extracted tour and introduction
As an extension of the 2024-25 CRiCS research talk programming on the theme of Culture, Climate Justice, and Critical Hope, CRiCS members and members of UWinnipeg's Prairie Climate Centre were invited to aceartinc. on Wednesday, October 9 at 6:00pm for an exclusive tour and introduction to the exhibit with artist Ben Davis.
CRiCS member Kevin Walby has been in conversation and has with Davis on his interactive method of tracing, which informs the exhibit and was part of our tour experience.
Some CRiCS members' snapthoughts:
"Ben Davis' exhibit extracted grappled with disturbing and deep effects of environmental degradation and facilitated community and collective responses and engagement. I was so grateful to have been part of the faculty and student participation in this art and the event that enacts the breaking of boundaries and retracing images in the aim of relocating our relationship to our environment." — Peter Ives
"The artist presentation and tracing exercise during the Extracted event was an excellent way to visit with the artists and other attendees while feeling immersed in the art itself. Having grown up in a northern Manitoba mining town, this event took me back to exploring the hidden parts of my own hometown surroundings that were so brutally affected by mine tailings. The landscape is also a constant reminder to me of what lies beneath these towns - the miles and miles of shafts, drifts, stopes and drill core holes." — Devin Latimer
"I loved our tour of Davis’s exhibit extracted at aceartinc. We got to participate in a collective, hands-on tracing of images of post-industrial sites of contamination, a method that Davis and collaborator Kevin Walby describe as 'a way of comprehending these slow disasters.' As someone who does research on collective memory, I also found Davis’s use of the palimpsest evocative for how it conveys layers of culture, history, and materiality as they inform places like Uranium City, the now-decommissioned mining town. It is a reminder that while sites like this have been largely destroyed by resource extraction, better ways of relating to the land might be remembered and enacted, here and elsewhere." — Angela Failler
"extracted captured the beauty of community and the sadness of the harm done to the earth. I am grateful to be able to learn about the amazing way art and academia collaborate to combat climate change." — Precious Gauthier
"It was an intricate introduction to aceartinc., offering a unique opportunity to meet Ben Davis as an artist in action and engage directly with their practice, alongside the exhibition extracted. This experience illuminated the intersection of art and academia, demonstrating how both can collaborate to translate knowledge, foster community, and reimagine our relationship with the environment. It prompted deep reflection on the complexities of history, particularly the realities of resource extraction, while encouraging consideration of the long-term consequences of today’s actions—especially regarding our environmental footprint. The collaborative discussion, facilitated by the tracing process, enriched the experience, deepening engagement and sparking thoughtful reflection on confronting climate change. It opened a broader conversation about our language and behaviors, not only in combating but also in living with this ongoing reality. This is the power of art: to provoke, challenge, and connect. Davis does this masterfully."– Shivanya Ra
is an Artist-Run centre located at 206 Princess Street in the Exchange District.
