Remai Modern

Plans to develop a modern and contemporary art museum began in the late 2000s and early 2010s. These plans originated from expansion and moving plans of the former Mendel Art Gallery, which announced its intention to move to the River Landing development in April 2009. However, in November 2009, the city council of Saskatoon voted to establish a new art museum at the River Landing location. The art museum was formally incorporated on 9 July 2009 as the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan Inc. In 2011, lead patron Ellen Remai donated $15 million toward construction costs of a new art museum, $15 million to support international exhibition programs, and also donated the most comprehensive collection of Picasso linocuts to the future art museum's permanent collection. As a result of the donation, the museum announced it was rebranding as the Remai Art Gallery of Saskatchewan. Construction for the museum building began on 7 June 2013. The federal government contributed $13,020,000; the provincial government contributed $16,744,000, and the municipal government contributed $30,287,000. The final budget approved to build the museum was $84,634,160, with the remaining $24,095,160 collected through fundraisers and private donors. During construction for the museum building, the museum's Board of Directors became the subject of controversy. In December 2015, local artists submitted a letter to the Remai Modern's board requesting the removal of board member, John Gormley. In the letter, the artists referred to a Twitter post made by Gormley suggesting violence against Muslims in the wake of the November 2015 Paris attacks. Gormley remained on the board while an independent third-party review was performed. In January 2016, the third-party review found Gormley was not in breach of the Remai Modern's code of conduct. On April 12, 2016 Gormley resigned from the Remai Modern board of directors. In June 2016, the museum rebranded again as Remai Modern, with the museum's logo stylized as "rRemai mModern". Karlssonwilker was contracted by the museum for $90,000 to design the museum's logo, website, and other merchandise. Although the institution's rebranding saw "Art Gallery of Saskatchewan" omitted from its name, the museum remains formally incorporated as the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan Inc., under the province's Non-profit Corporations Act. A civic ceremony to open the museum was held on 21 October 2017, which featured First Nations and Métis performances. On the same day, Remai Modern opened its first exhibition, Field Guide. Shortly after the museum opened, the City of Saskatoon was informed that construction for the museum building had exceeded the approved budget by $2.5-$4 million, due to delays relating to drawing corrections and clarifications. == Architecture ==

stacks of the museum building The museum property is situated in River Landing, a development area of the Saskatoon's Central Business District, and is positioned in an area that overlooks a bend in the South Saskatchewan River. The design for the museum building was by Bruce Kuwabara of KPMB Architects, The building's design is influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style. The design of the building's exterior was based on region's open prairie landscape, and the barns, field sheds, and silos that occupy that space. The glass walls on the ground floor are intended to provide visitors with a sense of "transparency between the interior and the outdoors". community atrium, a restaurant, a retail store, two learning studios, a 150-seat theatre, rental spaces, a rooftop patio, and a lounge. == Permanent collection ==

As of December 2020, Remai Modern had over 8,000 works in its permanent collection when including the works from the former Mendel Art Gallery. The majority of the works in the museum's collection were acquired through donations, although the museum has also purchased works directly from the artist or vendor. Artists whose works are featured in the Remai Modern's permanent collection includes Rebecca Belmore, Eli Bornstein, Stan Douglas, Brian Jungen, Jimmie Durham and Haegue Yang. Mendel collection . The piece forms a part of the museum's Mendel collection. The Mendel collection, now known as the Mendel Art Gallery Collection at Remai Modern, Picasso collection An area of the museum's permanent collection is the Picasso collection, featuring ceramics and linocuts by Pablo Picasso. In 2012 Ellen Remai donated 405 Picasso linocuts to the museum. Valued at $20 million in 2012, the linocut collection is the world's largest collection of Picasso works in this medium, In addition to the linocuts, the collection features 23 Picasso ceramics, donated to the museum by Frederick Mulder in 2014. He also donated an additional linocut subject to the museum at that time. == Programming ==

Remai Modern offers a variety of programming. In addition to the permanent collection and rotating exhibitions on display, the museum screens films, hosts talks, runs art programs for students and visitors, and offers offsite art programs. The museum also presents live performance art programs including dance, sound, music and other live media. A variety of online programming can also be viewed on the museum's website and through their social media channels. ==See also==