Erratic Behaviour
27 January - 21 April, 2024
Catherine Telford Keogh, Diane Borsato, Kelly Jazvac, Laura Moore, Meghan Price, Robert Hengeveld, Tahir Carl Karmali, Tsēmā Igharas
Curated by Katie Lawson
Erratic Behaviour is an exhibition that brings together contemporary artworks that centre human entanglements with geologic events, processes or entities, acknowledging rocks as vibrant matter that shape our understanding of time and place. 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 has produced turbulent and unstable conditions. Many of the artworks brought together here resist dominant patterns of waste and consumption through a shared commitment to working with existing, found, abandoned, salvaged and reclaimed materials. The featured artists offer a range of experimental approaches to the geologic, situating themselves and the viewer within the dynamic accumulation, erosion, flow, extraction and transformation of earth materials.
Katie Lawson
Curator
About the Curator:
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.
Related Programs:
Curatorial Tour with Katie Lawson
Thursday, 1 February, 7:00 p.m.
Opening Celebration
Friday, 9 February
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. (Members - guided tour at 6:30)
7:00 - 10:00 p.m. (All)
Multi-Lens Existence with Dr. Jenelle Rouse
Thursday, 29 February, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Artist Talk with Laura Moore
Sunday, 17 March, 2:00 p.m.
Reciprocal Landscapes with Jane Mah Hutton
Thursday, 4 April, 7:00 p.m.
This exhibition is presented with the support of Women of Influence for Women’s Art (WIWA).
Thank you to our free admission sponsor
Images:
Meghan Price, Every Body is Moving, 2015-ongoing. Postcards from the collection of the Artist. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the Artist and United Contemporary. © Meghan Price.
Katie Lawson bio photo provided by the Curator.
