Geologic Time

Participants: Justy Phillips & Margaret Woodward (A Published Event), Semâ Bekirovic, Caitlin Chaisson, Becky Forsythe, Chloe Hodge, Shane Krepakevich, Caroline Loewen, Penelope Smart, and Camila Sposati. Guest Faculty: Sean Lynch.

‘Geologic Time’ was a month-long Banff International Curatorial Institute (BICI) residency programme organised by the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity taking place during autumn 2017. Conceived and led by Latitudes (Lead Faculty), and with the participation of Irish artist Sean Lynch as Guest Faculty, the programme asked how a geologic lens might affect artistic and curatorial practice.

As the Earth’s history and system dynamics absorb the effects of humanity’s role as geological agents, what is at stake for cultural production? Art histories are full of biophysical processes, from the enabling effects of industrial fossil capitalism, to the legacies of landscape representation. Yet how might curatorial and artistic practice venture beyond the great gulf between society and nature that was forged by a nineteenth-century understanding of human activities?

Ten curators, writers, researchers, and artists from Hobart, Amsterdam, Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Reykjavík, London, Newfoundland, and São Paulo came together to “think with” geology, exploring non-conventional, deep-time perspectives on curating, exhibition-making, and programming in contemporary art. The programme combined indoor and outdoor seminars, lectures and fieldwork with guided hikes, hot tub discussions, evening film screenings, and deep dives into libraries and archives, fostering immersive modes of learning and exchange.