This presentation looks at the question “At what point(s) in the research lifecycle can an art library facilitate visual art research?” in relation to an ongoing research-creation project that I began during a spring/summer residency at Artexte in 2018, and that will culminate in a publication to be co-published by this non-profit Canadian arts organization and myself in 2023.
 
Entitled Who Was Who Was Who in Contemporary Canadian Art, the residency and publication explore and document Canadian artists from the 1960s onwards who use pseudonyms, personae, alter egos and other kinds of alternate identities in their art practice. This bilingual (English/French) publication takes the form of a print and openly accessible artists’ biographical dictionary with distinct but related entries for the artists and their alternate identities.
 
Through the use of concrete examples in my presentation, I will argue that an art library like Artexte’s can facilitate visual art research throughout the entire research lifecycle in numerous and invaluable ways.