A Tour of the Art Gallery of Alberta

While visiting Alberta, it slowly became more obvious to me how deep the oil industry’s hands are in Albertan life. In this short film, I challenge how art galleries support progressive ideas, while being funded by regressive industries.

Cutting together two tours, one of the Art Gallery of Alberta, and one of a Syncrude mine (a sponsor of the gallery), I propose that these institutions are tied and bound, a bond as naturally occurring as the oil sands themselves. Together with an apology after an oil spill and a scene from the recent wet'suwet'en barricade, I question how apologies after-the-fact are used to excuse recurring travesties. Although these events, like mining itself, have a lasting impact, it’s not obvious in the gallery outside the name on a plaque. To reflect this disconnect, the film is given an archival, lo-fidelity look - as if the events form a canon of the past.

Material Used:
CBC News: The National. (2015, July 17). Huge Alberta pipeline spill [Video File]. Retrieved from:    • Huge Alberta pipeline spill  
CBC News. (2019, January 8). Rallies supporting Wet'suwet'en anti-pipeline camps across Canada [Video File]. Retrieved from:    • Rallies supporting Wet'suwet'en anti-pipel...  
STORYHIVE. (2013, January 31). myEdmonton Tour of the Art Gallery of Alberta [Video File]. Retrieved from:    • Видео  
The American Petroleum Institute. (2009, November 23). Syncrude Oil Sands Production in Alberta, Canada [Video File]. Retrieved from:    • Видео