Algae: a diverse, promiscuous, widely diffused group of photosynthetic organisms. Algae are used as food, as fiber, or as artistic medium; for medicine, remediation, or industrial usage; they can simultaneously be beneficial and very damaging. Algae are versatile and complex.
Join us for an evening of artist talks and discussion with three artists who have thought about (and with) these organisms deeply and with care
Dr. Jennifer Willet is the Director of INCUBATOR Art Lab and a Canada Research Chair in Art, Science and Ecology at the University of Windsor. She is a world known bioartist, merging artistic and biotech skills towards research/creation that uses living media (cells, plants, microbes) in the production of creative works. In 2009 Willet opened the first biological art lab in Canada, called INCUBATOR: Hybrid Laboratory at the Intersection of Art, Science, and Ecology. In January 2018 INCUBATOR Art Lab launched a new custom-built BSL2 facility that is both a functional biotech laboratory and a multi-media theatre and exhibition venue. In 2020, Willet launched a parallel space INCUBATOR Art Lab Studio, an artist studio, community engagement hub and BSL1 bioart facility. Willet has engaged with algae in many occasions, both as versatile artistic media and as important ecological agents.
Vladimir Kanic is a transmedia artist whose living algae installations transform spectators’ breath into oxygen, creating participatory ecosystems that embody the possibilities of interspecies collaboration. Informed by his maritime heritage and ocean freediving experience, Kanic’s practice uses breath as both material and method for creating art, accessing cultural, ancestral and geological memories embedded within algae — Earth’s principal carbon sinks, responsible for producing approximately half of planetary oxygen. Kanic’s work envisions a symbiotic future where living artworks serve as both ecological interventions and world-building frameworks for community resilience and repair. Recipient of two Governor General’s Academic Medals, Kanic holds a Master of Fine Arts from York University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in (Bio)Digital Media at York University. He is also an award-winning filmmaker and an alum of the Locarno Film Academy and Berlinale Talents.
Deepikah is an Indian interdisciplinary artist based in T’karonto (Toronto), Canada. She graduated from OCAD University with an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts. Her work at the intersections of nature, motherhood, and hope explores themes of care, sustainability, and speculative futures, inviting viewers to contemplate our interconnectedness with the environment. She creates speculative installations about ecology, climate crisis, and perception in collaboration with materials like algae, plants, gelatine, and more than humans. She recently won the second prize in the visual arts category at the Scarbrough Arts Annual Juried show 2024. Her thesis show, “a place to fall apart,” was exhibited at Ignite Gallery in April 2024. Deepikah was part of the juried shows at The Propeller Gallery and the Geary Art Crawl 2024 (Toronto) and has exhibited across Canada, India & CDMX at fairs like TOAF, Salon Acme, Gender Bender and more. Her work has been published in CBC Arts, The Art Newspaper, Hyperallergic, StirWorld, etc ..
Join us for a timely and no-doubt juicy discussion.
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