School of Art

Moving Matter: Between Rock and Stone

August 11 to October 14, 2022 | Curated by Abigail Auld, Guest Curator

KC Adams, Kristina Banera, Katherine Boyer, Evin Collis, Jason de Haan, Patrick Dunford, Kara Hamilton, Vanessa Hyggen, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, Jeff Thomas, Lisa Stinner-Kun, Christopher Wahl, and Tricia Wasney

Moving Matter: Between rock and stone is an exhibition about Tyndall limestone, a building material quarried from a 450-million-year-old body of rock. The exhibition pairs research about the material’s transformation from bedrock to building stone, with artwork contemplating quarry ecologies, construction’s role in nation-building, and various personal and cultural histories embodied in this stone.

Moving Matter features work by 13 contemporary artists, including several new commissions, ranging from photography, sculpture, drawing, beadwork, jewellery, and video with sound. Some artists contemplate how Tyndall Stone’s rise to prominence as a trademarked building material mirrored the redefinition and construction of the wider region as Western Canada. Others explore the cyclical motion of rock formation and decay, the voids left by excavation, and the interrelation of bedrock and other parts of the environment.

A series of public programs throughout the fall will bring artists and invited guests into conversation to consider how connection to bedrock shapes orientations to place; how stories endure through the materiality of stone; and how the movement of material links landscapes and cities, forever transforming the world.

The curator gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council to present this exhibition and adjunct programming. A special thanks to Gillis Quarries Ltd. for their assistance in the development of artist commissions and the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation for their support of Tyndall Stone research.

Thank you to Sketchfab for supporting this exhibition.

Curatorial Essay: MOVING MATTER between rock and stone – Abigail Auld

Descriptive Audio Playlist

Artwork Descriptions [PDF]

Exhibition title wall for Moving Matter, featuring bold typography and curatorial text, with a blurred figure passing by.
A sculptural piece consisting of a textured stone cube balanced atop a ceramic vessel, surrounded by soil on a white pedestal.
A gallery view showcasing mixed-media works, including large-scale architectural drawings and sculptural installations against a backdrop of white and orange walls.
A screen-based artwork displaying a video of a group of white pelicans wading in shallow water, mounted on a wooden shelf.
An exhibition space featuring an orange wall with embedded photographic prints, adjacent to a white wall displaying framed black-and-white images.
A wooden pallet installation labeled Notes on Harvesting, positioned beside a framed photograph of an industrial setting on a white gallery wall.
A visitor wearing a mask observes a framed photograph of an elegantly dressed elderly woman with a smile, displayed on a white gallery wall.
A sculptural installation featuring a draped fabric with cut-out shapes, delicate glass vessels, and wooden pallets arranged in a minimalist gallery setting.

Photo Documentation by Karen Asher

Events:

Virtual Panel: Orienting Self, Place, and History (September 15, 2022)
With KC Adams, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, and Graham Young
7:00-8:30 pm CDT
Facilitated on Zoom and live-streaming on the School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba YouTube channel.

Curatorial Talk: Moving Matter: Between Rock and Stone (September 22, 2022)
With Abigail Auld
12:00-1:30 pm CDT
ARTlab 136, 180 Dafoe Road, UM
Also facilitated on Zoom and live-streaming on the School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba YouTube channel.

Virtual Guest Lecture: Reciprocal Landscapes: Stories of Material Movements (October 6, 2022)
With Jane Mah Hutton
7:00-8:30 pm CDT
Facilitated on Zoom and live-streaming on the School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba YouTube channel.
Presented in partnership with the Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba.

Virtual Panel: Material Intimacies: Stories in Stone (October 13, 2022)
With Robert Coutts, Vanessa Hyggen, and Tricia Wasney
7:00-8:30 pm CDT
Facilitated on Zoom and live-streaming on the School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba YouTube channel.