The Future Forest: Between Crisis and Speculation

With Audrey Lane Cockett, Josh Killeen, Eric Moschopedis, and Nicolas Nolet

January 11
Heather Edwards Theatre | 2-3:30 PM

What possible futures can we imagine for our planet's forests? How can the labor of forest-care be translated into political action?

Join us for a panel discussion exploring the speculative futures of the lands we inhabit, from rewilding initiatives to sustainable management practices. Panelists will discuss policies that support long-term ecological health and the critical role of forests in combating the climate catastrophe.

The panel will also include short film screenings by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and Nicolas Nolet.

FREE with registration.

This panel is organized in conjunction with Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place, on view in the Morris & Ann Dancyger Observatory Gallery until February 9, 2025.

About the Panellists

Audrey Lane Cockett (they/them) is a poet, filmmaker, ecologist, and educator settled in Moh’kinstsis/Calgary AB. Audrey Lane brings care, curiosity, professionalism, presence, and a diverse skillset into all projects they are involved in. Their projects ignite conversations, offer visibility for queer, disabled, and neurodiverse folks, and empower climate art advocacy and imaginative place-making. Their award-winning poetry and films have been showcased on stages, screens, and publications, both locally and internationally. They have completed residencies at the Banff Spoken Word Program, the Banff Adventure Filmmaking Workshop, and the Canadian Wilderness Artist Residency in the Yukon. They are invested in the healing and transformative power of film, story, poetry, music, science, love, and collaboration between communities and across disciplines.

Josh Killeen (he/him) is a professional biologist with a background in environmental consultancy, academia, and wildlife biology. He holds degrees in biology and evolutionary biology from University College London (UK), The University of Groningen (Netherlands), and Université Montpellier 2 (France). He moved from the UK to Alberta in 2014 and soon fell in love with the province, its people, and its wild spaces. Josh believes that effective conservation, protection, and access to our natural spaces must be a priority for our society. Outside of work, Josh loves to cook, garden and spend time hiking, scrambling, and climbing in the mountains.

Eric Moschopedis (he/him) is one half of Mia + Eric, a neurodivergent, interdisciplinary artist team from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Eric has a background in theatre and performance and Mia has a background in craft, printmaking and the visual arts. Together we create long-term research and community engagement processes that lead to socially engaged exhibitions, performances, temporary public art, participatory works, interventions, and publications. Thematically our practice deals with multi-species ethnography, interspecies relationships, biodiversity and place-based knowledge production in cities, small towns, and rural spaces. Since 2008 we have created and presented our projects, artist talks, lectures, and workshops at both formal and DIY galleries, festivals, residencies, conferences, and post-secondary institutions regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Nicolas Nolet (he/him) is a filmmaker from Calgary, Alberta, whose work explores the intersection of environmental and social issues through a visual and narrative lens. Born and raised in the province of Quebec, Nicolas moved in 2014 to explore the Rocky mountains of Alberta. The past ten years in Alberta's landscapes inspired his artistic journey, driving him to pursue film as a medium to express the urgent need to protect the natural world.His most recent work, ASSEMBLY: Growing together to protect an ecosystem, delves into the issue of clear-cut logging in one of Alberta's most ecologically significant regions. The film captures the tension between economic development and environmental conservation, featuring interviews with Indigenous activists, environmental scientists, and mountain lovers.

Film Screening:
This Planted Place (2022)

January 5
Heather Edwards Theatre | 12-5 PM

In conjunction with Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place, currently on view in the Morris & Ann Dancyger Observatory Gallery, we’ll be showing This Planted Place (2022), an earlier work by the artists, over the course of the exhibition.

This Planted Place will be shown on loop in the Heather Edwards Theatre during our opening hours on December 8 and 22, 2024; as well as on January 5 and 26, and February 9, 2025. This screening is free with gallery admission.

This Planted Place examines the ecological complexities and human and more-than-human relationships in the Heidewald, a small woodland in Maxdorf, Germany. The Heidewald is the largest planted robinia forest north of the Alps. This species is controversial because of its ability to aggressively overtake native species, but it is also an important resource for the region as the annual blossoms attract beekeepers and their colonies from all across Germany each spring. In many ways, the Heidewald is the perfect representation of the idyllic German woodland. But this setting of contemplation is continually disrupted by the human world: chainsaws, airplanes, sirens and a human voice amplified by a megaphone. The Heidewald is a wholly unique landscape, but also a place where questions of global significance can be asked. 
This Planted Place was commissioned by Matchbox: The Itinerant Art and Culture Project in the Rhine-Neckar Region as part of a multi-year engagement process called 3 WOODS.

