Breathless Days 1959 – 1960: A Chronotropic Experiment presents selected work by international artists who variously, were interested in poetry, jazz, queer culture, existentialism, new movements in film, and whose work impacted the development of modern culture on the west coast. The exhibition is a group project that is co-curated by Scott Watson, Director and Curator of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and graduate students in the Critical and Curatorial Studies and the Art History programs at the University of British Columbia. The works in this exhibition are from the public collections of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the Vancouver Art Gallery, and from the private collections of Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft, and of Geoffrey Farmer.

Breathless Days 1959 – 1960: A Chronotropic Experiment complements a conference named after Jean-Luc Godard’s film, À bout de souffle. Combined with the idea of a chronotrope, an instrument that alters the rate of a beating heart, the paintings, photographs, collages and prints in this exhibition propose a curatorial experiment, a tumultuous weaving of connections between cultures, nations and economies from Vancouver, Cape Dorset, Paris and San Francisco at the dawn of the space age. At this moment in 1959 – 1960, abstract expressionism and tachism are regionally domesticated, the Inuit print comes into existence, the Beat movement is absorbed by consumer culture, while global links in the art world are increasing and the Cold War is reaching a critical pitch.

Included are works by B.C. Binning, Agostino Bonalumi, Valerios Caloutsis, Kenneth Coutts-Smith, Jean Dubuffet, Tom Field, Russell FitzGerald, Robert Frank, Gustave, Brion Gysin, Fran Herndon, Innukjuakjuk, Jess, Kenojuak, Kiakshuk, Ann Kipling, Roy Kiyooka, Marion Nicoll, Toni Onley, Margaret Peterson, Joe Plaskett, Rotraut, Jack Shadbolt, Shequak, Simionee Quppapik, Nancy Spero, Tudlik, Weegee and Joyce Wieland.

Conference:
This exhibition is held in conjunction with a conference Breathless Days: 1959-1960 on May 1 – 2 and 7, 2010, held at Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Room 301, 1961 East Mall, UBC. The conference is organized by the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia and brings together international scholars from history, art history, English and criticism. For more information, see the conference website .

The curatorial group for Breathless Days 1959 – 1960: A Chronotropic Experiment is Carla Benzan, Allison Collins, Shaun Dacey, Aldona Dziedziejko, Darrin Martens, Sarah Todd and Scott Watson. The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery thanks the Vancouver Art Gallery, Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft, and Geoffrey Farmer; Le Consulat général de France à Vancouver and Pacific Cinémathèque; the UBC School of Music Contemporary Players and Tom Lee Music; and the Canada Council for the Arts.

A New music concert by the UBC Contemporary Players in conjunction with the show Breathless Days 1959-1960: A Chronotropic Experiment.