK before obtaining an MFA in Sculpture/Performance Studies at the
University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...
, England in 1971. He holds a PhD in Communication Studies from
Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...
, Montréal with a dissertation on artist-run culture as a movement and apparatus. Robertson has been recognised as a force for artist organisation advocacy and served in the 1970s as President and in the late 1980s as National Spokesperson for ANNPAC/RACA (Association of National non-profit Artist Centres). Following a Contemporary Art Research Fellowship at the
National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...
in 1994, Robertson received a full-time appointment to teach contemporary art history at Queen's University in 1999 where he also helped inaugurate the graduate programme in cultural studies. As a critic he has published in: ''artscanada; Art and Artists; Centerfold; FILE; La Mamelle; Parachute; Only Paper Today;
FUSE Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protec ...
; C Magazine; Our Times; Remote Control; Parallelogramme; Inter;'' and ''High Performance.'' He retired from teaching in 2016. Clive Robertson's life partner is artist and filmmaker Frances Leeming.


Curation and publishing

Robertson began curating performance art and experimental musics in 1970 in Reading, England programming works by Stuart Marshall, Keith Wood, the
Scratch Orchestra The Scratch Orchestra was an experimental musical ensemble founded in the spring of 1969 by Cornelius Cardew, Michael Parsons and Howard Skempton. In the draft constitution published in the ''Musical Times'' of June 1969, Cardew defines a scra ...
and the
Portsmouth Sinfonia The Portsmouth Sinfonia was an English orchestra founded by a group of students at the Portsmouth School of Art in 1970. The Sinfonia was generally open to anyone and ended up drawing players who were either outsider music, people without musica ...
. With the artist and educator, Paul Woodrow, Robertson initiated the international performance art collective, W.O.R.K.S. (We.Ourselves.Roughly. Know.Something) in Calgary producing: ''The First World Festival of W.O.R.K.S.'' (1972); the artist television series, ''Conceptographic Reading of Our World Thermometer'' (1973); and the community cable satire program, ''Live Lice'' (1974). Robertson started the audio art magazine, ''Voicespondence'' in 1974 as a W.O.R.K.S. project. With Don Mabie and Marcella Bienvenue, Robertson directed the Parachute Center for Cultural Affairs (later Arton's Publishing) a Calgary artist-run centre famous for its interdisciplinary focus including the production of the magazine, ''Centerfold'' (1976–80);
Robert Filliou Robert Filliou (17 January 1926 – 2 December 1987) was a French artist associated with Fluxus, who produced works as a filmmaker, action poet, sculptor, and happenings maestro. Life In 1943, Filliou became a member of the French Communis ...
's videotape, ''Porta Filliou'' (1977) and a national video art festival, ''The Canadian Open'' (1978,1979). In 1978, Robertson and Bienvenue moved Arton's Publishing to Toronto where with media artists
Lisa Steele Lisa Steele (born 1947) is a Canadian artist, a pioneer in video art, educator, curator and co-founder of Vtape in Toronto. Born in the United States, Steele moved to Canada in 1968 and is now a Canadian citizen. She has collaborated exclusivel ...
and Tom Sherman, Robertson became a founding publisher and editor of ''
FUSE Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protec ...
'', the art/media/politics magazine (1980–2014) In 1978 ''Voicespondence'' began publishing as an indy label where Robertson produced or co-produced first vinyl releases by The Government (1978), Clive Robertson (1981,1985), Gayap Rhythm Drummers (1982), the Dub Poets –
Lillian Allen Lillian Allen (born 5 April 1951) is a Canadians, Canadian dub poetry, dub poet, writer and Juno Award winner. Biography Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, Spanish Town, Jamaica, she left that country in 1969, first moving to New York City, where ...
, Clifton Joseph, Devon Haughton (1983),
Fifth Column A fifth column is a group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. The activities of a fifth column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize ...
(1983), and the Plasterscene Replicas (1984). In the 1980s through to the 2000s Clive Robertson also curated projects for A Space, Toronto; Trinity Square Video, Toronto; SAW Gallery, Ottawa; Oboro, Montréal; Centre d'exhibition d'Amos, Québec; Modern Fuel and the
Agnes Etherington Art Centre The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is located in Kingston, Ontario, on the campus of Queen's University. The gallery has received a number of awards for its exhibitions from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Association of Art Galleries ...
, Kingston; and M:ST (Mountain Standard Time Festival) in Calgary In 2006 with Modern Fuel curator, Jenn Snider, Robertson co-organized a touring archival retrospective exhibition of his individual and collaborative projects, ''Then + Then Again – Practices Within An Artist-Run Culture 1969–2005''. Between 2007 and 2012 ''Then +Then Again'' was shown in Kingston, Quebec City, St.Catherines, Peterborough, London, Toronto, Windsor, Ottawa, Calgary and Saskatoon.