About the Artists

Mia + Eric

We are Mia Rushton and Eric Moschopedis, a neurodivergent, interdisciplinary artist team from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Eric has a background in theatre and performance and Mia has a background in craft, printmaking and the visual arts. Together we create long-term research and community engagement processes that lead to socially engaged exhibitions, performances, temporary public art, participatory works, interventions, and publications. Thematically our practice deals with multi-species ethnography, interspecies relationships, biodiversity and place-based knowledge production in cities, small towns, and rural spaces. Since 2008 we have created and presented our projects, artist talks, lectures, and workshops at both formal and DIY galleries, festivals, residencies, conferences, and post-secondary institutions regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Mia + Eric have presented projects and exhibitions at The Bentway (Toronto), GIFT Festival (Gateshead, UK), Buenos Aires International Festival (AR), Matchbox (Mannheim, DE), Festspillene i Nord-Norge (Harstad, NO), Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow), Confederation Centre of the Arts, (Charlottetown), Parks Canada Discovery Centre (Woody Point, NL), ESKER Project Space (Calgary), Fierce Festival (Birmingham, UK), Grand Union (Birmingham, UK), Battersea Arts Centre (London, UK), Luminato Festival (Toronto), Flux Night (Atlanta), Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton), and Stromereien Performance Festival (Zürich). 

Film Screening:
This Planted Place (2022)

December 22
Heather Edwards Theatre | 12-5 PM

In conjunction with Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place, currently on view in the Morris & Ann Dancyger Observatory Gallery, we’ll be showing This Planted Place (2022), an earlier work by the artists, over the course of the exhibition.

This Planted Place will be shown on loop in the Heather Edwards Theatre during our opening hours on December 8 and 22, 2024; as well as on January 5 and 26, and February 9, 2025. This screening is free with gallery admission.

This Planted Place examines the ecological complexities and human and more-than-human relationships in the Heidewald, a small woodland in Maxdorf, Germany. The Heidewald is the largest planted robinia forest north of the Alps. This species is controversial because of its ability to aggressively overtake native species, but it is also an important resource for the region as the annual blossoms attract beekeepers and their colonies from all across Germany each spring. In many ways, the Heidewald is the perfect representation of the idyllic German woodland. But this setting of contemplation is continually disrupted by the human world: chainsaws, airplanes, sirens and a human voice amplified by a megaphone. The Heidewald is a wholly unique landscape, but also a place where questions of global significance can be asked. 
This Planted Place was commissioned by Matchbox: The Itinerant Art and Culture Project in the Rhine-Neckar Region as part of a multi-year engagement process called 3 WOODS.

About the Artists

Mia + Eric

We are Mia Rushton and Eric Moschopedis, a neurodivergent, interdisciplinary artist team from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Eric has a background in theatre and performance and Mia has a background in craft, printmaking and the visual arts. Together we create long-term research and community engagement processes that lead to socially engaged exhibitions, performances, temporary public art, participatory works, interventions, and publications. Thematically our practice deals with multi-species ethnography, interspecies relationships, biodiversity and place-based knowledge production in cities, small towns, and rural spaces. Since 2008 we have created and presented our projects, artist talks, lectures, and workshops at both formal and DIY galleries, festivals, residencies, conferences, and post-secondary institutions regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Mia + Eric have presented projects and exhibitions at The Bentway (Toronto), GIFT Festival (Gateshead, UK), Buenos Aires International Festival (AR), Matchbox (Mannheim, DE), Festspillene i Nord-Norge (Harstad, NO), Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow), Confederation Centre of the Arts, (Charlottetown), Parks Canada Discovery Centre (Woody Point, NL), ESKER Project Space (Calgary), Fierce Festival (Birmingham, UK), Grand Union (Birmingham, UK), Battersea Arts Centre (London, UK), Luminato Festival (Toronto), Flux Night (Atlanta), Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton), and Stromereien Performance Festival (Zürich). 

Film Screening:
This Planted Place (2022)

December 8
Auditorium | 12-5 PM

In conjunction with Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place, currently on view in the Morris & Ann Dancyger Observatory Gallery, we’ll be showing This Planted Place (2022), an earlier work by the artists, over the course of the exhibition.

This Planted Place will be shown on loop in the Auditorium during our opening hours on December 8 and 22, 2024; as well as on January 5 and 26, and February 9, 2025. This screening is free with gallery admission.

This Planted Place examines the ecological complexities and human and more-than-human relationships in the Heidewald, a small woodland in Maxdorf, Germany. The Heidewald is the largest planted robinia forest north of the Alps. This species is controversial because of its ability to aggressively overtake native species, but it is also an important resource for the region as the annual blossoms attract beekeepers and their colonies from all across Germany each spring. In many ways, the Heidewald is the perfect representation of the idyllic German woodland. But this setting of contemplation is continually disrupted by the human world: chainsaws, airplanes, sirens and a human voice amplified by a megaphone. The Heidewald is a wholly unique landscape, but also a place where questions of global significance can be asked. 

This Planted Place was commissioned by Matchbox: The Itinerant Art and Culture Project in the Rhine-Neckar Region as part of a multi-year engagement process called 3 WOODS.

