2024 Exhibitions
January 19 - March 16: Glacial Resonance
Paul Walde: Glacial Resonance
January 19 - March 16, 2024
Paul Walde, Requiem for a Glacier, 2013. Documentation of site-specific performance. Courtesy of the Artist. Photographer: Douglas Noblet.
Presenting the glacier as a central protagonist, Glacial Resonance brings the stark reality of otherwise distant mountain ranges to the forefront. A solo exhibition of ambitious projects by Canadian artist Paul Walde, Glacial Resonance shares the artist’s enduring concern about environmental crises, channelled through sound and video. Best known for his interdisciplinary performances staged in the natural environment, Walde’s work often involves music and choreography. His immersive installations materialize from projects on mountain sides and from deep in old growth forests that involve myriad volunteers and performers, and technically – and geographically – challenging logistics. The splendor and sense of awe evoked by these landscapes, emphasized through the embodied sound experience of Walde’s installations, offer alternative modes in which to traverse the overwhelming scale of climate change.
Glaciers are a vital source of fresh water for humans, animals, trees, and plants. The slow and steady disappearance of mountain glaciers around the world is dramatic evidence of Earth’s warming climate. Worldwide, most glaciers are shrinking or disappearing altogether, causing sea levels to rise. Remnants of the last Ice Age, glaciers’ accelerated retreat today is an austere visual record of our impact on Earth. Glaciers tracked by the World Glacier Monitoring Service since 1970 have lost a volume of ice equivalent to nearly 25 metres of liquid water—the equivalent of slicing 27.5 metres of ice off the top of each glacier.¹ In their work to distinguish the natural ebbs and flows of the Earth’s climate from human generated outcomes , NASA scientists state, “Changes observed in Earth’s climate since the mid-20th century are driven by human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, raising Earth’s average surface temperature.”²
Glacial Resonance brings together Paul Walde’s iconic 2013 project Requiem for a Glacier with his newest video and sound installation Glacial. Both address concerns about land use and the impacts of the climate crisis, 10 years apart, with glaciers as the primary focus and an urgent sign of the Earth’s tipping point to an irrevocably changed climate. Requiem for a Glacier is a multichannel sound and video installation that emerged from a site-specific performance featuring a 55-piece choir and orchestra performed live on the Farnham Glacier, in the Qat’muk area of the Purcell Mountains in southeastern BC. The composition converted climate data, including temperature records for the area, into music notation and featured a Latin translation of the BC government’s media release announcing the initial approval of a year-round resort community at the site that borders a nature conservancy. Transmitting a sense of solemnity through string, brass, and percussion instruments, along with the stirring voice of soprano Veronika Hajdu, the performance conveys the tension between this human-made and natural data. The interplay of visual and musical melodrama is intercut with black squares throughout the video that work to subvert historically romantic landscape traditions and disrupt a normalized experience of unfettered relationships between art, nature, and spectacle.
Glacial is a meditative durational experience, sharing distant vistas and extreme details of the Coleman Glacier at Mount Baker (Kulshan), in Washington State, along with the sounds of the glacier melting, modified through musical instruments used as speakers. Over the course of five hours violin, viola, cello, double bass, bass drum, and a cymbal fitted with sonic transducers transform field recordings into tones which form the basis of the composition and act as conduits for the glacier to communicate resonant frequencies.
A more extensive iteration of Glacial Resonance was previously exhibited at the Kamloops Art Gallery, curated by Charo Neville.
Related Programming
Artist-led Exhibition Tour
Friday, January 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Free | Registration required
Opening Reception
Friday, January 19 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Free | Open to the public
On Glaciers: a conversation with artist Paul Walde and environmental scientist Emmanuelle Arnaud
Tuesday, March 12 at 7:00 p.m. EST on Zoom
Free | Recording available
¹ Rebecca Lindsey, “Climate Change: Mountain Glaciers.” Climate.gov. Last modified February 14, 2020. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-mountain-glaciers
² Global Warming vs. Climate Change.” NASA: Global Climate Change, Vital Signs of the Planet https://climate.nasa.gov/global-warming-vs-climate-change/
April 1 - June 1: Matt Bahen: Coming Down the Mountain & The Coves Collective: unclaim. unsettle. belong
Coming Down the Mountain
Matt Bahen
Curated by Matthew Ryan Smith
Matt Bahen, From a Trickle to a Flood, 2023. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist.
