An Evening of Indigenous Storytelling: A Film Screening and Dialogue with Damian Abrahams

October 4
Heather Edwards Theatre | 5:30 PM

Join us for a powerful evening of film and conversation as we present a double feature from acclaimed filmmaker Damian Abrahams. This event offers a unique opportunity for settlers to engage with stories that illuminate the everyday realities of Indigenous people navigating a world built on colonial systems. By bearing witness to these narratives, we can begin to understand the complex challenges that exist just beneath the surface of the world many of us move through with ease.

​This event is not just a film screening; it's a call to action. Following the films, there will be an intimate dialogue with director Damian Abrahams and a short panel discussion. He will share his insights into the filmmaking process and engage in a conversation designed to help a non-Indigenous audience recognize the invisible barriers that exist for so many. Barriers that do not exist for non-Indigenous folks. This is a chance to listen, learn, and grow as allies, fostering a deeper understanding of the collective responsibility we all share in creating a more just and inclusive society.

​Featured Films:

​"Nékem: To Change Something": Chronicling the tireless efforts of Nekem, a dedicated frontline organization, this documentary offers an intimate look at the humans helping humans facing homelessness in Calgary and Edmonton. The camera captures the team’s compassionate work and the deep connections they build with the people they serve. As the organization fights to provide everything from hot meals to medical care, the film is suddenly transformed by an unexpected tragedy: the death of Nekem’s visionary founder.

"Intersections of Identity": From the lasting trauma of colonization, a new generation struggles to navigate a world built against them. Intersections of Identity is a poignant and vital documentary that captures firsthand accounts of individuals as they confront the intertwined issues of racism, poverty, and systemic failures in policing and healthcare. Through these deeply personal narratives, the film exposes the painful, continuous cycle of discrimination and the resilience of those fighting to break free.

Free with registration.

Biography

Damian Abrahams

Damian Abrahams is originally from Haida Gwaii and has been living in amiskwaciwaskahikan for the last 21 years. He is a single dad and is a photographer and filmmaker. Damian has been a photographer his whole life, but it’s only been in the last 4 years that he’s been able to do it professionally. He’s started his own video production and photography company called Indigital Media. His film work was recognized by the Edmonton Screen Office in 2022 by awarding him the Gil Cardinal Legacy Award for his work on Indigenous Dads – which can be viewed on Telus Optik TV. His current goal is to produce a film worthy of big film festivals. Think VIFF, TIFF, and even Cannes. He firmly believes that “story telling has kept our way of life alive for generations.”

Dámaan agang hl kíng wang
“Take good care of yourselves.”

P.S.
His daughter adds: “make sure you tell them we have a cat named Cheese!”

Play, (Re)Design, and Learn: Snail Community Garden

October 4
Atrium | 2-4 PM

What kinds of communities can we build for ourselves, and what role(s) would we play within them?

Join us as we activate the Snail Community Garden, a collaborative, world-building, and map-making game. This guided workshop will be led by members of Play Design Learn research group (https://playdesignlearn.ca) at the University of Calgary.

Snail Community Garden is created based on the role-playing game Beak, Feather + Bone, drawing on the themes in the exhibition Presence. This game allows players to take on a specific snail role, then claim and describe different structures on a map. Over the course of the game, players create a story about their snail community, and by extension, the exhibition, Presence.

In groups of four, participants will first play a few rounds of the Snail Community Garden, followed by a tour of Presence, led by associate curator Muriel N. Kahwagi. The final part of the workshop will consist of participants collaboratively redesigning the game – this can take the form of updating some of the general rules, changing the roles of the snails within the community garden, or anything else you can imagine.

This workshop is part of the Play, (Re)Design, and Learn Group’s research project, Understanding Art and Each Other through Tabletop Game Redesign in Gallery and Community Spaces. The workshop will be recorded (i.e., video and observation notes) for research purposes, and the researchers ask the participants to consent to the research. 

This workshop is programmed in conjunction with Presence, on view at Contemporary Calgary until November 9, 2025.

Snail Community Garden was developed in partnership with the Play, (Re)design, and Learn Group (playdesignlearn.ca) at the University of Calgary.

Free with registration.

From Tahiti to Calgary

October 3
Heather Edwards Theatre | 6 PM

Join us for an evening with Miriama Bono—Polynesian artist, curator, lecturer, and architect—for a far-reaching conversation on art, memory, and museums across the Pacific and the Prairies. Presented by the Alliance Française of Calgary, this special program—our first at Contemporary Calgary—comes in the lead-up to Nuit des Idées in Calgary, in partnership with the Institut français du Canada.

Miriama Bono will share highlights from her curatorial and artistic practice—spanning exhibitions, podcasting, and museum leadership—and reflect on how cultural institutions can better include multiple voices and lived histories. The evening includes a talk followed by audience Q&A.

The event will be conducted in English and French, and will be moderated by Daniel Doz, board member of the Alliance Française and former president of the University of the Arts, where he served for 15 years.

The conference will explore:

• Decolonizing museums: new approaches with Indigenous collections and community partnerships.

• Shared memories: connections between Tahiti and Calgary—how museums carry community stories and foster dialogue.

• Francophone identities in minority contexts: the role of the arts in transmission and belonging.

