Re-situating: more-than-human dialogues in Art and Science

Resituating: more-than-human is an interdisciplinary program, bringing together academics, scientists, Indigenous thinkers, artists, and the general public to rethink ways to engage with the world of plants and other vegetal life – what we are calling the vegetal more-than-human Other. The program will take place at The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences and in Toronto and at the rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, ON. We have envisioned this program as complementary to and as continuation of the group exhibition “More-than-Human” currently on display at Onsite Gallery until May 13th, 2023.

The program’s activities and events extends the themes of the exhibition, emphasizing their relevance beyond the arts, and fostering dialogues across disciplines and world views.

Our program is guided by the following questions leading to three main goals:

• How can we reframe our understanding of the human within a world of vegetal complexity? We seek to create a space for different perspectives to co-mingle and distil into a more complex understanding of the human/vegetal ecosystem
• What does it mean to develop an ethics of inclusion and care that sees humans and non-human life as equal? We want to develop an ethics of inclusion and care that considers the rights of nature through the interdisciplinary lens of Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts in diverse fields.
• What new mental models can we adopt to help guide how we engage with the world around us? Our goal is to expand and reconfigure human relationships to the natural world through embodiment, creative experimentation, and intersectional discussion.

Jane Tingley with Faadhi Fauzi and Ilze Briede (Kavi). (ex)tending towards, 2023. 3D visualization, Cork, electronics, earth, point cloud. Photo: Jane Tingley

PROGRAM
Please, check out our program and register at: artscisalon.com/re-situating

Events at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences
222 College Street, Toronto, ON

Saturday, March 25 – 3:00-5:00 pm
On Ethics of Care
An interdisciplinary panel discussion that explores ethics of care embedded materially in the world, practices of sustainability between (non)humans – practices that are speculative, hopeful, and inclusionary.

Grace Grothaus, PhD candidate, York University
Dr. Karine Gagné, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph
Dr. Keiko Yoshioka, Department of Cells and Systems Biology, University of Toronto

Wednesday, April 5 – 7:30-9:30
Poetry Night
An immersive poetry performance that involves three poets reading poems and a live projection mapping response created by artist Ilze (Kavi) Briede. This in-depth and unique event will encourage deep listening and embodied experience. This event features poets that are also scientists and philosophers.

Dr. Madhur Anand, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph
Dr. Karen Houle, College of arts, University of Guelph
Liz Howard, Department of English, Concordia University
Projection mapping by Ilze (Kavi) Brieze, PhD student, York University

Friday, April 14 – 5:00-7:00 pm
Ecology, Symbiosis, human/plant relations
A panel discussion exploring intersections between scientific and Indigenous perspectives on ecological symbiosis.

Dr. Andrew Trant, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo
Dr. Dolleen Tisawii’Ashii Manning, Anishinaabe Knowledge, Language and Culture, Department of Philosophy, Queens University
Lindsey French, Creative technologies, University of Regina

Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits. Atmospheric Forest. VR Installation. Photo: Roberta Buiani

Field trip at the rare Charitable Reserve
Cambridge, ON

Sunday, May 7 – 9:00 am – 5:30 pm
Bus will leave for rare at 9 am and will return to Toronto at 5:30 pm.
Meeting place: Onsite gallery, 199 Richmond Street West.

Registration is mandatory and will open on April 1

Program:
11:00 am-12:30 pm
Sumia Ali, McMaster University
Grace Grothaus, PhD candidate, York University
Dr. Alice Jarry, Speculative Life BioLab, Concordia University
Dr. Marissa Davis, University of Waterloo

12:30-1:30: lunch – catered

1:30-2:15
Wetlands walk

2:30-4:15
Workshop by Dr. Alice Jarry, Speculative Life BioLab, Concordia University – Plant based filtration systems

4:30-5:15
The lichen monitoring walk. This program at rare is one of several long-term ecological monitoring programs yielding valuable baseline data and can help to identify critical changes in ecosystem dynamics.

5:30: return to Toronto

For more information and for media inquiries please contact:
Roberta Buiani – ArtSci Salon, The Fields Institute, roberta.buiani@utoronto.ca
Jane Tingley – Slolab, York University, jtingley@yorku.ca

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The Fields Institute is an accessible venue

This Program was possible thanks to the generous support of SSHRC Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Many thanks to The Fields Institute for its continuous support.