Gut Feeling

Emily Davidson and Elyse Moir, Lindsay Dobbin, Elise Boudreau Graham, Shaya Ishaq, José Andrés Mora, Lou Sheppard, and Stephanie Yee

Gut biome, more bacteria than body; if we touch, our biomes change. Biomes exchange, collaborate, and change one another, intuiting needs through intricate communication.

The biome is always a work in progress. It is located in the individual, yet is communal in nature, more-than-human. How do we, in artistic and cultural communities, relate to a biome though artistic practices and processes?

The artists in Gut Feeling maintain innovative, socially engaged, and interdisciplinary practices, as cultural workers, activists, researchers, musicians, educators, and writers. Their works erode the borders of what constitutes an artistic practice; the breadth of their interests affect how they conceptualize, produce, and display their projects. In this exhibition, some projects will be carried out in advance of the exhibition’s opening and will be presented as a completed process, while others will only be underway, with artists beginning to develop their work through discussion, performances, and collaboration.

Gut Feeling is an exhibition of emerging artists, but its focus is more on the emergent practice. The curatorial decisions through the development of this exhibition are centred on allowing space for intuitive processes to develop in a gallery which often prioritizes the presentation of objects. In an entangled and unfolding process, a space is made available, invitation is extended, and studio visits (online and in person) facilitate the development of a new work for a new space and context; artists, curators, and gallery are all subject to change in the formation of this exhibition.