About the Speaker

Miriama Bono

In 2017, Miriama Bono was appointed Director of the Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, where she led the museum’s renovation and coordinated international partnerships that culminated in the 2023 return of 20 significant Polynesian heritage pieces from leading European collections (British Museum, Cambridge Museum of Anthropology, and Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac). Alongside her institutional work, she has exhibited in Tahiti, Nouméa, Corsica, and Paris, and curated for the museum and for Révélations at the Grand Palais (2022/2025).

« Repenser le musée, repenser le partage de la culture. » - “Rethink the museum, rethink how we share culture.”

She also co-founded the Tahiti Podcast Label and hosts Tahitian Talk (conversations) and Parau Tama (tales and legends). A regular speaker in Tahiti, Canberra, Paris, Sydney, Hawaiʻi, Rome, and London, she is currently developing a youth fiction podcast on Mai, Tupaia, and Ahutoru—three Tahitians central to 18th-century Pacific-European encounters.

Free First Thursday

October 2
5-9 PM

Join us at Contemporary Calgary for Free First Thursday, featuring Alcove Centre for the Arts.

Join Alcove Centre for the Arts as they pop-up their weekly Thursday Night Jams hosted by Tea Fannie, and come hang out at the "Mini Alcove" living room, and get creative with a variety of mixed media, including collaging and paint markers, to explore themes of the exhibitions. 

Enjoy free admission from 5–9 PM, along with a curated bar featuring wine, craft beer, and non-alcoholic options. To kick off the fall season, Hexagon Board Game Cafe will be hosting a complimentary hot chocolate and board game pop-up (while supplies last).

Experience the activation of the Snail Community Garden, a collaborative, world-building, and map-making game. Snail Community Garden is created based on the role-playing game Beak, Feather + Bone, drawing on the themes in the exhibition Presence. This game allows players to take on a specific snail role, then claim and describe different structures on a map. Over the course of the game, players create a story about their snail community, and by extension, the exhibition Presence. Snail Community Garden was developed in partnership with the Play, (Re)design, and Learn Group (playdesignlearn.ca) at the University of Calgary.  

Wander through our current exhibitions, take part in creative activations, and connect with community through contemporary art. All ages welcome.

Art for All – FREE with registration.

Drop-in exhibition tours:

• 6 & 8 PM

On view:

• Erik Olson: In the Garden

• Preston Pavlis: You there

• Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes

• Presence 

• Lauren Crazybull: Wish you were here

Pokaiks Reconciliation Walk & Event

September 30

We are honoured to host Pokaiks on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, for their Reconciliation Walk & Gathering. The day will feature a Tipi outside the gallery, Elder storytelling, family-friendly activities, and live entertainment.

Reconciliation Walk
The walk begins at 11:00 AM MST, starting at the Peace Bridge (Eau Claire Park side) and ending at Contemporary Calgary.

Schedule of Events

• 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Reconciliation Walk

• 12:00 – 1:00 PM: Opening Ceremonies

• 1:00 – 5:00 PM: Performances, Artisans, and Community Groups

• 5:00 – 5:30 PM: Closing Ceremonies

Please note: For all programming taking place inside Contemporary Calgary, only service animals are permitted in the building.

Correction vs. Punishment: A Journaling Workshop

With Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal

September 28
Workshop | 2-4 PM

Participation fee: $10

Please join us for a journaling workshop that departs from – and draws on – Correction vs. Punishment (2025), a work by artist Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal that is currently on view as part of the exhibition Presence.

Correction vs. Punishment, a life-sized sculpture of an eagle that is made up of handmade paper, centers on the teachings that say there are two sides to every eagle feather. The mistakes that we make lie on one side, while the potential for correction or amends lies on the other.

This workshop, led by Cardinal, invites participants to reflect on both sides of the eagle feather, using paper made by the artist to journal, practice self-reflection, but also self-compassion.

Participants are encouraged to bring a piece of writing – be it poetry, prose, an essay, or a song – that speaks to them, and to potentially integrate into the workshop.

Kindly note that this workshop has limited capacity. If you register and are unable to attend, please let us know as soon as you can. If the workshop is full and you’d like to join the waiting list, please send an email to muriel@contemporarycalgary.com

About the facilitator

Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal
(she/they)

Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal (she/they) is a mixed-media, large-scale installation artist and community activist. Born in Treaty 6 Territory, her ancestral roots are of Nêhiyaw (Saddle Lake Cree Nation) and of mixed European descent. She has been a visitor to Otôskwanihk (Calgary, AB) since 2009. Graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2015, Cardinal has been a recipient of the National BMO 1st Art! Award, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Young Artist Award, the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, and, more recently, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal. Cardinal has been an active member in the urban Indigenous community in Treaty 7 Territory, activating many social service positions throughout the years. Cardinal is a full-time student attending Mount Royal University’s Psychology program, and has been a Public Art Project Lead through Calgary Arts Development since January 2024.

Lost & Found 

September 27
Heather Edwards Theatre | 7 PM

Step into the world of new beginnings, cultural clashes, and unexpected friendships with Lost & Found - a heartfelt and humorous original play written by Laura J. Cutler and directed by Snizhana Gukasian-Korobeinikova, a professional actress and director from Ukraine, who, in her first year of settling in Calgary, won the CAT AWARD 2024 for Best Leading Role in Sylvia.

Through the lens of Kateryna, a Ukrainian immigrant, and a diverse cast of newcomers, this play dives into the emotional, psychological, and cultural challenges of starting over in Canada. From language barriers to hilarious misunderstandings, from deep struggles to hope and connection, this story captures the real-life journeys of people from around the world who now call Canada home.

