The Canadian art landscape is ever-changing. Akimbo keeps you apprised of the standard-bearers as well as the upstarts in our monthly series on exhibition spaces from across the country. This month, we speak with Tye Dandridge-Evancio, Director/Curator of the Estevan Art Gallery & Museum in Estevan, Saskatchewan. What is the history and mandate of your gallery?  The Estevan Art Gallery & Museum encourages involvement in the dissemination and development of artists, and cultural and historical practices by bringing to the people of southern Saskatchewan a balanced program of exhi ..read more

Malik McKoy is an emerging artist whose practice consists of painting and digital media. His work is a reflection of the banal qualities of his personal anecdotes translated through a vibrant and playful lens. He has previously exhibited work at Trinity Square Video, Susan Hobbs Gallery, and the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, among others, and is currently pursuing his MFA degree at Concordia University. This spring and summer, McKoy has been a resident of World Creation Studio’s CO/CREATE residency program. His collaboration with fellow resident Della Orrey will be presented at the studio starti ..read more

Akimbo is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year with a monthly series that draws on our rich archive of clients, critics, and contributors. For our summer installments, we are checking in with some of the more than fifty former Review writers who have covered the Canadian and international art scene for Akimblog since its inception in 2006. We asked everyone the same two questions: What are you up to now? What have you seen lately that you’ve loved?  Isa Tousignant Nelly-Eve Rajotte, Les arbres communiquent entre eux à 220 hertz, 2024, video installation 1. I’ve segued out of art ..read more

By oualie frost Curated by historical guide Rito Joseph, Black Summer ’91 is an interdisciplinary dive into a particular period of Montreal’s political past. Straddling the line between art and museum exhibition, it educates while reflecting on a lesser known moment in our local Black history – one marked by cultural awareness, police brutality, and resulting political action. Black Summer ’91 at Fonderie Darling, 2024, exhibition view (photo: Simon S. Belleau) Occupying two rooms at Fonderie Darling, the exhibition first opens into a brightly lit space where artworks reside surrounded by sev ..read more

Bagua Artist Association 八卦藝術家協會 is an artist duo (Katharine Meng-Yuan Yi and Sean Cao) living and working on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations. Formed in 2018, Bagua’s multidisciplinary practice explores the duo’s common interest and shared lived experience as first-generation immigrant settlers. Bagua’s research-based and socially engaged practice examines the quotidian, popular culture, and folk arts through a migratory lens, and re-envisions traditions and current phenomena with a focus on contemporary Chinese diaspora discourse. They are on ..read more

By Jenny Western Mothers have long relied on innovation and technology to assist in their caregiving. I bought a smart phone part way into my first child’s infancy, and access to social media truly got me through some long and solitary feeding sessions. But what of Silicon Valley’s latest darling: AI? At first glance, motherhood and AI seem incompatible; one evokes feelings of tenderness and warmth, the other a cold and unfeeling algorithm. Yet the group show Wake Windows: The Witching Hour interrogates the relationship between these two seemingly disparate entities, perhaps finding them not s ..read more

Kosar Movahedi lives and works on the unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples in Victoria. Through photography, drawing, installation, and sculpture, her work uses humor and play to complicate our perception of space and surfaces, blurring the line between artworks and exhibition space. She holds an MFA from the University of Victoria and a BSc in Architecture from the University of Tehran. Her work has been featured in publications and exhibitions internationally and across Canada. Her solo exhibitions Fall Flat at the POMO Arts Centre and Folly at the Alternator Cen ..read more

The homepage of verityfaith.ca circa 2005 Akimbo is celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2024 with a monthly series that draws on our rich archive of clients, critics, and contributors to reflect on the accomplishments of the past and look toward future possibilities. This month’s installment features Akimbo’s first employee: Verity Griscti. What are some of your professional highlights from the past twenty-five years? Verity Griscti, flitting, 2019, acrylic paint on duralar polyester sheets Twenty-five years ago, I was a student at OCAD studying printmaking, drawing, and creative w ..read more

By Ogheneofegor Obuwoma Originally organized by the Brooklyn Museum, Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines is overwhelming in its sheer volume and depth, choosing to fluidly define the zine by connecting it to art in ways that are exciting and sometimes unexpected. Taking up the entire third floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery with archival material and installations, it is an exhibition that necessitates multiple viewings to fully absorb. After my first visit (with another one planned), I am most excited to talk about how it unfolds in a space like the VAG. Bud Lee, AA Bronson, John ..read more

(photo: Charlotte Ghomeshi) Maria Simmons (she/they) investigates potentialized environments through the creation of hybrid sculpture and installation. Her work embraces contamination as an act of collaboration. She collects garbage, grows yeast, ferments plants, and nurtures fruit flies. She makes art that eats itself. They hold an MFA from the University of Waterloo and a BFA from McMaster University. Her recent solo exhibitions include the Visual Art Centre of Clarington, Gallery Stratford, Trinity Square Video, and Centre3. She is currently in residence at Est-Nord-Est and exhibiting at A ..read more