About the Artists

Mia + Eric

We are Mia Rushton and Eric Moschopedis, a neurodivergent, interdisciplinary artist team from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Eric has a background in theatre and performance and Mia has a background in craft, printmaking and the visual arts. Together we create long-term research and community engagement processes that lead to socially engaged exhibitions, performances, temporary public art, participatory works, interventions, and publications. Thematically our practice deals with multi-species ethnography, interspecies relationships, biodiversity and place-based knowledge production in cities, small towns, and rural spaces. Since 2008 we have created and presented our projects, artist talks, lectures, and workshops at both formal and DIY galleries, festivals, residencies, conferences, and post-secondary institutions regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Mia + Eric have presented projects and exhibitions at The Bentway (Toronto), GIFT Festival (Gateshead, UK), Buenos Aires International Festival (AR), Matchbox (Mannheim, DE), Festspillene i Nord-Norge (Harstad, NO), Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow), Confederation Centre of the Arts, (Charlottetown), Parks Canada Discovery Centre (Woody Point, NL), ESKER Project Space (Calgary), Fierce Festival (Birmingham, UK), Grand Union (Birmingham, UK), Battersea Arts Centre (London, UK), Luminato Festival (Toronto), Flux Night (Atlanta), Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton), and Stromereien Performance Festival (Zürich). 

FREE First Thursdays

December 5
5-9 PM

Join us on December 5th at Contemporary Calgary for FREE First Thursdays, offering complimentary admission from 5-9 PM! Dive into the dynamic world of contemporary art as we extend our hours, inviting you to explore our galleries, enjoy live music from The PACC featuring Jonny Chavez (5:45-8 PM) and sip on a thoughtful selection of wine, craft beer, and refreshing non-alcoholic beverages. This is an all-ages event.

From 5-8 PM, enjoy a FREE drop-in art-making session in the Atrium, inspired by our current exhibitions. All ages and skill levels are welcome!

FREE with registration.

*FREE First Thursdays will take a break in January returning on February 6, 2025, for the first event of the new year. We hope to see you there!

Exhibitions on view:

• Paola Pivi: Come check it out

• Rajni Perera & Marigold Santos: Efflorescence/The Way We Wake

• Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place

The PACC, featuring Jonny Chavez  

December 5
5:45-8:00 PM 

Jonny Chavez - Guitar, Vocals, Keys, Drums, Trumpet 
Jonny Chavez is a Calgary-born multi-instrumentalist rooted in jazz and gospel music. Inspired by the rhythms of Central America, Jonny Chavez combines different styles from 90’s hip hop to house music with traditional jazz influence.

Peter Strietman - Guitar  
Born in the Netherlands he started pkaying guitar at the age of 12 playing rock, pop and later jazz . After moving to Vancouver he joined funk band Moustache Verticale. Since 2005 he has lived in Calgary and does freelance funk and jazz work as well as with various original bands . His two albums Flow and Freeform are on streaming platforms.

Doug Paddock - Drums, Upright Bass 
Originally from southern Ontario, Doug arrived in Calgary in the early 80’s and never looked back. Doug’s passion from a young age was developing his craft as a jazz drummer, (and recently upright bass) studying with some of the world’s best and backing bands covering genres including jazz, funk, fusion, pop, country, folk, latin and hip hop. 

Supported by

Calgary on Purpose

November 27

7 PM
Dome Theatre

Celebrate the final Calgary on Purpose event of 2024 with an evening of meaningful conversation and community connection! On November 27, gather with us in the Contemporary Calgary Dome Theatre for the last "Evening of Conversation and Connection" of the year—a night dedicated to thought-provoking dialogue, shared ideas, and new connections.

The event begins promptly at 7 PM with three talented Calgarians showcasing their work, followed by insightful interviews led by the incomparable Dave Kelly. We’ll conclude the formal program by 8:30 PM, though the bar will remain open for those who wish to continue the conversation.

Enjoy an enchanting lineup, featuring the incredible skills of three-time world hoop dancing champion and musician Dallas Arcand, the evocative poetry of Calgary’s own poet laureate and “feminist folk poet” Shone Thistle, and the soulful blend of blues, country, and rock and roll from Erin Ross, crafted in southern Alberta. Dave Kelly will share a new story reflecting on our shared sense of place, and then invite us to join in an open forum, discussing our collective hopes, concerns, and dreams.

Thanks to the generous partnership of Contemporary Calgary, the support of many volunteers and Calgary Arts Development, the evening is free to the public. Please register to reserve your seat—and feel free to invite friends and colleagues!

Our aim is to encourage our beloved Calgary to be an example of how the people of the world can live well together. In that spirit, we stimulate conversation, curiosity and delight in the skills, stories, aspirations and goodwill of our neighbours on this land.

Join us in fostering appreciation, curiosity and shared purpose across our beloved city!

About the Speakers

Supported by

Perspective Film Series:

Pendatang (2023), dir. Ng Ken Kin

November 24

5:30 PM
Dome Theatre

2023 | Malaysia | 98 mins

Produced by Kuman Pictures in collaboration with Tapir Films, Pendatang (2023) tells the story of a Cantonese-speaking Chinese family forced to move to a rural kampong (village) following the implementation of the fictional Segregation Act in Malaysia, which enforces strict racial segregation among the country’s ethnic groups. As they confront the challenges of adapting to unfamiliar surroundings, each character grapples with their past and the harsh realities of their present. 