Set in the office of a newcomer counselor, Suzanne, the play unfolds through the voices of immigrants from different countries, each sharing their unique and often funny experiences of settling down. With a touch of Calgary's spirit, the show blends light comedy with moments of deep emotion, reflecting on what it truly means to find yourself in a new country.

About Strum UA Theatre

Strum UA Theatre is a Ukrainian theatre company in Calgary, founded and operated in 2024 by two professionals from Ukraine—Snizhana Gukasian-Korobeinikova and Anna Lupeko. The theatre made its debut with a sold-out production of "The MUZE" in September 2024, bringing Ukrainian storytelling and performance art to Canadian audiences.

Exhibition Opening
Erik Olson + Preston Pavlis

September 25
6:00-9:00 PM

Please join Contemporary Calgary on Thursday, September 25, from 6-9 PM, for the opening of two solo exhibitions, Erik Olson: In the Garden and Preston Pavlis: You there.

• Doors
  6:00 PM

• Remarks
  6:45 PM | Atrium

• In-Conversation with artists Erik Olson, Preston Pavlis and Senior Curator Kanika Anand
  7-8 PM | Heather Edwards Theatre

• Galleries Close
  9:00 PM

FREE to the public. No registration is required.

Seating for the In-Conversation with artists Erik Olson, Preston Pavlis and Senior Curator Kanika Anand is first-come, first-served.

Erik Olson
In the Garden

September 25, 2025—February 15, 2026

In the Garden is a series of large-scale oil paintings begun by Erik Olson in Düsseldorf, Germany during the early, uncertain months of the pandemic in 2020. The works draw on the historic Hofgarten—Germany’s oldest public park—as both a physical site and a psychological landscape. Thinking of the liminal space between order and freedom,  Olson expanded the series this year to include imaginative, dreamlike explorations, removed from specificities of place. 

Olson’s canvases teem with narrative potential: animals stalk, waters reflect, solitary figures lie in moments of reflection or doubt. These are pauses between the familiar and the unknown that conjure the garden as a threshold—at the city’s edge or just around the corner—a surreal space between anxiety and longing.

In more recent works, the garden becomes increasingly theatrical, a site for performance, memory, and projection. Olson positions the park as a communal mind-space: a place implicitly understood as a site of memory, reflection, and social change. It is a space where personal myth meets collective transformation, where the imagined and the observed intertwine.

Formally, Olson deploys the visual language of landscape—tree lines, paved paths, and open skies. However, these elements are more suggestive than descriptive, like fragments of memory or imagined scenes. Colour functions with intent: sharp contrasts, radiant hues, and atmospheric light evoke a world that feels vivid and surreal. Scale and perspective place the viewer on uncertain ground—never fully inside the scene, nor fully outside it. We stand on the brink of the garden’s illusion, where every path leads inward as well as outward.

Rather than offering escape, the works reflect back the complexities we bring into them. The garden becomes a site of reckoning—a space where internal landscapes are externalized and where desire, unease, and recollection shift and intertwine. Olson’s garden does not allow us to turn away; it invites us to look more deeply, holding a mirror to both the world outside and the one within.

Curated by Kanika Anand 

Preston Pavlis
You there

September 25, 2025—February 15, 2026

You there—is it a greeting, a call, or a way of marking someone’s place? At once familiar and ambiguous, the phrase reflects the shifting dynamics at the heart of Preston Pavlis’ work: the act of seeing and being seen, the relation between self and other, and the distance between here and elsewhere.

Pavlis’ subjects are drawn from walks in and around the artist’s home in Halifax, where moments of quiet abandonment surface in both the ordinary and the unexpected. A beech tree in summer bloom, a discarded mattress, an upturned chair, or toys arranged on a stump—each holds a trace of something left behind, something at the edge of disappearance. Equally tender are the portraits of friends and family captured in gestures of rest, play, or introspection. Abandonment here is not only loss but also ease, presence, and the poetry of the everyday.

The works themselves reflect a duality—between image and object, distance and intimacy. Painted on one side and quilted on the other, they remain suspended between two modes of attention: the painterly, which invites contemplation from afar, and the tactile, which draws the viewer close. The painted compositions are richly textured, while the quilted side is stitched from worn pieces of clothing, each bearing traces of touch and use. What’s soft becomes structural; what’s discarded is made part of a new whole.

Cloth, like skin, holds memory. It folds, stretches, stains, and carries the marks of the body. Pavlis selects and uses fabric intuitively—drawn to the physical and visual weight of materials and their ability to suggest something else. A bleached piece of denim might resemble a cloudy sky; a worn piece of leather might suggest wood, mud, or skin. Shifting meanings keep the work open—cohesive in form, but resistant to collapse into a singular interpretation.

This layered materiality reflects a practice grounded in attention, care, and reuse. A playful dialogue unfolds between painting and quilting: a beech tree on one side is held by the image of a pair of jeans mid-jump on the other; a discarded mattress finds its echo in a stitched arrangement of pillowcases. These connections are subtle but deliberate, reinforcing the relationship between surface, memory, and the act of looking.

Throughout the exhibition, the viewer is invited to change position—to step back, come close, and look again. These works resist a fixed point of view. They ask us to move with them, to follow the artist’s gaze, and to trace the tension between the intimate and the elusive. Like the act of walking, seeing here is not passive but embodied. Each work holds a moment suspended—an encounter, a trace, a quiet call extended across distance.

