Since the late twentieth century, shifts in what we ask and expect of art have irrevocably changed our cultural landscape. In a world struggling to break from the past, utopian longings have begun to inform the dreams of artists, curators and cultural workers. The questioning of tradition, structure and power have become essential in creation, curation and even bureaucracy. The implementation of federal and provincial government funding programs and experimental initiatives to restructure art institutions have started to reflect a changing diversity in Canadian and global artworlds. Cultural workers, at the helm of educational and professional institutions, in turn have vitally reshaped the world we inhabit, and our contemporary conversations about art and visual culture. The Canadian milieu has changed to reflect a growing awareness of experiences and knowledge systems previously not considered, while educational tactics and practices must also continually evolve to match our expansive goals. 

The exhibition Educating Our Desires, equity-deserving action within artist-led spaces at Optica centre d’art contemporain from 2 November to 14 December 2024 addressed concepts of inclusion and representation in Canadian art institutions. Co-curators Amber Berson and Felicity Tayler selected works representing material traces and digital possibilities of expansive practices inside radically-shifting institutions. 

Berson and Tayler, having both written extensively on structures that support the culture of artist-run centres in Canada, wanted to explore the collective desire for alternate futures, “educated by the actions of the past.”¹ They invited the artists to

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