May 11 2022
-
Oct 08 2022
Drift: Art and Dark Matter

Drift: Art and Dark Matter

Presented by Art Museum at the University of Toronto at Art Museum at the University of Toronto – Justina M. Barnicke Gallery

An invisible matter is having a gravitational effect on everything. Without the gravity of this “dark” matter, galaxies would fly apart. Observational data in astroparticle physics indicate that it exists, but so far dark matter hasn’t been detected directly.
Given the contours of such an unknown, artists Nadia Lichtig, Josèfa Ntjam, Anne Riley, and Jol Thoms worked with the physicists, chemists, and engineers who are contributing to the search for dark matter at SNOLAB's underground facility in Sudbury, two kilometres below the surface of the Earth. Through their transdisciplinary exchanges with scientists, the artists have created artworks—sculpture, installation, textile, and video—that emerge as multi-sensory agents in the search for an experience of dark matter.
The title “Drift” comes from the mining term for a horizontal tunnel, in this case the hot underground passageway in the copper and nickel mine stretching between the elevator and the clean lab spaces of SNOLAB. The project thereby begins from a consideration of the forms and energies that connect research to labour, landscapes, cultures, and histories.

Admission Info

Admission to the Art Museum is free. No advance registration is required.

Dates & Times

2022/05/11 - 2022/10/08

Additional time info:

PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Curatorial Tour and Artist Performance
Saturday, September 17, 1pm–2pm
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery

Drift: Art and Dark Matter curator Sunny Kerr will lead us through the exhibition’s interdisciplinary themes, exploring how Drift’s artists approach dark matter. Following the tour, artist Nadia Lichtig will present an in-person engagement with her artwork Blank Spots, featured in Drift.
Register
Dark Matter and Metaphor: A Panel Discussion on Art and Astrophysics
Wednesday, September 21, 6pm–8pm
Online on Zoom

Join us for a panel discussion on the interdisciplinary potentials of astrophysics and art, featuring University of Toronto astrophysicists Renée Hložek, Miriam Diamond, and David Curtin alongside Queen’s University cultural studies scholar Elvira Hufschmid.
Register
Keynote: Karen Barad
Wednesday, September 28, 6pm–8pm
Online on Zoom

Professor Karen Barad from the University of California, Santa Cruz will speak to touch and alterity in a talk entitled “On Touching the Stranger Within—Material Wonderings/Wanderings.”
Register

Location Info

Art Museum at the University of Toronto – Justina M. Barnicke Gallery

7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3

Parking Info

Metered parking is available along Hoskin Avenue, King’s College Circle, Tower Road, Hart House Circle. Please visit the U of T Parking information site for up-to-date pricing and rates.