Curated by Kanika Anand 

Contemporary Kids: Listening Spaces-Sound Workshop with Musician

September 21

1-2:30 PM or 3-4:30 PM
Workshop

Join us for a special sound workshop with musician Yuan Ge, inspired by the exhibition Presence. In this interactive session, Yuan will share his journey as a musician—how a melody can start with just one note and grow into something that fills the space and connects with the people in it. Kids will explore how sound helps us stay grounded in the moment, and team up with Yuan and each other to create a unique soundscape. 

No experience needed—just bring your curiosity about space and sound, and get ready to rock out with some awesome guitar vibes!

Our free onsite Contemporary Kids programs invite children to learn about modern and contemporary art through unique and engaging art activities. 

For children ages 5-12. Maximum group of 30 children, with one guardian per child.

Questions? Please visit our FAQ page.

Contemporary Calgary Educational Programs are often photographed. This photography includes the participants, parents or guardians and their creations. If you wish not to be photographed, please let Contemporary Calgary education staff know upon arrival, and they will assist you.

The same workshop is offered in two sessions on Sunday, September 21, for your convenience. Choose one session that suits your schedule best.

Sunday, September 21
1:00-2:30 PM

Sunday, September 21
3:00-4:30 PM

About the Musician Yuan Ge (he/him):

Yuan Ge holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Business & Management from Berklee College of Music and a Master’s degree in Music Industry Leadership from Northeastern University. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Music Education at the University of Calgary.

Originally from the music business world, Yuan spearheaded marketing efforts for artists such as Christina Aguilera and Kenshi Yonezu in his previous positions. Over the years, he gradually pivoted to become a music educator with a specialization in guitar. He now has over four years of music education experience in both private and public capacities.

In his spare time, Yuan likes to tinker with guitars, cameras, and cars.

About our TD Educational Facilitators

Poppy Ghasemi (she/her)

Poppy holds a bachelor's degree in Museum Studies and a master's in Anthropology. The awards she received from the University of Manitoba supported her research on child neglect. She has over four years of hands-on experience working with children and youth in museums and schools in Iran, Turkey, and Canada. Before joining Contemporary Calgary, she was a program educator at the Manitoba Children's Museum. Poppy primarily focuses on activating children's critical and creative thinking skills while delivering programs in English, French, Farsi, and Turkish. She enjoys cooking and walking with her husky along the Bow River during her leisure time.

Dandan Gu (she/her)

Dandan Gu graduated from the Alberta University of the Arts with a Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication Design. Prior to that, she obtained her first bachelor's degree in Marketing from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, China. Dandan has worked as a graphic designer for various companies and creative projects. Currently, she passionately serves as an educational assistant for art-making programs within the community, sharing her creative expertise with young learners. In her free time, Dandan enjoys practicing ink art, Chinese calligraphy, and illustrating cats and people around her.

Supported by

Supported by

Perspective Film Series:

Rust and Bone (2012), dir. Jacques Audiard

September 14

5:30 PM | Dome Theatre

Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), a former boxer and single father, meets Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard) when he saves her from a brawl at the nightclub where he works as a bouncer. Their casual acquaintance develops into something deeper after Stéphanie, who trains killer whales at a marine park, suffers a horrible accident and loses both her legs above the knee. As Stéphanie draws on Ali's physical strength, an unexpected courtship slowly comes to life.

Country: France / Belgium
123 minutes, in French with English subtitles

FREE for members. Non-members: $10—your ticket to this screening includes admission to Contemporary Calgary. Our galleries are open from 12-5 PM for viewing prior to attending the program.

About Perspective Film Series

The 2025 edition of Perspective is curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi, Associate Curator at Contemporary Calgary. Drawing on Calgary's proximity to the Bow and Elbow Rivers and the role that each of them plays in the city, the series considers the ways in which bodies of water are used and weaponized as markers of land, becoming sites through which power is negotiated, practiced, and enacted. Featuring filmic works from a wide range of geographies and genres – including ethnographic films and artists' films – this year's edition reflects on water as a site of refuge; as a border; as a means to an escape; and as a character in and of itself.

About the Curator

Muriel N. Kahwagi ((she/her)) is a writer and curator, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of collecting and archiving the performative; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. In 2023, she was the TD Curatorial Fellow at Art Windsor-Essex, and a curator as part of Vtape’s Curatorial Incubator, v.19. She is currently the Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary, and a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival.

Supported by

Celebrating Canadian art on the world stage

Abbas Akhavan - La Biennale di Venezia 2026

September 11
Heather Edwards Theatre | 6:30 PM

The National Gallery of Canada and the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, in collaboration with Contemporary Calgary, are delighted to invite you to a special program in honour of Abbas Akhavan’s selection as Canada’s representative at the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2026. 

Please join us for a conversation with artist Abbas Akhavan, Kim Nguyen, curator of Akhavan’s presentation in Venice, and Kanika Anand, Senior Curator at Contemporary Calgary. 

As part of the evening, guests are invited to explore Presence, Contemporary Calgary’s group exhibition featuring works by Akhavan. 

We look forward to gathering with our valued patrons and friends to celebrate Abbas Akhavan’s remarkable achievements and the international showcasing of Canadian contemporary art at the Venice Biennale. 

Free with registration.

