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Shifting Ground Symposium
Revisit the Symposium Videos
On behalf of Harbourfront Centre and Craft Ontario, thank you for joining us at the Shifting Ground Symposium this past year, November 11–12, 2022.
The Shifting Ground Symposium delivered an exciting two-day event organized around the theme of “shifting ground.” It explored making and culture, land and materials, social activism, intersectional practice and values and relationships. The symposium was offered in-person and online, and now, we are making it available to everyone.
While craft is an artistic endeavour involving the creation of objects, it is also an expanded field of relationships, where meaning is made through practice, collaboration, compromise and embodied viewpoints that act in the world.
We invite you to enjoy and explore the recordings!
– Melanie Egan, Harbourfront Centre and Janna Hiemstra, Craft Ontario
DAY 1
Material and the Immaterial
Combining textile techniques and materials with familiar found objects and multi-media processes to develop new physical, conceptual and digital languages, Omar Badrin and Zavisha Chromicz bring their works to the fore in their conversation with Sarah Quinton.
Black Ecologies
Charmaine Lurch and Jérôme Havre join Nehal El-Hadi for a provocative discussion on nature, mythology and Blackness to explore what it means to contend with our current moment through human-environment interactions, desires and fantasies.
Keynote: ShapeShifters
As Indigenous practice continues to evolve, shift, shape and reshape within the landscape, established creator, director and producer Denise Bolduc presents a thought-provoking reflection on connectivity where relationality is at the core.
DAY 2
Contemporary Art Jewellery and the Craft Ideal
Gabrielle Desmarais and Paul McClure discuss the never-ending search for the craft “ideal” in current art jewellery practice and how it resonates with artists today with Marie-Eve G. Castonguay.
Craft & Creative Placemaking
Tiffany Shaw and Dawn Saunders Dahl unpack how their craft practices and backgrounds impact and influence their work in Creative Placemaking through their efforts in arts organizations, public art and temporary and built environments in this panel moderated by Jenna Stanton.
Craftship/Kinship
Jack Theis and Katherine Boyer challenge normative Western perspectives of craft through critical dialogue and conversation by looking toward historical and contemporary examples of Indigenous craft practice in this conversation with Justine Woods.
Symposium Overview
Shifting Ground: A Making & Thinking Symposium
November 11 – 12, 2022
Harbourfront Centre: Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W, Toronto
In person and live streamed online
Tickets: $45, $25 for students - Registration Opens October 11
Co-presented by Harbourfront Centre and Craft Ontario
Organized around the theme of ‘Shifting Ground’, and in collaboration with communities, artists, and arts workers that will shape discussions from multiple perspectives, the Symposium will explore intersections between making and culture; land and materials, education, craft as subversive practice, social activism, community systems/supports and gaps, intersectional practice and values and relationships.
While craft is an artistic endeavour involving the creation of objects, it is also an expanded field of relationships, where meaning is made through practice, collaboration, compromise, and embodied viewpoints that act in the world. Presented in-person and online, the symposium supports access across the country, and fosters critical engagement with craft practice, approaches and ideas.
Generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts
