About
A workshop with Christina Battle, part of the There’s no work in the arts, but so much to be done exhibition curated by Liuba González de Armas for Latitude 53.
In this two-hour discussion, participants will consider the potential of the invitation. With a focus on those elements that make invitations inspiring and generous, together, we will adjudicate when and where invitations in the arts often go wrong, how to read between the lines, and how to anticipate how a project might unfold should an invitation be accepted. With a focus on when it might be more important to ‘just say no’ to an invitation, participants will consider what they need from artistic opportunities and determine caring and careful expectations for invitations going forward. Participants are invited to bring an (anonymized) invitation that they’ve received in the past to work with as we practice writing and rewriting invitations together (more information will be provided after signup).
Christina Battle is an artist based in amiskwacîwâskahikan, (also known as Edmonton, Alberta), within the Aspen Parkland: the transition zone where prairie and forest meet. Her practice focuses on thinking deeply about the concept of disaster: its complexity, and the intricacies that are entwined within it. She looks to disaster as a series of intersecting processes including social, environmental, cultural, political, and economic … which are implicated not only in how disaster is caused but also in how it manifests, is responded to, and overcome. Through this research, Battle looks closer to both online models and plant systems for strategies to learn from, and for ways we might help to frame and strengthen such response. Much of this work extends from her PhD dissertation (2020) which looked closer to community responses to disaster: the ways in which they take shape, and especially to how artistic and online models might help to frame and strengthen such response. Battle’s practice prioritizes collaboration, experimentation, and failure. She has exhibited internationally in festivals and galleries as both artist and curator.