La Biennale di Venezia 2026 – Artist Biography

Abbas Akhavan

Abbas Akhavan, born in 1977 in Tehran, has been based in Canada for the last thirty years. He currently works and lives in Montréal and Berlin. Upcoming and recent solo exhibitions include Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2026); Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver (2025); Bangkok Kunsthalle, Bangkok (2025); Copenhagen Contemporary and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (2023); Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute (2022); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2022); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2021); CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco (2019); Fogo Island Arts (2019); The Power Plant, Toronto (2018); Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2017); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2017); Mercer Union; Toronto (2015); & the Delfina Foundation, London (2012). Recent group exhibitions include the Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2024); 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022); Protocinema, Istanbul (2021), Walk & Talk, São Miguel (2020); Toronto Biennale (2019); Liverpool Biennial (2018); SALT, Istanbul (2017); Prospect New Orleans (2017); Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); & Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016).

Akhavan received an MFA from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (2006), and a BFA from Concordia University, Montréal (2004). Recent residencies include Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island, Canada (2019, 2016, 2013); Atelier Calder, Saché, France (2017); and Flora ars+natura, Bogotá, Colombia (2015). He is the recipient of the Fellbach Triennial Award (2017); Sobey Art Award (2015); Abraaj Group Art Prize (2014); and the Berliner Kunstpreis (2012).

La Biennale di Venezia 2026 – Curator Biography

Kim Nguyen

Originally from Winnipeg, curator and writer Kim Nguyen is Director of Programs at the Ruth Foundation for the Arts in Milwaukee. Prior to Ruth Arts, she served as Curator and Head of Programs at the Wattis Institute and adjunct professor of fine arts at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and was Director/Curator of Artspeak in Vancouver. Nguyen has worked with a wide range of artists, including curatorial projects with Maia Cruz Palileo, Ken Lum, Lorraine O’Grady, Hồng-Ân Trương, and Akosua Adoma Owusu, among many others. In 2019, she curated Abbas Akhavan’s first solo presentation in the United States at the Wattis Institute,
featuring the reconstructed lobby of the National Museum of Iraq. The installation was based on a photograph of the museum’s looting during the 2003 invasion of Baghdad. Most recently, she co-curated Ruth Arts’ inaugural exhibition, Benny Andrews: Trouble—the first major presentation of the late artist’s artwork and archives.

“Deeply observational and intuitive, Abbas Akhavan's practice is one of resonances—of the knowledges and histories that reverberate today, of the precarity of life, of the tension between loyalty and deception. The contemplative nature of his work encourages us to think, to feel, to acknowledge what we do not know, but to consider caring for it anyway. It has been a gift to think alongside and support Akhavan's practice over the past two decades, and it is an honour to be collaborating with him on his presentation at the 2026 Venice Biennale.” — Kim Nguyen, Curator

About the Curator

Kanika Anand

Kanika Anand is the Senior Curator at Contemporary Calgary, Canada and co-curator of the Indian Ceramics Triennale, India. Her curatorial approach focuses on placemaking and social practices that interrogate structures of power and modes of engagement. Through a lens of interstitial discourse, constructs of time, social space, and traces of mobility remain a keen area of interest and research.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from Delhi University and a Master’s degree in Art History from the National Museum Institute, India. She has been curatorial fellow at the Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France (2012-13) and fellow at the Global Cultural Leadership Programme, organised by the Cultural Diplomacy Platform and the European Cultural Foundation (2018). She has worked extensively with galleries and institutions across North America, France and India and has worked on major exhibitions of work by Yoko Ono, Chitra Ganesh, Diane Arbus, Marcel Dzama, Paola Pivi. She has written for art journals like Ocula, Art India, and Art Basel and has contributed to several books on contemporary art.

Calgary on Purpose

September 10

7 PM | Heather Edwards Theatre

We seek a Calgary united in trust, strong in joy. Division stains our public conversations and our politics, but that is not where our city is. We have big things to do, and big, hard things can only be done together. Come celebrate with an evening of delight, conversation and community connection.

The event begins at 7 PM, September 10, in the Heather Edwards Theatre in Contemporary Calgary, with talented Calgarians showcasing their work, followed by insightful interviews led by the incomparable Dave Kelly. We’ll conclude the program by 8:30 PM, though the bar will remain open for those who wish to continue the conversation.

We are programming with the October 20 municipal election in mind. Sample the dazzling instrumental music of Jiajia Li and Warren Tse, hear an excerpt from a new play by Col Cseke about an imaginary Alberta that separated from Canada in the mid 1980's, be the first to respond to poet Shone Thistle's revised White Hat ceremony amplifying our shared values, we will launch a pledge to treat each other with respect that we are asking all candidates- indeed, all of us as voters- to abide by in the upcoming municipal election. We will wrap up with a new story by Dave Kelly reflecting on our sense of place, and then invite us to join in an open forum, discussing our collective hopes, concerns, and dreams. Whew!

These evenings are a gift from us to you. Thanks to the generous partnership of Contemporary Calgary, the support of the many Calgary on Purpose volunteers and of Calgary Arts Development, the evening is free of charge. 

Please register to reserve your seat—and invite friends and colleagues.

Our aim is to encourage our beloved Calgary to be an example of how the people of the world can live well together. In that spirit, we stimulate conversation, curiosity and delight in the skills, stories, aspirations and goodwill of our neighbours on this land.

Join us in fostering appreciation, curiosity and shared purpose across our beloved city!

About the Speakers

Supported by

Free First Thursday

September 4
5-9 PM

Join us at Contemporary Calgary for Free First Thursday: Brazilian Night! In celebration of Culture Days, enjoy an evening filled with the vibrant spirit of Brazil. The night kicks off at 5 PM with live music by Rodolfo Dantas, followed by performances from 7–8 PM by the Brazilian Heritage Dancers, Samba Soul YYC, and Calgary Capoeira (performances may run past 8 PM).

