International art superstar and U of T alumna Aileen Burns discusses her role as co-executive director the Remai Modern

Remai Modern is a museum of modern and contemporary art in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Photo by Adrien Williams.

After years abroad building an international reputation as a curator and institutional leader, Aileen Burns (BA 2007 VIC), along with her husband Johan Lundh, now helms Remai Modern in Saskatoon, one of the country’s top modern and contemporary art museums.

Her journey started while earning her honours bachelor of arts as a member of Victoria College in 2007 in art history and cinema studies.

“I did a year abroad. I didn't have the opportunity to be in residence with my cohort and get to know the folks in my college, so I found other pathways inside the university,” says Burns.

Describing herself as a “sociable, engaged, community-oriented person,” she found her people at Hart House, which became a central part of her life at U of T.

“I joined the Hart House Art Committee, which, given my interest, was fundamental in my education. That committee was chaired in my first year by Sarah Stanners, who is now a highly respected art historian and role model for me at that time,” says Burns.

That guidance extended to other faculty.

“I also remember Barbara Fischer did this extraordinary thing of taking a group of eight students around to the commercial galleries in Toronto. Each year we had the budget to acquire one work for the Hart House Collection. She created this guided journey through the commercial galleries of Toronto and through the complex process of selecting artwork for a collection,” says Burns.

That experience was life changing.

“We got to know people who work in the field and understand what a collection will bring to student life, with special consideration for the fact that the Hart House Collection is a living collection.

“It's hung on the walls of a well-used student space and not in climate-controlled conditions for art. That extracurricular learning and relationship building has lasted me a lifetime,” says Burns.

Burns became chair of that committee and the assistant curator in the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in Hart House. Through a funded internship in her final year at U of T, she learned how to use the databases and research collection works, eventually curating her own exhibition. She also felt academically nurtured by cinema studies faculty like Charlie Keil and Corinn Columpar in a way that still resonates.

“For a professor to have an open-door policy and engage with very junior students in a one-on-one way and take their learning about film history so seriously was empowering and encouraging,” says Burns.

Her professional and personal life took off soon after graduation. She met her husband, Johan Lundh, in New York while doing her master’s and soon they were traversing the international art scene as a team.

The couple took over the leadership of Saskatoon’s premier contemporary gallery, Remai Modern, during the pandemic, after stints in Derry, Northern Ireland, Brisbane, Australia and New Plymouth, New Zealand, and after making their mark as curators of the 2013 Turner Prize, one of the world’s most well-known visual art awards.

“It created a moment that was broadly understandable,” says Burns.

Remai Modern is more than just an art gallery – it's also a working space, with Burns and Lundh inviting artists to work inside the museum and showcase the artistic process.

One of those artists, Jillian Ross, is originally from Saskatchewan. She built her career in Johannesburg and is a master printer that works with South African artist William Kentridge.

“We moved their entire print studio into our ground floor galleries. Our audience could come to understand the relationship between an artist and a master printer, the layering of inks, the mixing of inks, the testing of papers and the effects of all those things,” says Burns.

Remai Modern is also home to the most comprehensive collection of Picasso’s linocuts in the world.

The gallery recently launched a new plan to increase engagement – admission by donation to allow for more inclusivity across a broad spectrum of visitors.

Burns is now focused on the next phase of her career – building a lasting home for permanent art works from around the world and creating a rooted-in-place philosophy that emphasizes the local and Indigenous community through programs and collections.

“Remai Modern was a dream next step. Saskatoon is a growing, diversifying city with an aspiration to participate in a global art discourse while being attentive to a specific place,” she says.

Plus, there’s a plethora of U of T ties to lean on. The president of the University of Saskatchewan and the city’s mayor are alumni.

It’s a full circle moment for Burns.

“I love learning. You know, in art, through every exhibition, you’re always learning. I think that joy for the unpredictability of what's coming next in a class or a course or a film is what excites me and I look back on my time at U of T with appreciation for the diversity of ideas and experiences."

Originally published by Faculty of Arts & Science