Pendatang was entirely crowdfunded. Director Ng Ken Kin expressed concerns that the Film Censorship Board might not have approved the movie for local release.

This film is in Cantonese, Malay, and Tamil with English subtitles.

The screening will be followed by a moderated conversation and Q&A with Dr. Yoke-Sum Wong, Associate Professor of Liberal Studies at the Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts).

Disclaimer: This film contains difficult subject matter and imagery, including violence and nudity, which may be triggering for some viewers.

About the Speaker

Dr. Yoke-Sum Wong is an Associate Professor in the School of Critical and Creative Studies at AUArts. Her background is in history and sociology, with a focus on cultural histories and historiography. Having written on postcolonial built environments in Singapore and Malaysia, and architecture and design (including the eurocentrism of the mid-century modern and Isamu Noguchi), she is now working on a new project on the contemporary Asian cultural reckoning with a post-World War II conflict called The Malayan Emergency and the Cold War in the Global South.

About the Curator:

Muriel N. Kahwagi ((she/her)) is a writer and curator, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of collecting and archiving the performative; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. In 2023, she was the TD Curatorial Fellow at Art Windsor-Essex, and a curator as part of Vtape’s Curatorial Incubator, v.19. She is currently the Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary, and a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival.

Supported by

Exhibition Opening
Rajni Perera & Marigold Santos: Efflorescence/The Way We Wake

November 21
6:00-9:00 PM

Join us at Contemporary Calgary as we celebrate the opening of Rajni Perera & Marigold Santos: Efflorescence/The Way We Wake on Thursday, November 21, from 6-9 PM. This highly anticipated exhibition brings together the powerful, otherworldly works of two visionary artists, exploring their diasporic experiences, and research into their respective cultural heritages, art-making, and motherhood, while delving into the transformative potential of identity.

• Doors
  6:00 PM

• Remarks
  6:30 PM | Atrium

• In-Conversation with Rajni Perera, Marigold Santos & Cheryl Sim
  7:00 PM | Dome

• Galleries Close
  9:00 PM

FREE to the public. No registration is required.

Seating for In-Conversation with Rajni Perera, Marigold Santos & Cheryl Sim will be first come, first served.

Rajni Perera & Marigold Santos
Efflorescence/The Way We Wake

November 21, 2024—April 6, 2025

Contemporary Calgary is pleased to present Rajni Perera and Marigold Santos: Efflorescence/The Way We Wake. 

In 2020, the PHI Foundation presented a major group show called RELATIONS: Diaspora and Painting, which included the work of Rajni Perera and Marigold Santos. When Perera visited the exhibition and encountered Santos’s paintings for the first time, she felt an instant, deeply resonant connection. This moment of mutual recognition sparked the beginning of a relationship that would manifest itself in Perera’s invitation to Santos to collaborate on a duo presentation at The Armory Show in New York, in September of 2023. As one of the very best offerings at this thirty-year-old art fair, it was the spark that ignited the organization of this exhibition.

Born in 1985 in Sri Lanka, Rajni Perera was raised between Colombo, Sydney and then Scarborough and North York, Ontario. Her work explores hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, migrant and marginalized identities/cultures, monsters, and dream worlds. These areas of inquiry are embraced through a multi-disciplinary practice that includes painting, drawing, and sculpture, and incorporates materials such as clay, wood, textile, and most recently, synthetic taxidermy. Subverting oppressive discourses related to the idea of the “Other,” the beings and objects she creates are invested with power, dignity, and heroism.

Marigold Santos was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada in 1988. Her early childhood experience of immigration provides a starting point for her work that investigates the interrelated notions of “home” and the multiplicity of an identity in constant evolution, to ultimately explore the potentialities of transformation. Through an interdisciplinary practice that includes drawn, painted, and printed works, sculpture, tattooing, and sound, Santos creates a personal mythology. In her otherworldly environments that transcend time and place, hybrid creatures are capable of thriving in the precarious realm of the “in between.”

This duo exhibition showcases recent paintings and sculptures produced by each artist from 2021 to 2024 and begins with the collaborative piece after which the show is named. Efflorescence/The Way We Wake speaks to the artists’ diasporic experiences, research into their respective cultural heritages, art making, and motherhood. This large-scale sculpture consists of a masked humanoid, with a larger-than-life body whose legs are detached and splayed out in an impossible position, while the arms prop up the torso with the help of elongated breasts. On and around the body are small, flourishing outgrowths of fabricated plants and flowers. The mask, hands, and breast points are richly ornamented, and the eyes gaze out with purpose and fierce calm. Fashioned from a large variety of materials, including polymer clay and styrofoam, as well as metallic powder, synthetic hair, pearls, and floral foam, this work was produced over the course of a mere six, albeit marathon work sessions in Montréal during the summer of 2023. This major work welcomes us in, to contemplate and marvel at their distinct and shared cosmologies.