Enjoy free admission from 5–9 PM and visit the bar for a Caipirinha—Brazil’s signature cocktail—alongside wine, craft beer, and non-alcoholic options. Delicious eats will be available for purchase from local vendors Sugarloaf, Pado Bakery, Trem Bom, and Sweet Bit. Be sure to browse and shop local artists Michelle’s Arts, Ore Jewelry, and Nature’s Gold.

Take part in creative activations, including Snail Community Garden, a collaborative, world-building, and map-making game. Snail Community Garden is created based on the role-playing game Beak, Feather + Bone, drawing on the themes in the exhibition Presence. This game allows players to take on a specific snail role, then claim and describe different structures on a map. Over the course of the game, players create a story about their snail community, and by extension, the exhibition Presence. Snail Community Garden was developed in partnership with the Play, (Re)design, and Learn Group (playdesignlearn.ca) at the University of Calgary.  

Wander through our current exhibitions, connect with the community, and experience contemporary art in new ways. All ages welcome.

Art for All – FREE with registration.

Drop-in exhibition tours:

• 6 & 8 PM

On view:

• Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes

• Presence 

• Lauren Crazybull: Wish you were here

Perspective Film Series:

First Cow (2019), dir. Kelly Reichardt

August 31

5:30 PM | Dome Theatre

First Cow (2019) is a slow-burn drama set in the early 19th century in the Oregon Territory. The film follows two men – Cookie, a shy and resourceful cook, and King-Lu, a Chinese immigrant on the run from a violent past. When they meet, Cookie discovers that the local wealthy landowner has a prized cow, the first in the region, which becomes central to the story. Together, Cookie and King-Lu hatch a plan to steal milk from the cow to make delicious fried dough cakes, which they sell for profit.

121 minutes, in English with English subtitles.

FREE for members. Non-members: $10—your ticket to this screening includes admission to Contemporary Calgary. Our galleries are open from 12-5 PM for viewing prior to attending the program.

About Perspective Film Series

The 2025 edition of Perspective is curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi, Associate Curator at Contemporary Calgary. Drawing on Calgary's proximity to the Bow and Elbow Rivers and the role that each of them plays in the city, the series considers the ways in which bodies of water are used and weaponized as markers of land, becoming sites through which power is negotiated, practiced, and enacted. Featuring filmic works from a wide range of geographies and genres – including ethnographic films and artists' films – this year's edition reflects on water as a site of refuge; as a border; as a means to an escape; and as a character in and of itself.

About the Curator

Muriel N. Kahwagi ((she/her)) is a writer and curator, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of collecting and archiving the performative; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. In 2023, she was the TD Curatorial Fellow at Art Windsor-Essex, and a curator as part of Vtape’s Curatorial Incubator, v.19. She is currently the Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary, and a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival.

Supported by

Wakefield Brewster and Page2Stage Productions Inc. Present The 4th Annual:

February In August: A Celebration of Black Excellence In The Arts

August 24
Heather Edwards Theatre | 7 PM

This Year is a poetry-musical-mashup edition that has been monikered: Allies And Artistry

A Poetically and Musically driven celebration with a full-length set performance by Calgary’s only Spoken Word Funk-Fusion Jazz Quartet: PoëThree

Starring:

On Drums and Percussion; John McCaslin
On Stand-Up and Standard Bass Guitars, Jeff Gammon
On Keyboards, composer, arranger, and conductor; Chris Tauchner
On Vocals: Poet, SpokenWord Artist, Rapper, and PoEmcee; Wakefield Brewster

Wakefield founded February In August as a tribute to Black Excellence in the Arts by celebrating this community’s creative contributions outside of the typical month of February; Black History Month.  

On the opposite side of the year, in the heat of the city summer swelter, engaging the unexpected that is available to us all in Calgary, in culture, in community; 

February In August asks you to embrace Black Excellence in the Arts, and those of Our Global Communities who help us make it happen.

Poetry SpokenWord Rap and Recitation; 
Funk Blues Soul and a dash of Boom-Bap; 
Blackness Brotherhood Communities and Culture:
All on a solid floor of Jazz.

Please like, share, comment, post, share a rumour, confirm, attend, and celebrate with us!

About the Artist

Wakefield Brewster

In January 1999, Wakefield Brewster stepped onto his first stage as a Professional Poet and Spoken Word Artist.  

Today, he is known as one of Canada’s most powerful professional performance Poets. 

 A Black man raised in Toronto by parents from Barbados, he has resided in Calgary since 2006, and it is in CowTown where Wakefield has been able to truly flourish as a Poet, and as a person.  

He is Calgary’s 1st three-time Poetry Slam Champion & Team Captain;

Wakefield fills a trifecta of services as The Resident Poet and Spoken Word Artist of the House, by sitting on The Board of Directors, and is a Founding Member of The Charles Daniels Committee, all at The Grand Theatre;

He is Calgary’s 6th Poet Laureate, and Calgary’s only Black Poet Laureate ever; Wakefield is a registered massage therapist, and operates his own clinic: WakeFull Wellness Registered Massage Therapy and HealingSpace;

He expands his community service as a volunteer and mentor for Calgary’s youth;

He advocates for accessible literacy for all, the healing arts and alternative medicine, addiction recovery, and mental wellness.

