Contemporary Calgary Marks Chief Curator Mona Filip’s Landmark Debut Unveils Building-Wide Exhibitions, Entwined and Nelly-Eve Rajotte: Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz
Jennifer Murphy. Ginkgo, 2022. Collage of cut images from used books sewn with thread. Courtesy of the artist and Clint Roenisch Gallery.
Contemporary Calgary Marks Chief Curator Mona Filip’s Landmark Debut Unveils Building-Wide Exhibitions, Entwined and Nelly-Eve Rajotte: Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz
Calgary, Alta (December 1, 2025) – Contemporary Calgary (701 11 St SW) is pleased to announce Entwined (December 5, 2025 to March 15, 2026) and Nelly-Eve Rajotte: Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz (December 5, 2025 to April 19, 2026), two major exhibitions curated by Chief Curator Mona Filip, her first since joining the organization. Presented together, these projects mark a defining moment for Contemporary Calgary as the gallery opens a bold new chapter of large-scale, immersive programming that reimagines how artworks engage with its iconic brutalist architecture and its history as a place dedicated to exploring the universe. Press are invited to attend the opening celebration on Thursday, December 4, 2025, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. throughout the gallery. Spokespersons for this story include David Leinster, CEO of Contemporary Calgary, Mona Filip, Chief Curator and participating artists. To book interviews or for images, please email nikita@parkerpr.ca
Unfolding throughout Contemporary Calgary’s Ring Gallery, Atrium, Bow View Hall, Dome and across the exterior facade, Entwined transforms the building into a connected ecosystem of ideas. Featuring nineteen artists and collectives from Alberta, the Prairies and beyond, the exhibition considers our relationship as humans with the land and all forms of life. Using both natural and manufactured materials and working across diverse visual media, the artists reflect on urgent ecological issues. Their works engage with traditional knowledge, mythological beliefs, futuristic imagination and scientific exploration to articulate artistic strategies that encourage a deeper, empathetic understanding of our connected world.
Artists featured in Entwined include Carrie Allison, Sara Angelucci, Alana Bartol, Ari Bayuaji, Katherine Boyer, DaveandJenn, Kuh Del Rosario, Anna Binta Diallo, Emily Jan, Tyler Los-Jones, Qavavau Manumie, Jennifer Murphy, Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed, Sabrina Ratté, Sandra Sawatzky, Adrian Stimson, tīná gúyáńí, Alberta Rose W. / Ingniq and Xiaojing Yan.
Presented alongside Entwined is Nelly-Eve Rajotte: Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz, an immersive installation in the Morris & Ann Dancyger Observatory Gallery. Using generative sound, LiDAR scanning and hybrid image technologies, Rajotte creates a sensorial environment that explores the relationship between nature, memory and the digital. The work repositions the viewer within a sublime yet fragile ecosystem and expands the exhibition program into the realm of technological and sonic experimentation. Together, these exhibitions offer powerful, timely perspectives on our connection to the land, its ecosystems and the complex worldviews through which we engage with it.
“With Entwined and Nelly-Eve Rajotte’s Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz, we mark more than the opening of new exhibitions—we mark the beginning of a new chapter for Contemporary Calgary. As Mona Filip unveils her first curated projects as our Chief Curator, she brings an inspiring and thoughtful vision for how our historic planetarium can be activated in bold, imaginative ways. This moment also reflects the remarkable work and dedication of our curatorial and exhibitions teams, whose efforts have brought us to this point and continue to shape our evolution. We invite our community to welcome Mona, celebrate all that has carried us here and share in the excitement of what lies ahead as we transform this extraordinary building into a place of wonder, connection and possibility,” says David Leinster, CEO of Contemporary Calgary.
Entwined and Trees communicate with each other at 220 hertz positions Contemporary Calgary as a site for ambitious, interdisciplinary exhibitions that deepen community engagement with the environment, land relations and contemporary art practices.
“I’ve been anticipating this moment since I started my new position at Contemporary Calgary and I am absolutely thrilled to open my first two exhibitions here. They embody the artistic vision I am developing with the curatorial team, building on the local context to connect to vital global conversations. Urging a deeper sense of reciprocity and responsibility for the ecosystem to which we all belong, the artworks presented in these exhibitions offer new ideas and hope for our interconnected world. The experience begins outside, inviting audiences in to discover a multilayered environment that animates the building as a shared space for dreaming and shaping our future,” adds Mona Filip, Chief Curator of Contemporary Calgary.
This milestone evening celebrates the future of Contemporary Calgary’s programming and reaffirms its commitment to creating a place of wonder and belonging where everyone is invited to imagine, learn and understand one another and the world we share through contemporary art.
To book interviews with spokespeople or for images, please email nikita@parkerpr.ca.