Presenting over thirty works, this exhibition is organized for us to appreciate each artist’s individual practices and to revel in their formal and conceptual affinities. What emanates throughout are vibrations of female power, that reverberate with instincts towards constant care, protection and the honouring of each of their personal stories and heritages. Through many entry points, Efflorescence/ The Way We Wake invites us into a pantheon of kindred spirits.

Curated by Cheryl Sim.

Produced and circulated by PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art

About the Artists

About the Curator

Cheryl Sim, Managing Director and Curator, PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art

Cheryl Sim is the Managing Director and Curator at the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art in Montreal. She began her career in 1992 at Studio D, the feminist studio of the National Film Board of Canada, which led her to discover video art and artist-run culture. Prior to joining the PHI Foundation in 2007, she was the Director of Activities and Communications at OBORO, one of Canada’s foremost artist-run centres, overseeing exhibitions, public events, residencies and publications. At the PHI Foundation, she has organized over twenty major exhibitions, most notably, STAN DOUGLAS: Revealing Narratives, YOKO ONO: GROWING FREEDOM and the group show RELATIONS: Diaspora & Painting which met with critical praise and touring engagements. Cheryl received a PhD in the études et pratiques des arts program at UQÀM (Université de Québec à Montréal) and her dissertation became the book Wearing the Cheongsam: Dress and Culture in a Chinese Diaspora published by Bloomsbury Academic UK in 2019. She has guest lectured at universities across Canada and has animated numerous panels and artist conversations in arts institutions, festivals and fairs including Papier Art Fair, MUTEK, Ars Electronica and Art Toronto. She has served on several peer review juries for the Canada Council for the Arts as well as the jury for the Sobey Art Award (2022) and the Claudine and Stephen Fellowship in Contemporary Art (2018). She is currently President of the Board of CAMDO (Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization) where she is also a member of the Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Committee. She also serves on the Boards of MOMENTA Biennale de l’image and the Association of Art Museum Curators.

Exhibition Opening
Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place

November 7
5:00-9:00 PM

Join us at Contemporary Calgary for the opening of Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place on Thursday, November 7, from 5–9 PM. 

• Doors
  5:00 PM

• Remarks
  6:30 PM | Atrium

• In-Conversation with artist duo Mia + Eric & assistant curator Muriel N. Kahwagi
  7:00 PM | Auditorium

• Galleries Close
  9:00 PM

FREE to the public. No registration is required.

Seating for In-Conversation with artist duo Mia + Eric & assistant curator Muriel N. Kahwagi will be first come, first served.

This exhibition opening is presented in collaboration with FREE First Thursdays.

Mia + Eric
In a Strange Place

November 7, 2024—February 9, 2025

How do we envision the future of our forests amid ongoing environmental and climate catastrophes? What stories do the caretakers of these vital ecosystems have to share? How can the experiences of those who care for forests inform our collective approach to environmental conservation?

Mia + Eric’s In a Strange Place (2024) is a 9-channel video installation that reflects on the labour of forest caretakers and stewards—revealing the politics of care that colours and contours the work that they do, and the relationship that they nurture with the land that they care for.

Born out of a multi-year, international research and engagement process with communities in England, Germany, and Norway, this iteration of the project is akin to a homecoming, featuring thirty caretakers from the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, including woodlands close to Calgary.

This immersive installation sees 150 ecologists, activists, conservationists, and land keepers performing slow-motion gestures of their work in these forests—work that is both quietly aloof and yet deeply intimate. Through these improvised choreographies, forest work emerges as an embodied labour and practice that intertwines the personal connections of individuals with the natural world, reflecting our collective responsibility towards the ecosystems that we all share and inhabit.

Videographer: Benjamin Hotz
Sound Design: Kris Demeanor
Collaborative Producers: Maíra Wiener, Jenna Winter
Artistic Assistants: Maíra Wiener, Rachel Rose
Indigenous Relations Coordinator: Pam Beebe

In a Strange Place was originally commissioned by Matchbox (Germany), Gateshead International Festival of Theatre (England), and Arctic Arts Festival (Norway).

About the Artists

Mia + Eric

We are Mia Rushton and Eric Moschopedis, a neurodivergent, interdisciplinary artist team from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Eric has a background in theatre and performance and Mia has a background in craft, printmaking and the visual arts. Together we create long-term research and community engagement processes that lead to socially engaged exhibitions, performances, temporary public art, participatory works, interventions, and publications. Thematically our practice deals with multi-species ethnography, interspecies relationships, biodiversity and place-based knowledge production in cities, small towns, and rural spaces. Since 2008 we have created and presented our projects, artist talks, lectures, and workshops at both formal and DIY galleries, festivals, residencies, conferences, and post-secondary institutions regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Mia + Eric have presented projects and exhibitions at The Bentway (Toronto), GIFT Festival (Gateshead, UK), Buenos Aires International Festival (AR), Matchbox (Mannheim, DE), Festspillene i Nord-Norge (Harstad, NO), Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow), Confederation Centre of the Arts, (Charlottetown), Parks Canada Discovery Centre (Woody Point, NL), ESKER Project Space (Calgary), Fierce Festival (Birmingham, UK), Grand Union (Birmingham, UK), Battersea Arts Centre (London, UK), Luminato Festival (Toronto), Flux Night (Atlanta), Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton), and Stromereien Performance Festival (Zürich). 