Wakefield truly loves his life and welcomes all into his Wonderful Worlds of Words and Wellness. 

Film Screening:

Duster (1991), dir. Eric Metcalfe and Hank Bull

August 13

6-7 PM | Heather Edwards Theatre

Please join us for a screening of Duster, a 1991 film by artists Eric Metcalfe and Hank Bull.

Duster is a comic western that takes you on a journey through deserts, ghost towns, lost mines, and a home-shopping channel, all in search of a mysterious treasure. Gertrude Stein (Corry Wyngaarden), the tough saloon owner, teams up with the eccentric wizard (Warren Arcan) and the high-tech Tipi Trauma Mama (Rebecca Belmore) to protect the treasure from the greedy MacBooty brothers (Bull and Metcalfe) and the sinister Dark Day (Fraser Finlayson). A love story emerges along the way, but at its core, Duster is about death, legacy, and honouring our ancestors. Free with registration

This screening is programmed in conjunction with Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes, on view in the Morris & Ann Dancyger Observatory Gallery until November 16, 2025.

Supported by

Free First Thursday

August 7
5-9 PM

Join us at Contemporary Calgary for Free First Thursday, featuring Re:frame, a special event presented by d.talks and MODE Models to kick off Design Week Calgary.

As part of Re:frame, watch emerging local designers in action during a live upcycling workshop—and get inspired to customize your own tote bag with hands-on techniques like embroidery, beading, or printing. No experience necessary, and all materials are provided.

Enjoy free admission from 5–9 PM alongside a lively DJ set, a curated bar with wine, craft beer, and non-alcoholic options, plus a sweet stop at the Foothills Creamery ice cream pop-up.

Experience the activation of the Snail Community Garden, a collaborative, world-building, and map-making game. Snail Community Garden is created based on the role-playing game Beak, Feather + Bone, drawing on the themes in the exhibition Presence. This game allows players to take on a specific snail role, then claim and describe different structures on a map. Over the course of the game, players create a story about their snail community, and by extension, the exhibition Presence. Snail Community Garden was developed in partnership with the Play, (Re)design, and Learn Group (playdesignlearn.ca) at the University of Calgary.  

Wander through our current exhibitions, take part in creative activations, and connect with community through contemporary art. All ages welcome.

Art for All – FREE with registration.

Drop-in exhibition tours:

• 6 & 8 PM

On view:

• Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes

• Presence 

• June Clark: Witness

• Lauren Crazybull: Wish you were here

Historic Calgary Week

From Cosmos to Culture: Calgary’s Centennial Planetarium

July 30
Heather Edwards Theatre | 10:30 AM-12 PM

Join Contemporary Calgary’s CEO, David Leinster, and Jonny Hehr, Partner, GGA-Architecture to explore the past, present, and future of the Centennial Planetarium, now home to Contemporary Calgary, the city’s largest non-collecting public art gallery. After exploring how the building has been modified over time, we’ll preview the Planetarium Transformation Project, an extensive renovation and redevelopment that will restore the original architectural intent of the building, add dedicated spaces for the exhibition of art, and position the building for a sustainable future. 

FREE with registration. 

Perspective Film Series:

The Lighthouse (2019), dir. Robert Eggers

July 27

5:30 PM | Dome Theatre

Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse (2019) is a psychological horror film set in the late 19th century. It centers around two lighthouse keepers, Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) and Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson), who are stranded on a remote island off the coast of New England. As the days pass, both men begin to lose their grip on reality. They experience bizarre, hallucinatory visions, and the oppressive isolation on the island seems to push them toward madness.

109 minutes, in English with English subtitles.

Disclaimer: This film contains difficult subject matter and imagery, including graphic violence and strong language, which may be triggering for some viewers.

FREE for members. Non-members: $10—your ticket to this screening includes admission to Contemporary Calgary. Our galleries are open from 12-5 PM for viewing prior to attending the program.

About Perspective Film Series

The 2025 edition of Perspective is curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi, Associate Curator at Contemporary Calgary. Drawing on Calgary's proximity to the Bow and Elbow Rivers and the role that each of them plays in the city, the series considers the ways in which bodies of water are used and weaponized as markers of land, becoming sites through which power is negotiated, practiced, and enacted. Featuring filmic works from a wide range of geographies and genres – including ethnographic films and artists' films – this year's edition reflects on water as a site of refuge; as a border; as a means to an escape; and as a character in and of itself.

About the Curator

Muriel N. Kahwagi ((she/her)) is a writer and curator, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of collecting and archiving the performative; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. In 2023, she was the TD Curatorial Fellow at Art Windsor-Essex, and a curator as part of Vtape’s Curatorial Incubator, v.19. She is currently the Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary, and a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival.

Supported by

Contemporary Connections: Spanish Tour

July 26
Ring Gallery | 1 PM

Discover Contemporary Calgary’s exhibitions like never before with Contemporary Connections, a guided tour of Presence offered in Spanish. Led by Natalie Melara this tour provides unique insights into our thought-provoking exhibitions, fostering conversation and meaningful connections in a welcoming and inclusive environment.  

After the tour, take the opportunity to explore our other exhibitions and enjoy everything Contemporary Calgary has to  offer. 

Vea detalles del recorrido en español

• Admission: Included with the cost of entry—$12 daily admission, or by donation for visitors under 25. Memberships and Canoo passes are also accepted. Paid upon arrival.

• Registration: Advance registration is encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome if space allows.

