Too Soon asks whether it is possible to understand contemporary culture while simultaneously existing within it. When writing about what he called the “topology of contemporary art” critic Boris Groys made the important observation that the cultural production of the current age “privileges the present with respect to the future and to the past.” Taking such to be true, and mindful of the obligations of the study of historical change, the study of contemporary art and the cultural implications of what is often called contemporaneity turns on the question of whether it is possible to study the present while simultaneously existing within it. At the heart of this experiential, observational and temporal concern is that of the role and perhaps necessity of distance in the critical study of cultural production. Too Soon invites exploration of this rolling spatial and temporal phenomenon through the lenses of history, theory, criticism, artistic practice, curation, design, media studies and their various combinations.

Organized by master's students in the Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories (CADN) program, Too Soon will include presentations by graduate and post-graduate students from institutions across North America. Themes include issues of agency, memory, and power; challenges of archiving the contemporary, especially digitally; hybrid and interdisciplinary practices, as well as new theory and criticism of the contemporary period.

Too Soon is pleased to announce a keynote lecture by Gaëtene Verna, director of the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, on the evening of Thursday March 14th.

All conference events are free, no registration required.