The Society for the Preservation of Wild Culture (SPWC) was a Toronto arts organization in existence from 1986 to 1991 that explored environmental and ecological issues from an artistic perspective in a "quirky and innovative" way.
The oxymoron "wild culture" tweaked the interest of contrasting types: artists, scientists and activists, and the efforts made by the organization to develop creative projects and discourse around the term were well received.
In May 1985 Smith made the first public announcement on the formation of the society at a Toronto art event, "L'Affaire 'Pataphysique", that presented examples of 'pataphysics by local artists parodying theory and methods of modern science.
Smith preferred his colleagues and audiences to find wild culture's meaning through the titles of the projects in which it appeared, where the social context was at play; that is, that there existed a serious-sounding and possibly genuine academic journal published by a preserving society with a long name, all devoted to a subject no one knew anything about.
Before there was Smith's recent definition of wild culture ("the articulated ecotone between what humans do and what they can't control in nature"), no single explanation existed around which the S.P.W.C artists" work was done.
[1] In the absence of concrete description, Smith offered a metaphor, which he has recently modified: On the surface of a transparent painting[1] is the human geographic reality that is part of our everyday life, and in the background are elements of nature, seen and unseen, that are very much alive but that people aren"t always aware of, whether out of convenience, ignorance, apathy, or any state of unconsciousness or self-centeredness that contributes to the disconnection from our primal history and our present psychic hold on the home terrain.
[2] The literary organ of the SPWC, its subtitle, ecology, and imagination, spoke to the notion of The Journal of Wild Culture being a platform for artists to express themselves through the lens, or mirror, of the natural world.
"Bernie's deep sense of graphic taste and design intelligence struck the right tone with the first issue: serious like an academic journal but also accessible and visually engaging.
The Bernard Franklin Stockl Memorial Scholarship is offered annually at the Alberta College of Design for "creative and innovative exploration in the use of typography for the purpose of communication".
[5] The readings were a project initially conceived by Smith to provide a venue for writer and poet Christopher Dewdney to share his extensive knowledge of palaeozoic geology, among other things, and his sense of humor.
In July 1987 he gave the first landscape reading of Toronto's High Park Carolinian forest,[11] which was documented in the forthcoming issue of The Journal of Wild Culture.
[12] Other artist guides included Gordon Rayner, Hank Hedges, M. T. Kelly, June Callwood, Larry Zolf, Joyce Weiland, and architect Donald Schmitt.
[5] The Café of Wild Culture was conceived in collaboration with bookseller and film programmer Marc Glassman, who recognized that the sense of humor that was so much a part of the 60s and 70s was missing in the 80s.
Its legitimate non-theatre style [3] played off the vaudeville and variety revue made up of several short unrelated acts (in the Café's case, no longer than 7 minutes) that caught the wild culture spirit of thoughtful irreverence.
Acts ranged from tendentious 'pataphysics lectures, authentic scientific explanations, obtuse dance works, gentlemen's shirt-ironing contests, and wild food cooking demonstrations, in which small servings were provided for the audience, and a game called StorySlide where artists improvised a performed text based on a random photographic slide show.