Bio

CLIVE HOLDEN is a Canadian writer and artist who makes multi-year projects that include short stories, films, art installations, and websites. Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Clive splits his time between there and Toronto. His wife is the novelist Alissa York.

He's best known for two projects, Trains of Winnipeg (2001 to 2006) and Utopia Suite (2006 to 2020). These have produced many elements that have been seen and heard together, or separately in their own worlds:

In 2001, Clive made a spoken word CD, Trains of Winnipeg, with members of Winnipeg's renowned The Weakerthans and Christine Fellows. It received 'heavy rotation' at college radio stations in towns across North America including Portland and Ann Arbor, and it reached top ten for several weeks in Toronto and Vancouver, and number one in Winnipeg. It appeared on several music critics 'top ten for 2001' lists.

Clive's also published short fiction and essays, and his collection of poetry, Trains of Winnipeg, was short-listed for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book of the Year Award.

His films and art installations from Trains of Winnipeg and Utopia Suite have been exhibited at: Light Industry in Brooklyn; Anthology Film Archives in New York; Kino Arsenal in Berlin; CPH:DOX Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival (winner of the New Vision Award); the Toronto International Film Festival; the International Film Festival Rotterdam; transmediale in Berlin; the London International Film Festival; the European Media Art Festival in Osnabrük; the Foreman Art Gallery of Bishops University in Sherbrooke; the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; WNDX Festival of Film & Video Art/PLATFORM centre for photographic + digital arts in Winnipeg; the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen; Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto; Send + Receive - a Festival of Sound in Winnipeg; Images Festival in Toronto; the Antimatter Film Festival/Deluge Contemporary Arts in Victoria; the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam; the Fabulous Fringe Film Festival/Durham Art Gallery; the Ann Film Festival; the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; and the 50th Annual Robert Flaherty Film Seminar (Closing Film).

His spoken word/media art performances and multimedia artist's talks have been presented at: the Winnipeg Writers Festival; the Danish Film Institute in Copenhagen; the Holland Festival in Amsterdam; the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; Kino Arsenal in Berlin; aceartinc. artist run centre in Winnipeg; the Deutsch-Amerikanische Institut in Heidelberg; the Durham Art Gallery; Send + Receive - a Festival of Sound; the Royal Danish Academy of Art; and the University of Manitoba School of Architecture's Lecture Series.

He's built numerous websites for other artists and arts organizations and for his own projects.

Detailed Filmography, Exhibition + Publishing History

Contacts:

Stephen Bulger Gallery
Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre
mail@cliveholden.com

Articles & Interviews:

Adventures in Perception, Scott MacDonald (2009, University of California Press).

Place, ed. Cecilia Araneda (2009, Winnipeg Film Group).

Utopia Suite writing and critical response to-date.

Collected Trains of Winnipeg reviews.