Artist

Clive Robertson

Working as an artist, curator, critic and artist historian since 1972, Clive Robertson attended art colleges in Plymouth, Liverpool and Cardiff before receiving an MFA (Performance Art Studies) from the University of Reading (UK) in 1971, and a doctorate in Communication Studies, Concordia, 2006. As an emerging artist, curator and publisher he worked with Fluxus artists, Joseph Beuys, Robert Filliou, Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles while curating a number of defining Canadian and international performance and video festivals in the 1970s, and media arts exhibitions and events in the 1980s and 1990s. His performance, video and audio works have been seen and heard in North and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Japan and Australia. THEN + THEN AGAIN: Practices Within An Artist-Run Culture, 1969-2006 was a national touring archival retrospective exhibition (2007-11) of his individual and collaborative art, curatorial and publishing projects. His work was also currently featured in the Canadian touring exhibition TRAFFIC: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965- 1980.

Prior to teaching art history and cultural studies at Queen's, for 30 years Clive worked as a media artist, theorist, practitioner and national policy spokesperson within the artist-run centre movement directing interdisciplinary production and display spaces in Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa. An exemplar of multi-format publishing, Clive is a founding editor/publisher of Voicespondence Audio Art Publishing, Arton's Video Publishing and Centerfold/ FUSE magazine. His writings on art and culture have appeared in Art & Artists, artsCanada, Parachute, FILE, FUSE, La Mamelle, High Performance, Parallélogramme, C Magazine, Public, Inter, Akimbo and RACAR, with 23 book chapters published on performance, media arts, cultural politics and policy.

Clive's current research project, "Living in our Sixties," is a feature-length video documentary on an early 1960s formation of artist friends and colleagues in England and Wales and their connective paths and passions as artists, poets and musicians.

Artist Code: 067

Videography

Trade Winds (Canada) Ltd

1992, 14:00 minutes, colour, English

The Ganser Syndrome

1987, 46:15 minutes, colour, English

Late Night with Fuse

1987, 90:34 minutes

Qu'est qu'un homme peut faire?

1986, 20:00 minutes, colour, English

Artists Union Rally, March 16, 1985

1985, 14:10 minutes, colour, English

Lunar Re-Appraisal

1979, 17:00 minutes, colour, English

In Video Traction

1977, 16:46 minutes, English

Porta Filliou

1977, 47:00 minutes, B&W, English

Critical Writing

Trading on Art: Cultural Diplomacy and Free Trade in North America
by Sarah E. K. Smith. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2025.
TRANS PACIFIC TRANS MISSIONS. Video Art Across the Pacific
by Haema Sivanesan et al. Victoria: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 2016.
Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965-1980
by Grant Arnold and Karen Henry. Edmonton: Art Gallery of Alberta, 2012.
Then + Then Again: Talking with Clive Robertson about artist-run...
by Vera Frenkel. Fuse, July 2007, v. 30, no. 3.
Like Mangoes in July: The Work of Richard Fung
by Helen Lee and Kerri Sakamoto. Insomiac Press, 2002.
The story is always partial: A conversation with Vera Frenkel:...
by Dot Tuer and Clive Robertson. Art Journal, Winter 1998, v. 57, no. 4.
Art as a way of life in festival show; [Final Edition]
by Nancy Baele. Ottawa Citizen, Sept. 16, 1989.
Introduction
by Clive Robertson. Forbidden Representations: An exhibit of lesbian art, 1988. Ottawa: Galerie Saw Video, 1988.
Video Structures: Back to Basic Memory
by Clive Robertson. Parallelogramme, Summer 1987, v. 12, no. 5.
"Habits" by YYZ, Toronto: Invitation To A Screening
by Phil Van Steenburgh. Cinema Canada, July 1986, no. 132.
John Greyson: Colliding Atoms Of A Gay Culture
by Clive Robertson. High Performance, Dec. 1986, no. 36.
Making privateness public in stunning art
by Christopher Hume. The Toronto Star, Apr. 4, 1986.
Habits:Five Video Premieres
by Varda Burstyn. Canadian Art, Fall 1986, v. 3, no. 3.
Three's Company: CBC-Telefilm-CFDC
by Clive Robertson. Fuse, Winter 1986.
Video As A Social Tool: Video As A Social Tool/Video Is A Social Tool
by Karen Henry. Satellite Video Exchange Society, Dec. 1986, v. 15, no. 5.
Performance Art Re-Visited: Rhonda Abrams: The Sugar Bushman
by Clive Robertson. Fuse, May 1986, v. 9, no. 6.
Artists paint bleak picture but cheer guaranteed income
by Stephen Godfrey. The Globe and Mail, June 6, 1986.
Oh Kanada!
by Clive Robertson. Parallelogramme, 1983, v. 8, no. 3.
Vtape service: constructing the comprehensive model
by Clive Robertson. Fuse, Winter 1983, v. 7, no. 4.
Intervention
by Clive Robertson. O Kanada, 1982. Toronto: Canada Council for the Arts, 1982.
Okanada
by Naim Kattan et al. Berlin: Akademie der Kunste, 1982.
VIDEO/VIDEO: If this event was a dry run for PAY-TV, one must view...
by Clive Robertson. Fuse, Nov. 1981, v. 5, no. 8 & 9.
Discontinuous Notes on and After a Meeting of Critics, By One of...
by Vera Frenkel. artscanada, Mar. 1981, no. 240.
Introduction
by Clive Robertson. Fuse, Jan. 1980, v. 4, no. 2.
Art Toronto '80. B. A Space at 222.
by Tom Sherman et al. Toronto: A Space (Artists Space), 1980.
Explaining Pictures To Dead Air: The Robertson/Beuys Admixture
by Peggy Gale. Parachute, Spring 1979, no. 14.
Mainly Smoke: As the World Burns
by Clive Robertson. Centerfold, Apr. 1979, v. 3, no. 4.
Introduction:: International Video Art Symposium
by Linda J. Milrod. International Video Art Symposium - Queen's University, Mar. 5, 1979.
TV Art in the Home
by Clive Robertson. International Video Art Symposium - Queen's University, Mar. 5, 1979.
Fifth Network, Cinquiéme Réseau: Conférence Vidéo à Toronto
by Andrée Duchaine. Parachute, Winter 1978, no. 13.
The 1978 Canadian Video Open
by Lisa Steele. Centerfold, Apr. 1978, v. 2, no. 4.
Randy and Berneche: Centre of a Tension
by Clive Robertson. Centerfold, Dec. 1978, v. 3, no. 1.
Télé-performances/ Toronto
by Rober Racine. Parachute, Winter 1978, no. 13.
The 1978 Canadian Video Open
by Peggy Gale. Calgary: Canadian Video Open, 1978.
In Video
by Peggy Gale and Bruce Ferguson. Halifax: Dalhousie Art Gallery, 1977.
W.O.R.K.S A Conceptographic Reading of Our World Thermometer
by Paul Woodrow. artscanada, Oct. 1973, v. 30, no. 4.