We invite you to share which languages you’d like to see in future tours as we continue to bring people together through the shared experience of contemporary art. Email us at info@contemporarycalgary.com with your suggestions!

About the Facilitator

Natalie Melara
(she/her)

Natalie Melara is a multidisciplinary artist based in Calgary, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta University of the Arts; and has exhibited with the Art Gallery of Alberta, EMMEDIA, and Stride Gallery (Prairie Crocus). She is also part of the Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Melara is the recipient of multiple awards including the New Zones Gallery of Contemporary Art Scholarship and the Joane Cardinal-Schubert Memorial scholarship. She has obtained technical training in fashion design (Olds College, Olds, Canada) and architectural design (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Calgary, Canada), which informs the curiosity, development and exploration of her practice. Her artwork involves cultural investigation, the formation of a hybrid identity, and the overall beauty of the in-between.

Supported by

Exhibition Opening
Kenneth Tam: Silent Spikes

July 17
6:00-9:00 PM

Join us on Thursday, July 17, from 6–9 PM for the opening of Silent Spikes, a solo exhibition by Kenneth Tam that reflects on the entangled histories of Westward expansion and Chinese immigration. Through a two-channel video installation and photographs, Tam explores how masculinity is constructed, codified, and mythologized, particularly through iconic figures like the cowboy. Rooted in the legacy of Chinese railroad workers, Silent Spikes evokes these histories through interpretive narration and filmed sequences, centring collaboration, vulnerability, and emotional complexity.

• Doors
  6:00 PM

• Remarks
  6:45 PM | Atrium

• Artist Talk with Kenneth Tam
  7-8 PM | Heather Edwards Theatre

• Galleries Close
  9:00 PM

FREE to the public. No registration is required.

Seating for the Artist Talk with Kenneth Tam is first come, first served.

Kenneth Tam 
Silent Spikes

July 17—November 16, 2025

Silent Spikes uses movement, theatrical staging and historical narrative to question existing ideas about the performance of masculinity, and the way those normative performances become mythologized in figures like the cowboy.  If the cowboy can be understood as shorthand for a set of ideas that says as much about the violent foundations of maleness in the American imagination as it does about how we celebrate the values exemplified by this figure, then where do men of Asian descent find themselves within this representational landscape? And how can sensuousness complicate these performances, and allow for an erotics of both resistance and care? 

A major component of the video reflects on the entangled histories of Westward expansion and Chinese immigration, examining how they shape cultural myths and collective memory. Through a two-channel video installation and accompanying photographs, Kenneth Tam explores the performance of masculinity—how it is constructed, codified, and mythologized in the iconic trope of the cowboy.

References are made to the 1867 strike by Chinese railroad workers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains—one of the largest labour actions in U.S. history. Between the 1840s and 1870s, Chinese workers played a critical yet often overlooked role in constructing two transcontinental railways: the Central Pacific in the United States and the Pacific Railway in Canada. These histories are evoked through interpretive narration and filmed sequences shot in the abandoned tunnels of Northern California—monumental voids carved into the landscape by these workers, now haunting symbols of erasure and endurance.

In the making of Silent Spikes, Tam worked with a group of untrained Asian American men, inviting them into a collaborative and unscripted process. Some don cowboy attire and echo the gestures of rodeo riders, while others engage in loosely scored solo and group activities that blur the boundary between roleplay and self-expression. Through this process, new and expansive expressions of male identity emerge—shaped by tenderness, resistance, and emotional complexity. Through their unscripted collaboration, the artist and his participants honour inherited struggles while centring vulnerability and connection as reparative forms of male embodiment. 

Curated by Kanika Anand 

About the Artist

Kenneth Tam (he/him)

Kenneth Tam was born in Queens, NY and attended the Cooper Union.  He is based in Houston, TX and is an assistant professor at Rice University, as well as faculty at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.  He has had solo exhibitions at Bridget Donahue, NY; ICA LA, CA; Queens Museum, NY;  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), CA; Cantor Arts Center, CA;  Ballroom Marfa, TX; and MIT List Visual Arts Center, MA. He was previously a Core Fellow at the MFAH, and is a recipient of grants from Art Matters, the Jerome Foundation, NYFA and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. He is represented by Commonwealth and Council in Los Angeles

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Kenneth Tam uses video, sculpture, installation, movement, performance, and photography to examine themes including the performance of masculinity, the transformative potential of ritual, and expressions of intimacy within groups. Tam often implicates the male body in his projects, using humour and pathos to reveal the performative and unstable nature of identity, and often creates situations that foreground tenderness and vulnerability within unlikely settings.

About the Curator

Kanika Anand (she/her)

Kanika Anand is the Senior Curator at Contemporary Calgary, Canada and co-curator of the Indian Ceramics Triennale, India. Her curatorial approach focuses on placemaking and social practices that interrogate structures of power and modes of engagement. Through a lens of interstitial discourse, constructs of time, social space, and traces of mobility remain a keen area of interest and research. 

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from Delhi University and a Master’s degree in Art History from the National Museum Institute, India. She has been curatorial fellow at the Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France (2012-13) and fellow at the Global Cultural Leadership Programme, organised by the Cultural Diplomacy Platform and the European Cultural Foundation (2018). She has worked extensively with galleries and institutions across North America, France and India and has worked on major exhibitions of work by Yoko Ono, Chitra Ganesh, Diane Arbus, Marcel Dzama, Paola Pivi. She has written for art journals like Ocula, Art India, and Art Basel and has contributed to several books on contemporary art.