Dr. Bruce Barber is an interdisciplinary media artist, cultural historian and curator whose research and writing explores the representation of art, art-ists and art history in film, television, cartoons and comics. He holds a BFA (1973), and MFA in Sculpture and Art History from Auckland University, New Zealand (1975); an MFA (Intermedia), NSCAD (1978), and PhD (2005), Media and Communications, European Graduate School, Leuk Stadt, Swit-zerland.
His interdisciplinary artwork has been exhibited internationally at the Paris Biennale, Sydney Biennale, 49th Parallel Gallery, the New Museum of Con-temporary Art, Walter Phillips Gallery, London Regional Gallery, McMaster Museum of Art, Auckland City Art Gallery, Artspace Galleries in Sydney and Auckland, and is represented in various public and private collections. Bar-ber’s interdisciplinary art practice is documented in the publications Reading Rooms and Bruce Barber Work 1970-2008. He is best known for his per-formance work, neo-conceptual reading and writing rooms, Squat projects and his theoretical writing and theory on littoral art, cultural intervention and other relational art practices.
Barber is the editor of Essays on Performance and Cultural Politiciza-tion and of Conceptual Art: the NSCAD Connection 1967-1973. He is co-editor, with Serge Guilbaut and John O'Brian of Voices of Fire: Art Rage, Power, and the State. Editor of Condé +Beveridge: Class Works (2008); al-so, author of Performance [Performance] and Performers: Essays and Con-versations (2 volumes) edited by Marc James Léger (2008), and Trans/Actions: Art, Film and Death (2008), Littoral Art & Communicative Action edited by Marc James Léger (2013). His critical essays have ap-peared internationally in numerous anthologies, art journals and magazines. He is presently completing a book titled Popular Modernisms: Art, Cartoons, Comics and Cultural In/Subordination.
Dr. Barber, has been a faculty member at NSCAD for 38 years, after teach-ing aspiring students in media arts and film history for close to four decades, Directing the MFA program and Chairing the Division of Media Arts for sev-eral terms, Dr. Barber retired from the classroom in December 2019 but as a Professor Emeritus has continued to advise graduate students.


Statement

Since the early 1970s, Bruce Barber has worked in an interdisciplinary manner in sculpture, per-formance, installation, film, video and photography developing propositional and situational works that engage and question social, cultural and political regimes of power. Originally from Auckland, New Zealand where he studied at Elam School of Art (1969-1975) in the influential experimental sculpture and intermedia program, he has been based in Canada for four decades, exhibiting in-ternationally, yet retaining strong professional ties with New Zealand and Australia.

Two major survey exhibitions in Sydney and Auckland (2008-2009), the largest to date undertaken on Barber’s art practice, encompassed the full range of work from photographed Found Situa-tions, performance actions and video work of the early 1970s, through to the interdisciplinary Reading Rooms (1-5) begun in the 1980’s and Squat Projects (Writing Rooms) of the 1990s and beyond, culminating in a “Situation Room” project regarding immigration, citizenship, identity pol-itics and alterity developed in-situ while undertaking a visiting artist residency at Artspace in Syd-ney. First exhibited in 2008 at Artspace Sydney, I Swear consisted of a series of billboards, an ar-chive of media topics in a reading room, a video, and a seminar with invited guests to discuss con-temporary issues engaging the topics of immigration and citizenship. I Swear 13 (May 2017 - 22 October 2017) at te tuhi centre for the arts in Auckland continued the exploration of the politics of citizenship through the ongoing works. The most recent “Bertrand Russell Reading Room” project exhibition and event in conjunction with the Undying Hope for this Dangerous World exhibition, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Bertrand Russell archives at McMaster University, began in September 2018 with a special event and an exhibition environment – complete with recreated version of Russell’s cell in Brixton Prison – highlighting the life, work, and continued relevance of the renowned British philosopher and mathematician. From Barber’s early conceptual perfor-mances using the body and installations through to new projects, his art practice continues to demonstrate the potential for art to engage in communicative action towards social change.

Continuing to be based in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he was recently awarded the status of Pro-fessor Emeritus at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Bruce Barber has exhibit-ed and published internationally. His art practice is documented in the publications Reading Rooms and Bruce Barber Work 1970-2008 and he is the author of Performance [Performance] and Performers: Essays and Conversations (2 volumes) (2008), Trans/Actions: Art, Film and Death (2009) and Littoral Art and Communicative Action (2013). He is also the editor of Essays on Per-formance and Cultural Politicization and of Conceptual Art: the NSCAD Connection 1967-1973; NSCAD: The 80’s; Conde + Beveridge: Class Works and co-editor, with Serge Guilbaut and John O'Brian of Voices of Fire: Art Rage, Power and the State.