Critical Distance Program Type Community Projects

Critical Distance is pleased to welcome you to STUDY HALL, our newest initiative in support of critical curatorial inquiry, community, and practice. This Winter we’re opening up our space and our program to explore more nimble, flexible, responsive and mutually supportive frameworks for curatorial commoning and collaboration. 

All are welcome to drop in and visit, ask questions, peruse our featured publications, and join in the conversation on curating today. Outside public hours, visit our Instagram page @critical.distance for links to our survey, e-Shop, and newsletter subscription form, so you can be in the know on upcoming programs, events, and other ways to get involved.

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In 2023, we embarked upon a yearlong research and community consultation process under the banner of New Directions for Critical Distance. Still reeling from pandemic-related setbacks, we had identified strategic and financial planning as key to our recovery. Thanks to the Government of Canada’s Community Services Recovery Fund, we were able to design an integrated, multi-phase process that began in consultation with key mentors, curatorial peers, and stakeholders from across the sector. Through an in-depth survey developed in collaboration with senior market analyst and consultant Marina Mandić, plus over 40 hours of face-to-face community consultations between CDCC Director Shani Khoo Parsons and emerging, midcareer, and established curators from across Canada, we engaged a representative sampling of ~150 curatorial colleagues in conversation and critical questions…Find out more

DIYing Free: Special Exhibition by Taboo Health for DesignTO at Critical Distance Opening Reception: January 17th, 6–9 pm Critical Distance is pleased to participate in the 2019 edition of DesignTO Festival as host to Taboo Health’s interactive exhibition, DIYing Free, by artist Justin Tyler Tate. This special exhibition is a part of the captivating DesignTO Festival event series, Dying. Find out more

Featuring Azaeb Adane, Clayton Batson, Eli Carmona, Tahoy James, and Ebti Nabag. Curated by Emma German. In partnership with Gallery 44, Exposing Liminalities brings together the work of five artists that expand, challenge, and question notions of the in-between. Employing elements of both analogue and digital photography practices, this exhibition considers the myriad intersections that can define oneself. Presented as a part of Critical Distance’s Summer Sessions, a program through which we support emerging curators and artists by providing free space, mentorship, and installation support for their thesis exhibitions.Find out more

Featuring The Site Magazine competition winners: Ali Navidbakhsh, Evan Wakelin, Karan Manchanda, Sarah Gunawan, and Shelley Long; plus runners-up: Anna Longrigg + Jason McMillan, Fionn Byrne, Kyung-Kuhn Lee + Mamata Guragain + Nubras Samayeen, Mitchell Gray, and Rob McIntosh; and honourable mentions: Dominique Cheng, Émélie Desrochers-Turgeon, Emma Mendel, Stephanie Mauer, and Studio Ha-ha Future Legacy: Design for Canada’s Next 150 Years is an exhibition featuring winners of The Site Magazine’s inaugural design competition. In the context of Canada’s sesquicentennial, entrants were challenged to develop proposals that considered the relationship between the nation’s history, current context, and possible future trajectories.Find out more