The paintings of Toronto-based artist Matt Bahen implement themes and devices found in literature and film. This extends to the esoteric titles of his paintings, which are often culled from selected lines in fictional works or character dialogue. Bahen is recognised for his singular aesthetic that uses thick, impastoed surfaces to forge enigmatic and unsettling environments. His careful use of metaphor and allegory contribute to the inherent tension of his paintings and allow for a plurality of readings.
In Coming Down the Mountain, Bahen speculates on the narrative device of Chekhov’s Gun. Conceptualised by Russian storyteller Anton Chekhov, it stipulates that if a gun is written into a story then it must be fired at some point in the plot. In other words, past activities hold significant meaning for future events. Applying this notion to the ten paintings displayed in the exhibition, pictures of cascading water serve as a potent metaphor for how (in)actions, left unchecked or ignored, can fester over time into catastrophe. For Bahen, the past has a way of catching up to us.
Although a number of sublime vistas and lush marshlands feature prominently in Bahen’s paintings, these are offset by motifs that carry sinister overtones. At the bottom of his mountains lie a collection of raging fires, turbulent whirlpools, floodwaters, and acidic ponds. Not only do these motifs reference Biblical accounts, but they also symbolise the slow descent into catastrophe; namely, the housing crisis in Canada, the renewal of the Cold War in Ukraine, or the threat of the anthropocene. Through the “emotion machine” that is painting, Bahen painstakingly creates “devices to understand what we’re living in now."
A publication in support of Matt Bahen: Coming Down the Mountain, featuring an essay by guest curator Matthew Ryan Smith, can be accessed in print at McIntosh Gallery or online here.
About the artist
Matt Bahen was raised in Schomberg, Ontario and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. He received his BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2002. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions including the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie, Ontario and Glenhyrst Art Gallery in Brantford, Ontario. Bahen is represented in Toronto by Nicholas Metivier Gallery, in New York City by Claire Oliver Gallery, and in Edmonton by Peter Robertson Gallery. His work is included in several private and public art collections including the Hamilton Art Gallery, BMO Financial Group, and Sun Life Canada.
Related Programming
Opening Reception
Thursday, April 4 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Free | Open to the public
In Conversation: Matt Bahen & Matthew Ryan Smith
Presented as part of the ADAC Canadian Art Hop
Saturday, April 27 at 1:00 p.m.
Free | Open to the public
This dialogue featuring Toronto-based artist Matt Bahen and London-based curator Matthew Ryan Smith examines the central themes found in Bahen’s current exhibition Coming Down the Mountain at McIntosh Gallery, Western University. Drawing on literary concepts such as Chekhov’s Gun and environmental concerns including the Anthropocene, Bahen’s paintings serve as potent metaphors for how (in)actions can fester over time into catastrophe.
unclaim. unsettle. belong
The Coves Collective
Curated by Helen Gregory
The Coves Collective, Tracing CareFull Paths (detail), 2022-2023. Linen and cotton fabric, merino wool thread, black raspberry, goldenrod and black walnut dyes, time and community. Image courtesy of Michelle Wilson.
Designated an Environmentally Significant Area, the Coves is a lush, biodiverse subwatershed located in the centre of London, Ontario. Once a meander of Dehskaan Ziibi or Antler River (also known as the Thames River), the Coves is now a series of oxbow ponds known for their high species diversity. In 1939, the land was acquired by Thomas Wolfe, an immigrant to Canada who later founded the Almatex Paint Factory on the site. The factory remained in operation for decades, emitting toxic chemicals into the surrounding land and water. The factory underwent several changes in ownership, and the title to the land is currently held by Valspar, a subsidiary of Sherwin Williams. Although the business was closed in 2001, the factory and warehouses removed, and the area cordoned off with chain-link fences and barbed wire, there is a remaining legacy of environmental damage from the extensive period of polluted run-off and dumped construction materials.
