In operation since 1984, Skol is an artist-run centre that supports emerging art and experimentation in the visual arts. Skol invites artists and other art professionals (curators, historians, art educators, etc.) to engage with the centre as a physical and critical space to produce live experience. Using an indeterminate approach, (that is, one that does not aim for a particular result but that presents the outcome of a research project), the artist producer, researcher, organiser, thinker… is encouraged to take risks with the centre’s usership and produce new knowledge that contributes to the ongoing pursuit of artistic practice.
Skol is a place of potential, exchange, and learning opened to the participation of art professionals. It fosters and encourages trust, autonomy, experimentation, and risk-taking.
Skol’s adaptive framework enables the emergence and support of exploratory projects. It is structured by its mission, its traditions, its shared values, its programming processes, and by the continued conversations of its active members, including art professionals, volunteers, and students.
Focused on experimentation, Skol serves as a resource for the professionalization of emerging artists as well as for more established members seeking to connect and exchange through regular meetings of our «Skollège», an organisational-wide thinking body.
Much energy is dedicated to apply outreach strategies promoting our exhibition visits amongst college and university students as well as community groups. For more info, see our Apprendre/Learn section.
Skol’s programming in the gallery spaces is mainly based on projects received through its annual call for submissions, although it is also open to the creative initiatives of its active members, i.e., those who regularly take part in its various committees throughout the year. Skol also supports off-site initiatives and special events. Such projects require greater autonomy on the part of the artist in conceiving and producing the project, including financing. For more info, see call for proposals section.
In recent years, thru small and large projects, Skol has partnered with groups in both the art scene and the community at large. Whether geared toward general audiences—festivals, for instance—or toward smaller, more intimate groups, these projects are intended for the initiated and the uninitiated alike. Not only does collaboration favour access to contemporary production, it also allows for the strategic pooling of resources, the exchange of ideas, and a sharing of knowledge.