Selected works

Clive Robertson's audio, installation, video, sculpture and performance works have been seen, heard and/or collected in many countries including England, Wales, Canada, U.S., Germany, Poland, France, Holland, Japan and Australia. Performances include: ''12,13,8,11'' (1970); ''Air-To-Earth Parachute Jump'' (1971); ''Conversation Piece'' (at Corrugated Cardboard Products Ltd) (1971); ''A Year of..F'' (with Sue Clancy) (1972–73); ''The Sculptured Politics of
Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( ; ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...
'' (1975); ''In Video Traction'' (with Marcella Bienvenue) (1976); ''Explaining Pictures To Dead Air'' (1978); ''The Intervenors'' (with Janet Martin) (1982); ''In A Drunken Stupor'' (1983); ''The Ganser Syndrome'' (with Johanna Householder and Frances Leeming) (1987); ''The Sinking of The Gigantic'' (with Frances Leeming); ''Taschibosen – The Bridge'' (1991); ''Turning the Page'' (2002); ''The Confessional Archive Toolshed'' (2000); ''The Butler and The Secretary'' (with
Germaine Koh Germaine Koh (born 1967) is a Malaysian-born and Canadian conceptual artist based in Vancouver. Her works incorporate the artistic styles of neo-conceptual art, minimalism, and environmental art, and is concerned with the significance of every ...
) (2003); ''The Award'' (2014); and ''Flagging Peace'' (with
Ciara Phillips Ciara Phillips (born 1976) is a Canadian-Irish artist based primarily in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Phillips was born in Ottawa, Canada. Her higher education was completed, first, at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada (Bachelor of Fin ...
) (2016). Videoworks include: ''A Subtle Shade of Violets'' (1976); ''Lunar Re-Appraisal'' (1979); ''Speaking of Our Culture'' (1982); ''What Can A Man Say?'' (1983–86); ''Up To Scratch'' (with Craig Condy-Berggold) (1988); ''Trade Winds Canada Ltd'' (1994); ''A Grandmother and a Godfather: Kit Fahey and Joseph Beuys'' (2004); ''Il a cessé de l'aimer l'art aujourdhui (grace å George Jones)'' (2013); and ''I.O.60s'' (In Our Sixties) (2010–15). Audio and Music Albums include: ''Space Perception and Construction'' (1969); ''Family Music'' (1972); ''The Wreckin Role History of Art'' (1974); ''Popular songs'' (1981); ''Warfare versus Welfare'' (1985); and ''Isle of Retirement'' (2012).


Awards

1983-4 "A" Grant, Intermedia, The Canada Council 1986-7 "A" Grant, Performance Art, The Canada Council 1996-8 Doctoral Fellowship, SSHRC 2002 Nominated for a Governor-General's Visual and Media Arts Award 2014 Éminence Gris Award 7a*11d International Performance Art Festival 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award, ARCCO (Artist Run Centres And Collectives, Ontario)


Publications

''Conceptographic Reading Of Our World Thermometer'' (1973), with Paul Woodrow, W.O.R.K.S., Calgary. ''w.o.r.k.s.c.o.r.e.p.o.r.t.'' (1975), Beau Geste Press, Cullompton, England. ''Video By Artists'' (1976), W.O.R.K.S. in Peggy Gale, Art Metropole, Toronto, ''Performance By Artists'' (1979), Clive Robertson in
AA Bronson AA Bronson (born Michael Tims in Vancouver in 1946) is an artist. He was a founding member of the artists' group General Idea, was president and director of Printed Matter, Inc., and started the NY Art Book Fair and the LA Art Book Fair. Ea ...
and Peggy Gale, Art Metropole, Toronto. ''Performance Au/In Canada, 1970–1990'' (1991), with Alain-Martin Richard, Éditions Intervention and Coach House Press. ''Policy Matters – Administrations of Art And Culture'' (2006), Clive Robertson, YYZ Books, Toronto. "''Then + Then Again: Talking with Clive Robertson about Artist-Run Culture,''", Vera Frenkel, FUSE, Vol 30 #3, 26–37, July 2007 ''Clive Robertson, A W.O.R.K.S. Sampler'' (2016), with Judit Bodor, Gordian Projects, Glasgow-Sheffield-York, U.K.


References


External links


Online CV

Artexte entry on Clive Robertson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Clive Canadian performance artists 1946 births Living people Artists from Plymouth, Devon English emigrants to Canada Alumni of the University of Reading