The Coves Collective is a group of artists, educators, and activists who are united in their shared desire to develop a thoughtful approach to their responsibilities and relationships to and with the land, specifically within the context of the Coves ecosystem. The Collective disrupts and challenges the Coves’ colonialist history by engaging in a practice of environmentally-focused, land-based projects situated in the Coves itself. Their work is informed by Indigenous pedagogy and epistemology and is grounded in a philosophy of reciprocity, kinship, and care. They make use of the gifts that the land has given them, and offer acts of gratitude in return. Community members of all ages are invited to participate in these land-based workshops. Children are taught to respect the environment and all it contains with the intention that they will take these lessons with them as they grow. Goldenrod is planted in an act of phytoremediation, helping to draw lead out of the contaminated soil. Plant materials are harvested for use in sculptures, baskets, and natural dyes, which in turn have been used to create a community embroidery, mapping the place, and cementing the Collective’s relationship to place.
unclaim. unsettle. belong brings together works by The Coves Collective members Kristin Bennett, Paul Chartrand, Reilly Knowles, Sheri Osden Nault, and Michelle Wilson.
About the artists
Kristin Bennett is an arts educator, theatre artist, textile artist and basket maker living in "London, Ontario" on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts and a BEd from the University of Ottawa and has worked as an arts educator in one form or another for the past two decades. While her work as an actor and director explores the storytelling traditions of humanity, in her work as an arts educator she seeks to foster personal and community reflection and growth through artistic expression. Her more recent foray into the world of visual arts has been a natural evolution of her work as an arts educator, providing a catalyst for her own personal reflection and growth through embracing slow work, tuning into the rhythms of the earth, and connecting deeply with the land. As much as possible, she uses the knowledge and techniques from her Irish ancestry, and endeavors to practice intentional and sustainable harvesting on colonised land.
Paul Chartrand works with constructed habitats built from found objects and integrated living components. Paul finds inspiration in the blurry definitions of culture and nature, intending for his work to foster dialogue regarding this problematic dichotomy. Paul completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in 2013 and his Master of Fine Arts degree at Western University, where he earned Ontario Graduate Scholarships and SSHRC funding.
Reilly Knowles is an interdisciplinary artist of mixed European heritage. He is currently exploring how scavenging and foraging can be implemented as parts of a sustainable and bioregionally-specific artistic practice. He earned his BFA from the University of Western Ontario in 2020.
Sheri Osden Nault is an artist, community activist, and Assistant Professor in Studio Arts at the University of Western Ontario. Their work spans mediums including sculpture, performance, installation, and more, integrating cultural, social, and experimental creative processes. Their work considers embodied connections between human and non-human beings, land-based relationships, and kinship sensibilities as an Indigenous Futurist framework. Sheri currently lives and creates near the Deshkan Ziibing, on the lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lunaapéwak, and Chonnonton Nations, also known as “London, Ontario.” They are colonially displaced Michif of the Charette, Bélanger, and Nault families, registered with the Métis Nation of Ontario and with familial connections to the Red River, Duck Lake, North Battleford, and Rocky Mountain areas.
Michelle Wilson is a neurodivergent artist, researcher and mother who currently lives in London, Ontario. She is of settler descent and her intermedia practice focuses on confronting colonial knowledge systems and conservation regimes with criticality and care. She is an organizing and founding member of the Unsettling Conservation Collective, the Coves Collective, and the (Re)mediating Soils Collective. She recently completed her SSHRC-funded doctorate from the University of Western Ontario. Currently, Michelle is an instructor in the Faculty of Design at OCADU and a postdoctoral scholar working with the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership at the University of Guelph.
Related Programming
Opening Reception
Thursday, April 4 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Free | Open to the public
Replanting in the Coves: a closing celebration
Saturday, June 1 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Off-site | The Coves ESA, meet at the German Canadian Club parking lot
Free | Open to the public
The Coves Collective acknowledges the London Arts Council's generous support of its 2023 programming through the City of London's Community Arts Investment Program.
