A cutting-edge, multimedia exploration of our extractive industries and mineral lives is set to represent Canada at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Provocatively called EXTRACTION, the project will feature an installation, film, and book exploring the ecologies and territories of resource extraction.
Announced on December 7th by the Canada Council for the Arts and led by landscape urbanist Pierre Bélanger, the team includes the design and media organization OPSYS managed by Christopher Alton and Zannah Matson, in collaboration with Geoffrey Thün, Kathy Velikov and Colin Ripley of the architectural firm RVTR, Nina-Marie Lister with the Ecological Design Lab at Ryerson University, and Kelsey Blackwell of Studio Blackwell, in the production of a multimedia exhibition project, featuring contributions from prominent Canadians including Michael Awad, Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, Nick de Pencier, Eriel Deranger, Max Haiven, Thomas King, Alessandra Ponte, John Van Nostrand, Mel Watkins, and Suzanne Zeller to name a few.
As the Official Commissioner for EXTRACTION, Catherine Crowston and the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) will support the launch of the project in Venice on May 27, 2016, leading towards its Canadian tour in 2017.
