Agents for Change | Facing the Anthropocene: Two projects – Three creators

KMDI speakers series:

The KMDI Speaker Series is pleased to present a panel discussion on the theme of environment change, featuring Kristine Diekman (Professor of Art and Technology, California State University) creator of “Behold the Tilapia,” along with Caroline McCaw (Associate Professor of Communications, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand) and Vicki Smith (Artist, New Zealand) co-creators of “Sounding,” moderated by Nina Czegledy (Curator, Artist, Leonardo Fellow and KMDI Member). The panel brings together contemporary international and Canadian women media artists to talk about their work confronting the climate crisis and their new collaboration, “Agents for Change | Facing the Anthropocene,” a media art exhibition co-curated by Nina Czegledy and Jane Tingley (Professor of Fine Arts, University of Waterloo), opening on January 23, 2020 at THE MUSEUM in Kitchener, ON. RSVP here!

About Speakers:

Kristine Diekman is a media artist, humanities scholar, teacher and leader of collaborative vision and social change. She has over 40 years of experience producing, directing and editing award-winning films and videos. She is Director of Video in the Community, whose mission is to empower students, members of the university and the community to take action through the production, study, and use of socially responsible, culturally sensitive media that address the diversity of the region and the nation. She is a Full Professor at California State University where she teaches media theory and practice.

Dr Caroline McCaw’s social art practice considers our landscapes,local species and regional contexts as playful sites in which to reconsider human activity. In line with Manzini’s (2010) framework for designing resilient socio-technical systems, her collaborations propose that we are at once global and local, personal and networked. Caroline is an Associate Professor in Communication Design at Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand. She is involved in a wide range of community and regional development projects working with local community groups and sites, including museums. Swimming in the ocean is her happy place. In 2016-17 Caroline was a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at SUNY Canton, in Upstate New York.

Vicki Smith creates participatory artworks with an environmental focus, particularly working with community engagement and with water. Drawing from her background in art, education and science research, she connects her art practice to the oceans through her years growing up in a coastal community; her work as a Scientific Observer for New Zealand’s (then) Ministry of Fisheries; and as an ocean-going sailor.