Marc Mayer: Enlightening Talks for Evolving Times
Enlightening Talks for Evolving Times
We live in times that sense the need for change. The flames of change are fanned by eminent, enlightening, inspiring personalities. Sudbury’s Place des Arts invites you to come and listen to outstanding public figures who have used the keys of art to open gateways to the future.
This prestigious series of talks presents voices that are vital for our times. Their creative works and innovative thinking can be catalysts for self-renewal through the sharing of mutually respected identities. Their presence at Sudbury’s Place des Arts promises enlightening moments for evolving times.
Please join us for this prestigious series of talks hosted by Dr. Simon Laflamme, a distinguished sociologist and philosopher.
Marc Mayer
Some works were controversial, and some universally applauded, but this is the art and these are artists who inspired me the most.
Marc Mayer
What I Bought For You. Reminiscing on his career as a public collector of art, Sudbury native Marc Mayer’s show-and-tell will cover many of the cultural wonders he and his teams have acquired for the public over the years, and he’ll explain his passion for them. From creators as diverse as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Judy Chicago, to Canadian classics Jack Bush and Alex Janvier; from old masters Pierre Paul Prud’hon and Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun, and internationally recognized Canadians Rebecca Belmore and Geoffrey Farmer, it will be a stimulating evening of art and ideas.
Marc Mayer, a distinguished figure in the world of art, hailing from Sudbury, Ontario, has left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of Canada and the United States.
Marc Mayer, a native of Sudbury, Ontario, has held senior positions in five museums in Canada and the United States: Director and CEO, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2009-2019); Directeur general, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2004-2008); Deputy Director for Art, the Brooklyn Museum, New York (2001-2004); Director, Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto (1998-2001); and Curator, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (1994-1998).
Previously, he promoted contemporary Canadian art abroad, notably in Paris at the Centre culturel du Canada (1990-1993) and New York at 49th Parallel, Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art (1986-1990). A writer, curator, art historian, and lecturer, Marc has organized dozens of exhibitions over the years and published widely on art and arts policy. His most notable exhibitions include the National Gallery’s Jack Bush retrospective (with Sarah Stanners) of 2014; the Jean-Michel Basquiat retrospective of 2005, and Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party of 2002, both for the Brooklyn Museum.
The author of numerous publications, his Art in Canada, 2017, was published to honour the sesquicentennial of Confederation. In 2019, Marc was cast as a “resident judge,” along with Toronto artist Joanne Tod, on Marble Media’s Landscape Artist of the Year Canada which aired in the Fall of 2020 on CBC. His one-hour lecture, The Forest Floor of the Art World, aired twice on CBC Ideas, in October 2020 and in April 2021. More recently, he has organized two exhibitions of work by celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky: Le Paysage abstrait, now on view at Arsenal Contemporary Montreal, and the artist’s upcoming 2024 retrospective at the Saatchi Gallery in London.
This summer, Marc was named Director of Arsenal Contemporary, New York, a gallery specializing in contemporary Canadian art. In 2022, Marc Mayer was awarded the Order of Canada for his service to the visual arts.
Just as you can’t see the forest for the trees, you can’t see art for the art works. We must understand forest, not just trees.
Marc Mayer
Simon Laflamme – Host of the Enlightening Talks for Evolving Times
Simon Laflamme studied philosophy and sociology. He has been teaching at Laurentian University (Sudbury, Ontario) since 1984 where he lectures in theory and methodology in the sociology program and the interdisciplinary Ph.D. in human studies.
He is one of the founders of the journal Nouvelles Perspectives en sciences sociales.
His research focuses on various issues of communication, economics and relationships between populations according to whether they constitute a minority or a majority.
He develops a relational theory at the macrological and micrological levels. At the macro level, he has created a trialectical model by which it is possible to analyze simultaneously, in a given society, the circulation of goods, ideas and people. At the micro level, by focusing on relational dimension of human being, he has been critical of phenomenological approaches and he has created, in 1995, the concept of emorationality.
