TOXICITY 2013 is the inaugural exhibition, conference and workshop of a series of international exhibitions and conferences surrounding the notion of toxicities in the contemporary world. This premier exhibition, co-curated by Dr. Melentie Pandilovski (Director of Video Pool, Winnipeg) and Dr. Jennifer Willet (Director, INCUBATOR Lab, The University of Windsor) will highlight the growing Canadian biotech arts community within an international context. To that end, TOXICITY will present artworks by twelve emerging and established Canadian and international artists utilizing biological media to explore real and perceived toxic byproducts and outcomes affiliated with biotechnology, biosecurity, biomedicine, and biopolitics.

In addition to the exhibition, the works will be further contextualized for Canadian audiences through a hands-on bioart workshop held by the Australian artist Niki Sperou and a public symposium including a variety of artists from the exhibition and significant Canadian and international theorists in the art/science domain.

The works in the exhibition will convey the stories of the artists’ approaches to biotech and include research into: biopolitical conflicts in the real and virtual worlds involving NGOs, governments and corporations; energy control and the choice of fuel material and alternative energy sources; the causes and consequences of environmental change; the topic of environmental sustainability; micro- and macro-ecology; life, GM products, death and appearance. With these themes in mind, the artists selected present an array of approaches, from the humorous and playful to the deadly serious, exploring the ways we think about the origins of life, the scale and dimensions of living matter and the nature of nourishment, death, fashion and appearance.

Artists included in the exhibition: Trish Adams (Brisbane, Australia), Alana Bartol (Windsor, Ontario), Critical Art Ensemble (Buffalo, USA), Joe Davis (Cambridge, MA, USA), Tagny Duff (Montreal, Quebec), Aganetha Dyck (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Ted Heibert (Seattle, USA), Natalie Jeremijenko (NYC, USA), David Khang (Vancouver, British Columbia), Andrew E Pelling (Ottawa, Ontario), Niki Sperou (Adelaide, Australia) Reva Stone (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Amanda White (Toronto, Ontario), Elaine Whittaker (Toronto, Ontario), Jennifer Willet (Windsor, Ontario) with Jeanette Groenendaal and Zoot Derks (Amsterdam, Holland).