FREE First Thursdays

November 7
5:00-9:00 PM

Join us on November 7th at Contemporary Calgary for FREE First Thursdays, offering complimentary admission from 5-9 PM! Dive into the dynamic world of contemporary art as we extend our hours, inviting you to explore our galleries, stop by the exhibition opening of Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place, enjoy an immersive series of performances from Springboard's Fluid Fest and sip on a thoughtful selection of wine, craft beer, and refreshing non-alcoholic beverages. This is an all-ages event.

From 5-8 PM, enjoy a FREE drop-in art-making session in the Atrium, inspired by our current exhibitions. All ages and skill levels are welcome!

FREE with registration.

Exhibitions on view:

• Paola Pivi: Come check it out

• Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place

This Colour Green | Art in the Anthropocene

A co-presentation between Springboard's Fluid Fest and Contemporary Calgary

November 7
5:00-9:00 PM

To mark the opening of Mia + Eric: In a Strange Place, Springboard’s Fluid Fest and Contemporary Calgary are collaborating on a special edition of Free First Thursday, featuring performances by Barbara England & Ashley Bodiguel, Isabelle Kirouac, and kloetzel&co.

Drawing on the themes in Mia + Eric’s practice, the performances taking place across the building will reflect on our relationship with the world we inhabit, and the role that we play in the climate crisis.

One night only! Open to the public and free.

Supported by

Perspective Film Series:

The Witch (2015), dir. Robert Eggers

October 20

5:30 PM
Dome Theatre

2015 | USA / Canada | 92 mins

In 1630 New England, panic and despair take over a farmer, his wife, and their children when their youngest son Samuel suddenly vanishes. The family blames Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), the eldest daughter who was watching the boy at the time of his disappearance. With tensions mounting, the family suspects Thomasin of witchcraft, testing the clan's faith, loyalty, and love to one another.

Both chilling and riveting, Robert Eggers’ The Witch (2015) is a critique of settler colonialism, illustrating the ways in which the isolation and paranoia of early settlers amplified their fears of the unfamiliar and the Other, reflecting the broader violence and displacement wrought by colonial expansion.

Disclaimer: This film contains difficult subject matter and imagery, including depictions of violence, which may be triggering for some viewers.

The 2024 edition of Perspective is curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi, Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary. The series will feature monthly screenings that amplify voices from the Global South, deconstructing broader moving-image practices through an anti-colonial framework. In particular, this year's Perspective will focus on filmic works from the Caucasus, as well as Southwest Asia and North Africa, a region that continues to grapple with the enduring legacies of colonial violence.

About the Curator:

Muriel N. Kahwagi ((she/her)) is a writer and curator, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of collecting and archiving the performative; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. In 2023, she was the TD Curatorial Fellow at Art Windsor-Essex, and a curator as part of Vtape’s Curatorial Incubator, v.19. She is currently the Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary, and a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival.

Supported by

The CabCo Presents

Contemporary Cabaret

October 17 | 7:00 PM

A collaboration event with Contemporary Calgary. Join us for a spectacular evening of performances inspired by the work of Marcel Dzama's latest exhibit; Ghosts of Canoe Lake.
Presented by The CabCo, Western Canada's largest cabaret production house. This event brings drag, burlesque, performance art and dance to the stage for a one-of-a-kind experience. Accompanied by a free tour of the exhibit beforehand.

This event is ticketed & 18+

Performances by:
Karla Marx
Bitch Sassidy
Mx Jendr
Dogiichow
Holtasoli
Babz Uka

Timeline:
Exhibit tour (free & optional): 5:30 PM - REGISTER HERE
Cabaret doors open: 6:30 PM
Cabaret begins: 7:00 PM

Special thanks to our sponsors:
Annex Ale Project
Lawrence Interior Design Inc.

Poster design by:
Mike Hooves

Closing Tour: Ghosts of Canoe Lake: New Work by Marcel Dzama

October 17 | 5:30 PM
Ring Gallery

As Ghosts of Canoe Lake: New Work by Marcel Dzama comes to a close, please join us for a tour of the exhibition, led by Assistant Curator Muriel N. Kahwagi.

Delving into some of the art historical references that colour and contour Dzama’s practice – including Pablo Picasso, the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris, George Méliès, Francis Picabia, Maurice Sendak, and Federico García Lorca – the tour will shed light on the ways in which Dzama’s work navigates the interplay between the real and the fictitious.

The tour will be followed by Contemporary Cabaret, a burlesque and drag performance, organized in collaboration with The Cabo, western Canada's largest cabaret company. This performance is inspired by some of the works on view in Ghosts of Canoe Lake: New Work by Marcel Dzama. Contemporary Cabaret is a ticketed event - CLICK HERE to purchase tickets.

Ghosts of Canoe Lake: New Work by Marcel Dzama is co-organized by Contemporary Calgary and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and will be on view at Contemporary Calgary until October 27, 2024.

