The Canadian Museum of Civilization welcomes you to a special event at the first live webcast by a Canadian museum of an exhibition opening. The special occasion is none other than the launch of Iqqaipaa: Celebrating Inuit Art, 1948-1970, presented by Cancom. The webcast will take place at 18:00 (Eastern Standard Time) on March 30, 1999. It will include the opening ceremonies, speeches and performances, followed by a guided tour of the exhibition with James Houston and Maria von Finckenstein.

This major exhibition of contemporary Inuit art and the groundbreaking live webcast of its launch are the CMC's way of marking the historic creation of Nunavut, Canada's newest territory. An edited version will be available here from April 9, 1999 and will additionally include related events, such as scenes of performances by an Inuit Children's Choir, throat singing, drum dancing, traditional Inuit games, and demonstrations by Inuit carvers.

Iqqaipaa: Celebrating Inuit Art, 1948-1970

What better way to honour the territory known by the Inuit as Our Land than by celebrating the beauty and creativity of an art that has captured the imagination of the world? This display of 120 sculptures and 30 prints tells the story of how contemporary Inuit art grew out of tremendous cultural upheaval when circumstances forced many Inuit to abandon a nomadic lifestyle and settle in villages across the Eastern Arctic. For many Inuit, the rise of a full-blown Inuit art movement gave them a new means of economic survival that also ensured the preservation of many essential aspects of Inuit culture. The exhibition is curated by Maria von Finckenstein and special advisor, James Houston, who was instrumental in bringing Inuit art to world attention.

View the Webcast