Hard Feelings: A Somatic Workshop Series by Indu Vashist

March 31, 2026 - April 28, 2026
Critical Distance is pleased to present Hard Feelings: a somatic workshop series led by Indu Vashist. The full series comprises 5 workshops in total for $120 CAD and includes the following: Session 1 is a two-part workshop taking place over two hours. For the first hour, we will discuss the structural reasons why the art world is shrinking. Arts Councils on every governmental level are oversubscribed and underfunded. This is resulting in far fewer artists receiving funding and fewer places to showcase work. Without this systemic analysis, individual artists experience rejection from the granting or showcasing system as social rejection. These emotions can trigger a physical response. We literally feel rejection as pain.  In sessions 2–5, Indu Vashist will leadFind out more

EXHIBITION > Learning to Be Here

January 18, 2026 - February 28, 2026

Learning to Be Here is an exhibition of five looping films by Anika Iyer, Dee Dee Decay, Hala Alsalman, Wang Zi, and Xinyi Tian, curated by Jasmine Liaw. Embodiment within a decentralized lens → these films focus on the curiosity of deciphering communication sequences, understanding hi/stories through an oneiric epistemology, symbolic cognition, forming self through communal mark-making, and practices of re-languaging.

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A person is standing in the middle of a studio. In front of hime is a large-scale abstract painting with dominant green colour. The rest of the space is cluttered with art supplies and shelves.

EVENT: Curatorial Considerations: On Studio Visits at Youngplace

June 28, 2025 - June 28, 2025

As part of our ongoing Curatorial Considerations series, Critical Distance brought together artists and curators at Youngplace for a conversation circle centered on the practice of studio visits—how we approach them with criticality, care, and curiosity.

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A college of the book cover for As for Protocols and Convivialities.

DOUBLE BOOK LAUNCH: with Re’al Christian (As For Protocols) and Michael Nardone (Convivialities), in partnership with Vera List Centre for Art and Politics

October 3, 2025 - October 3, 2025
Join us at Critical Distance on Friday, October 3, 6:30 – 8 pm for the Toronto launch of two new books in conversation: As for Protocols (Vera List Center for Art and Politics/Amherst College Press, 2025) and Convivialities (Talonbooks, 2025). New York-based writer, editor, and curator Re’al Christian, co-editor of As for Protocols, will be joined by Montréal-based writer and editor Michael Nardone, editor of Convivialities, for a conversation on the editorial/curatorial practices and perspectives at the core of their two volumes. Both books emerge out of sustained engagements with writers and artists; together, Christian and Nardone will consider how the array of artists and writers involved in their editions articulate the contemporary conditions, relational affinities, and protocols of making.Find out more

EVENT: Dancemakers Symposium: What Can Dance Curation Do?

July 17, 2025 - July 18, 2025

Critical Distance is pleased to partner with Dancemakers for their inaugural symposium, What Can Dance Curation Do? This two-day gathering brings together artists, curators, and researchers to explore emergent practices in dance curation through a series of talks, panels, and provocations.

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