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Home / What's This? Understanding Contemporary Art - DVD

What's This? Understanding Contemporary Art - DVD ONF/NFB


Catalogue Number:  NFB527810
Producer:  National Film Board Of Canada
Producers:  Sheila Petzold
Directors:  Chris Mullington
Producing Agencies:  Musée des beaux-arts du Canada (Ottawa), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), The Television Factory (Ottawa)
Subject:  Architecture, Arts, Documentary, First Nations Studies, Indigenous Peoples
Language:  English
Grade Level:  Post Secondary
Country Of Origin:  Canada
Copyright Year:  1996
Running Time:  28:35
Closed Captions:  Yes


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An introduction to the richness and diversity of the National Gallery of Canada's contemporary art collection, this video features works by Canadian and international artists from the 1970s through to the present. What's This? Understanding Contemporary Art is organized into nine sections and highlights paintings, sculptures, installations and photographs. Beginning with the question "What is contemporary art?" the video addresses fundamental questions about contemporary art: Why does it look so simple? How should we look at it? This video provides personal insights into why artists create and looks at the wide range of materials they use and the effects that photography and new technologies have on their work. What's This? also examines the role that language and history have played in shaping the art of Canada's First Nations.


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