Remai Modern is informed by the rich culture and history of the Prairies, including Indigenous artists and nations, distinct modernist influences, and a legacy of progressive support for the arts. The province now known as Saskatchewan has long been home to the Plains Cree, Woodland Cree, Swampy Cree, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota (Assiniboine), Saulteaux and Dene First Nations. Remai Modern is located in Treaty 6 Plains Cree territory and the traditional homeland of the Métis. The museum respectfully acknowledges the historic and ongoing care of these lands, and affirms The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Keeping in close dialogue with Indigenous artists and communities, Remai Modern endeavours to be a leading centre for contemporary Indigenous art and discourse. Saskatchewan has a history of progressive politics and support for the arts. In 1944, the province elected the first democratic-socialist government in North America, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. In 1948 the Saskatchewan Arts Board was founded to provide vital funding to artists in all disciplines. At the time, it was only the second agency of its kind in the world. Saskatchewan’s art history demonstrates an often self-conscious and experimental attitude. In the 1950s and 60s, influential modern artists and critics flocked to the Emma Lake artist workshops, just north of Saskatoon. Workshop leaders, including Clement Greenberg, Kenneth Noland, Barnett Newman, Donald Judd, Frank Stella, Anthony Caro and John Cage responded to the wilderness landscape and introduced new concepts. These retreats had a lasting impact on regional aesthetics, and fostered exchanges between Canadian artists and the international art world. Generations of Saskatchewan artists have incorporated abstraction and the landscape into their work, alongside other visions of folk, pop, funk, new media and performance art.
