Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art


Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art is a public art gallery and an arts publishing house with a focus on contemporary photography, new media and digital arts. It is located in the 401 Richmond Street arts centre in Toronto, Canada.
Prefix Photo magazine was founded by Canadian curator Scott McLeod in 1999 and has since expanded to include a programme of visual and audio art exhibitions, an international lecture series, and a publicly accessible reference library.
Prefix ICA is a registered Canadian charitable organization supported by its sponsors, donors, and funding bodies at all levels of government. Prefix is also a member of the Ontario Association of Art Galleries, the Canadian Museums Association and Magazines Canada.

Prefix ICA Galleries

Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art consists of three galleries: a main gallery, a surround gallery and an audio art gallery. Both the staff curator and guest curators program exhibitions year-round.

Selected exhibitions

Prefix Photo magazine debuted in 2000 and was named Best New Magazine at the National Magazine Awards in 2002. The magazine presents the work of emerging and established Canadian and international artists with a strong focus on the photographic arts. The magazine and the institute's other print materials are designed by Underline Studio.
Prefix Photo is released twice annually, in May and November, and is distributed internationally.

Issue structure

Prefix Photo has featured essays and creative writing by many international critics, curators and other writers, including:
In 2008, Prefix Press published its first book, Milk and Melancholy, by Kenneth Hayes, a Canadian curator and contemporary art critic. “Milk and Melancholy looks at milk through the lens of photography and from the angle of art.”

Urban Field Speakers Series

The Urban Field Speakers Series is an international lecture series that is organized and hosted by Prefix ICA and which takes place annually between January and April. The series features lectures, symposia and discussions conducted by artists, architects, designers, curators and scholars. All presentations are centred around the theme of art’s role in the experience of urban life.