Abstract

This thesis assesses the image of Canada that has developed through the Canadian presence at the Venice Biennale from 1988 to 2005. By examining the exhibitions, as well as their dissemination through the Canadian and foreign press, this study isolates trends that have proven influential in the production of a Canadian national image within the context of the international contemporary art scene. The time period includes exhibitions by Roland Brener and Michel Goulet, Geneviève Cadieux, Robin Collyer, Edward Poitras, Rodney Graham, Tom Dean, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Jana Sterbak, and Rebecca Belmore. Data has been collected from over eight hundred printed sources and through interviews with key participants. Three major models emerge from the dissemination of these events: the universal exposition; the Olympics of visual art; and a wonderland of visual arts. These persistent models transform the content of the exhibitions into nationalistic manifestations. A careful reading of the exhibitions, however, isolates three less obvious, but more significant trends that apply specifically to Canada: a preoccupation with the unstable distinction between fiction and reality; a concern with contradictory cultural production processes; an emphasis on the reconstruction of Canadian history. These three trends contribute to a revisionist project that effectively revisits and deconstructs the construction of a Canadian national image. The Canadian presence can thus be read as a voice of dissent in a forum where national participation is generally equated with unified national representation.