Knot Project Space hosted curator Suzanne Carte, member of the Under New Management curatorial collective, whose project Video Rental Store was in operation out of Knot project space from April 26 – June 9, 2018. The store was comprised of over 200 rare DVD videos by artists and independent filmmakers who had submitted their work for inclusion in the store over its multiple iterations in different cities. Far from your typical store environment, Under New Management’s Video Rental Store is a non-commercial venture that has a unique rental policy of non-policy, and a pay-what-you-wish with what-you-wish program. Videos are returned by customers/viewers with non-monetary forms of payment that are in some way a reflection of their experience with the rented item. These payments are later mailed directly to the artists.
In the spirit of the store’s system of exchange, which encourages reflection, negotiation and dialogue, Suzanne Carte led an open group discussion about a range of topics that the Video Rental Store project seeks to explore through its intervention in the space of the gallery. Respondents in the conversation included Alison Creba, artist and MA student from Carleton University whost masters thesis work focuses on the demolition of Honest Eds in Toronto, and Ben Gianni, Associate Professor in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism whose research interests include housing and urban development.
Suzanne Carte
Suzanne Carte is an award-winning curator and cultural producer living in Toronto, Canada. She is currently the Assistant Curator at the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) and works with a dynamic team to produce high quality exhibitions and public programs. Within her independent practice, she has curated exhibitions in public spaces, artist-run centres, and commercial and public art galleries including You Cannot Kill What Is Already Dead, Video Rental Store, All Systems Go!, Under New Management, MOTEL and Man’s Ruin.
Alison Creba
Working in academic, arts and trades contexts, Alison works to articulate the relationship between cultural and physical landscapes through interdisciplinary modes of expression. Alison is interested in the built form as evidence of social processes and intrigued by the choreography of structures on multiple scales.
Benjamin Gianni
Benjamin Gianni is an Associate Professor in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University where he heads the Urbanism program. Mr. Gianni received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Arch. from Yale University. He served as Director of the School of Architecture at Carleton University from 1992-2000 and Director of the School of Information Technology from 2003-2006.
Related Programming
Exhibition: Video Rental Store, Under New Management. April 26 – June 9, 2018.