Throughout its twenty-year history, Gendai has supported experimental curatorial and organizational practices, whilst creating space for East Asian artists and artists of colour. As Gendai’s newest stewards, we (Marsya Maharani and Petrina Ng) are investing in the future of racialized arts leadership through collective research and practice.
We began with Gendai MA MBA: Mastering the Art of Misguided Business Administration: a year-long capacity-development & network-building think tank between nine majority-BIPOC art collectives to critique and re-imagine institutional practices by centering values of collectivity, equity, and access.
This developed into Gendai CO-OP: an ongoing research that responds to toxic labour conditions especially experienced by BIPOC arts workers at museums and art galleries. Using gossip as a methodology to trace the contours of institutional power, we build relationships with emerging and mid-career arts practitioners of colour to learn about current workplace dynamics in the sector. Through peer mentorship and access to Gendai’s platform, resources, and network, we have been experimenting with how we can support racialized workers who seek to pursue non-institutional futures.
We are especially interested in working with arts practitioners/collectives who are motivated to imagine or develop “off-ramps” from the linear expressway of traditional, capitalist, and institutional career progression in the arts.
Gendai currently exists and works as uninvited guests on Turtle Island.
email us: gendaiclub [at] gmail [dot] [com]
Gendai’s work and research is inspired by and builds upon the labour of many collaborators, dreamers, allies, and activists. This list is ongoing and non-exhaustive.
Thank you to Abedar Kamgari, Alexandra Hong, Alize Zorlutuna, Amandeep Malhi, Annie Wong, Anu Radha Verma, Astria Suparak, BAM Collective, Basic Income: An Artists’ Commission, Beau Lai, Bump TV, Chinatown Biennial, Daniella Sanader, Durable Good, EMILIA-AMALIA, Emma Steen, Emily Cook, Eva Verity, Farihah Shah, Fatma Hendawy, Friends of Chinatown Toronto, Geneviève Wallen, Glory Hole Gallery, Gudskul, Haema Sivanesan, Hannah Somers, Indu Vashist, Jasmine Mander, Jeannie Kim, Joshua Vettivelu, Lan “Florence” Yee, Lisa Myers, Macy Siu, Make or Break, Making Space, Marina Fathalla, MICE Magazine, Museum Professionals of Colour, Nadia Bello, Nala Haileselassie, Noa Bronstein, Patricia Ritacca, Peter Rahul, Rea McNamara, Rice Water Collective, Sanaa Humayun, Sandy Saad-Smith, Sameer Farooq, Simranpreet Anand, Souped Up, Su-Ying Lee, Suzanne Carte, Tea Base, Tian Zhang, Whippersnapper Gallery, Xpace Cultural Centre, Yao Collaborative, Yolkless Press, Younger Than Beyonce, Zinnia Naqvi + more.
History
In 2000, Gendai was originally founded as Gendai Gallery with a mandate to promote excellence in art and design by Canadian and international artists of Japanese ancestry. The public gallery was house within Toronto’s Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.
In 2009, Gendai’s mandate was reshaped, shifting focus to cultivate dialogue through contemporary art, focusing on experimental collaborations with contemporary artists and organizations for the production and dissemination of artwork from East Asian perspectives.
In 2019, Gendai’s members sought to retire and invited proposals from a new generation of cultural producers to redefine the organization’s future, as an innovative venture in succession planning. Independent curator Marsya Maharani and artist Petrina Ng were gifted the name of Gendai to begin a new direction based on their vision to research and practice collective values in operational methodologies and its potential to empower the entire sector.
Previous Gendai members:
Tings Chak, Stephen Chong, Ravi Dindayal, Emily Fitzpatrick, Ken Fukushima, Tadaaki, Hozumi, Yosh Inouye, Marilyn Jung, Chris Lee, Serena Lee, Tani Miki, Joni Moriyama, Banri Nakamura, Michiko Nakamura, Louise Noguchi, Karen Okada, Midi Onodera, Gail Park, Kerri Sakamoto, Kay Sunahara, Walter T. Sunahara, Yoshiko Sunahara, Aiko Suzuki, Anna Suzuki, Daisuke Takeya, Samson Tam, Maiko Tanaka, Yan Wu, Tak Yano, Juno Young.