Curatorial Tour with Katie Lawson

Erratic Behaviour brings together works of artists that embrace a more fluid boundary between the human and non-human, with geologic entities positioned as significant relations within an entangled web of matter and beings. While some artworks playfully evoke the animacy of boulders and rocks, others point to a world that is increasingly shaped by the climate crisis and faced with dwindling resources. The dual meaning of the exhibition’s title suggests that humans themselves are exhibiting the most 'erratic behaviour' of all—the industrial extraction, processing, consumption and disposal of natural resources have produced turbulent and unstable conditions.

Katie Lawson is a curator and writer based in Toronto. She was a curator for the Toronto Biennial of Art, working with Candice Hopkins and Tairone Bastien on the inaugural 2019 and 2022 editions. She has also curated exhibitions at Images Festival, Toronto (2023); MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie (2021); the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (2018); the Art Gallery of Ontario (2018); Y+ Contemporary, Scarborough (2017), and RYMD, Reykjavik (2017). Katie is a graduate of the Master of Visual Studies Curatorial program at the University of Toronto, where she previously completed her Master of Arts in Art History. She is currently working towards a PhD in Art and Visual Culture at Western University, with an interest in contemporary art and climate change. Lawson was awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency in 2023. She contributes writing to a range of print and online publications. 

Curator Tours are generously sponsored by The Gamble Family. 
                

1) Tahir Carl Karmali, Muddy Heart (detail), 2019. Raffia, copper and cobalt oxide. 152.4 x 111.8 x 15.2 cm. Photo courtesy of the Artist. 

2) Katie Lawson bio photo provided by the Curator.