About the Artist

Marcel Dzama (he/him)

Since rising to prominence in the late 1990s, Marcel Dzama (b. 1974) has developed an immediately recognizable visual language that draws from folk vernacular, art-historical, and contemporary influences. 

Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Dzama received his BFA in 1997 from the University of Manitoba. Since 1998, his work has been represented by David Zwirner. He has exhibited widely throughout the United States and abroad. In November 2023, Dzama presented To Live on the Moon (For Lorca) a film and performance commissioned by Performa as part of Performa Biennial 2023. Recent solo exhibitions by the artist include Marcel Dzama: Viviendo en el limbo y soñando con el paraíso at the Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ), Mexico, in 2022; Marcel Dzama: An End to the End Times at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, Georgia, in 2021; and Marcel Dzama: Tonight We Dance at the Sara Hildén Art Museum in Tampere, Finland, in 2021. 

Curator-led tour: Marie Lannoo: In Extremis

October 9 | 5-6 PM
Morris & Ann Dancyger Observatory Gallery

To mark the closing of Marie Lannoo: In Extremis, please join us for a guided tour of the exhibition, led by guest curator Wayne Baerwaldt.

In Extremis presents a new body of work that Marie Lannoo produced during the Covid-19 pandemic, reflecting on the relationship between light, colour, transparency, and materiality. The exhibition is on view in the Morris & Ann Dancyger Observatory Gallery until October 13, 2024.

Free with registration.

About the Artist

Marie Lannoo (she/her)

Marie Lannoo

Marie Lannoo was born in Delhi, Ontario. She attended the University of Saskatchewan and studied painting at the Banff School of Arts and at Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops as well as in Virton, Belgium. Her work has been shown in exhibitions throughout Canada and internationally.   

Moving between abstraction and representation, Lannoo’s paintings exert a potent physiological effect on viewers. Imminent art historian Roald Nasgaard comments: “Lannoo’s work draws the viewer deep into internal illusions replete with reflected invasions from the external world. At the same time, it reaches out to embrace and enfold itself around the body of the viewer, who sees the world as if with eyes in the back of his/her/their head.”

About the Curator

Wayne Baerwaldt

Wayne Baerwaldt has curated a wide range of exhibitions and events including Pierre Molinier, The Royal Art Lodge: Ask the Dust, Adam Pendleton: BAND, Gabriela Garcia-Luna, Paul P: Something Cloudy, Something Clear, and If I May Digress: Richard Boulet and Collaborators, among others. He has contributed articles and essays to Art&Text, Border Crossings, Parkett, Art on Paper, TIME, Guia des Artes, Poliester, Inuit Quarterly, Art Paper, and numerous catalogues. 

FREE First Thursdays

October 3
5:00-9:00 PM

Join us on October 3rd at Contemporary Calgary for FREE First Thursdays, offering complimentary admission from 5-9 PM! Dive into the dynamic world of contemporary art as we extend our hours, inviting you to explore our galleries, stop by the exhibition opening of Paola Pivi: Come check it out and sip on a thoughtful selection of wine, craft beer, and refreshing non-alcoholic beverages. This is an all-ages event.

From 5-8 PM, enjoy a FREE drop-in art-making session in the Atrium, inspired by our current exhibitions. All ages and skill levels are welcome!

FREE with registration.

Exhibitions on view:

• Paola Pivi: Come check it out

• Marie Lannoo: In Extremis

• Ghosts of Canoe Lake: New Work by Marcel Dzama

Supported by

Exhibition Opening
Paola Pivi: Come check it out

October 3
5:00-9:00 PM

Join us at Contemporary Calgary for the opening of Italian artist Paola Pivi’s first major institutional solo show in Canada. Be among the first to experience Paola Pivi: Come check it out on Thursday, October 3, from 5–9 PM. 

• Doors
  5:00 PM

• Remarks
  6:30 PM | Atrium

• In-Conversation with artist Paola Pivi & curator Kanika Anand
  7:00 PM | Auditorium

• Book Signing with Artist Paola Pivi
  8:00-8:15 PM | Flanagan Gallery   

• Galleries Close
  9:00 PM

FREE to the public. No registration is required.

Seating for In-Conversation with artist Paola Pivi & curator Kanika Anand will be first come, first served.

This exhibition opening is presented in collaboration with FREE First Thursdays.

Paola Pivi
Come check it out

October 3, 2024—March 2, 2025

Come check it out is Italian artist Paola Pivi’s first major institutional solo show in Canada. Born in Milan, Italy and currently residing on the Island of Hawai’i, Hawaii, Pivi’s practice subverts the familiar and ordinary in ways that expands on our relationship with the built environment. 

