Studio Adrien Gardère

The National Gallery of Canada has appointed the Studio Adrien Gardère to undertake the most ambitious transformation of its Canadian art collection since the opening of the Moshe Safdie designed building in 1988.

By bringing together Indigenous and European collections for the first time, the Museum has sought to broaden its approach to Canadian history by recounting the influence that both European and Indigenous cultures have had on each other. The new halls showcase some 800 artworks from the Canadian and Indigenous collections with photographs from the MBAC and a selection of sculptures and historical artifacts by Inuit artists, mixed-raced and from the First Nations that have been given to the museum.

To accompany this change of historical perspective, Studio Adrien Gardère, drawing upon Moshe Safdie’s architecture and considering the works to be installed, developed a vision to expand views, passages, and sources of natural light and create a more flexible and inviting experience. Its objective is to give a new breath to the spaces, improve the experience of the visitor and create a real encounter and a real dialogue between Indigenous and Canadian collections.

Anishinaabe artist Adrienne Huard writes about the transformation of the National Gallery of Canada:

« Overall, on this visit, my preconceived expectations of the newly redesigned Canadian and Indigenous galleries were dismantled. Given that colonization is implicated in the history and current structures of all of our major art institutions, I was both surprised and impressed by the demonstrated steps that the National Gallery of Canada is taking to elevate Indigenous voices through self-representation and in solidarity with Indigenous artists.

Instead of creating an “otherness,” a divide between the Western and Indigenous perspective, NGC was able to integrate the two while providing a candid portrayal of the destructive colonization our communities have faced. In the future, I hope to see this progress as an exemplary model for other cultural spaces to encourage reconciliation for the Indigenous population of Canada. »