The exhibition includes sculptural installations that question the authenticity of iconic landmarks and symbols like the Statue of Liberty and the Polar bear, symbols that have come to stand in for ideas of freedom and the global climate crisis respectively. Staged as seemingly whimsical and theatrical assemblages, Pivi employs the power of association to unpack and demystify the contrived relationship between the natural and manufactured worlds, and in so doing invites us to reflect on our choices, and the inherent responsibility they carry. Animals feature prominently in her cast of characters alongside readymade and repurposed objects, placed in unnatural or unreal situations that makes the hand of the human, though unseen, starkly present. Her work seeks the truthful and factual in ways that peel back layers of misinformation, and stereotypes, but with a sense of irony and playfulness that allows for wider engagement and deeper introspection. 

Curated by Kanika Anand.

About the Artist

Paola Pivi (she/her)

Paola Pivi won the Leone D’oro at the Venice Biennale in 1999 for the best national pavilion, along with other 5 artists. She was part of the Venice Biennale (1999, 2003), Manifesta (2004, 2014), Berlin Biennale (2008), Echigo Tsumari Triennale /2015) and Yokohama (2017).

She made public artworks for the Public Art Fund and the High Line in New York in 2012 and 2022 and for Sculpture International Rotterdam in 2010.

Pivi has had solo shows in international institutions such as: Fondazione Trussardi, Milan (2006); Kunsthalle Basel (2007); Tate Modern, London (2009); Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2012), Castello di Rivoli (2012), FRAC Bourgogne, Francia (2014), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2014), Dallas Contemporary (2016), The Bass Museum, Miami Beach (2018), MAXXI, Roma (2019), Arken Museum, Danimarca (2020), The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (2022), [mac] musée d'art contemporain, Marsiglia (2023).

Perspective Film Series:

The Color of Pomegranates (1969), dir. Sergei Parajanov

September 29

5:30 PM
Dome Theatre

1969 | Soviet Union | 78 mins

Part ethnography, part visual essay, Sergei Parajanov’s The Color of Pomegranates celebrates Armenian culture through the story of the 18-century troubadour Sayat-Nova, tracing his intellectual, artistic, and spiritual growth through iconographic compositions. The film’s tapestry of folklore and metaphor is a departure from the realism that dominated the Soviet cinema of its era, leading authorities to block its distribution, with rare underground screenings presenting it in a restructured form. At its core, The Color of Pomegranates tells the story of the survival of Armenian culture and people in face of oppression, persecution, and genocide.

This film is Armenian with English subtitles.

The 2024 edition of Perspective is curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi, Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary. The series will feature monthly screenings that amplify voices from the Global South, deconstructing broader moving-image practices through an anti-colonial framework. In particular, this year's Perspective will focus on filmic works from the Caucasus, as well as Southwest Asia and North Africa, a region that continues to grapple with the enduring legacies of colonial violence.

About the Curator:

Muriel N. Kahwagi ((she/her)) is a writer and curator, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of collecting and archiving the performative; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. In 2023, she was the TD Curatorial Fellow at Art Windsor-Essex, and a curator as part of Vtape’s Curatorial Incubator, v.19. She is currently the Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary, and a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival.

Supported by

Film Screening:

Where the Wild Things Are (2009), dir. Spike Jonze

September 15

5:00 PM
Dome Theatre

Join us for a screening of Where the Wild Things Are (2009), directed by Spike Jonze. Based on Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book of the same name, the film centers on a lonely young boy named Max who sails away to an island inhabited by creatures known as the "Wild Things," who declare Max their king.

The screening will open with a one-minute animation by Marcel Dzama, titled On a wild set (2007), specially created for Jonze while Where the Wild Things Are was in production.

This screening will be preceded by a mask-making workshop for accompanied children aged 5 to 12, from 3-4:30 PM. To register for the workshop, CLICK HERE.

This program is organized in conjunction with Ghosts of Canoe Lake: New Work by Marcel Dzama, on view at Contemporary Calgary until October 27, 2024.

Supported by

FREE First Thursdays

September 5
5:00-9:00 PM

Join us on September 5th at Contemporary Calgary for FREE First Thursdays, offering complimentary admission from 5-9 PM! Dive into the dynamic world of contemporary art as we extend our hours, inviting you to explore our galleries, and sip on a thoughtful selection of wine, craft beer, and refreshing non-alcoholic beverages. This is an all-ages event.

From 5-8 PM, enjoy a FREE drop-in art-making session in the Atrium, inspired by our current exhibitions. All ages and skill levels are welcome!

From 6:30-8 PM come experience a truly unique One Big JAM live music session.

One Big JAM is best known for curating fully improvised concerts, bringing together some of Caglary’s most talented artists from across diverse cultural backgrounds. Each performance is a one-of-a-kind experience, full of exciting and unexpected moments.

After a summer filled with memorable concerts, One Big JAM will be experimenting with a new format for this event, combining live music with music production techniques to create impromptu audio samples with the audience that will seamlessly blend in with the music.

Audience members can sit back and enjoy this unique and energetic experience, or even find themselves seamlessly contributing to the performance. Come join us to share in this musical experience.

FREE with registration.

Exhibitions on view:

• Marie Lannoo: In Extremis

• The Wagon Burner and Other Stories

• Ghosts of Canoe Lake: New Work by Marcel Dzama

FREE First Thursday Partners

Supported by