Thursday, March 19, 2026, 11 am – 12:30 pm
Shifting:
Kirsty Robertson and Kim Kraczon in conversation on contemporary art and sustainability
Pavilion
A hybrid talk with Kirsty Robertson (in-person) and Kim Kraczon (via zoom) focusing on sustainability in contemporary art through artistic practices and institutional initiatives.
Robertson shared her experiences at the Centre for Sustainable Curating, including their iterative process of experimenting with different techniques for sustainable signage. She shared their free resources and emphasized their approach to sustainability centered on being better rather than perfect.
From a conservation perspective, Kraczon started from a quote from Fernando Domínguez Rubio, “…a museum is not a collection of objects but a collection of slowly unfolding disasters.” She spoke of the resource-intensive and expensive processes museums undertake to conceal aging artworks, underlining that entropy is unescapable and advocating that artists have the agency to choose the care and lifespan of their artworks.
The discussion with participants, including artists, art historians, and members of the public, ranged from queries about sustainable art materials to broader discussions of the intersections between climate change and global power relations.
L: Courtesy Kirsty Robertson. R: Courtesy Kim Kraczon; photo: Barry Bijleveld.
Dr. Kirsty Robertson is Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Museums, Art, and Sustainability, as well as Professor and Director of Museum and Curatorial Studies in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University. She directs the Centre for Sustainable Curating (CSC) which supports research on waste, pollution, and the climate crisis, and promotes the development of low-waste, low-carbon exhibitions and artworks. Robertson has curated internationally and has published extensively in critical museum studies, most notably her book Tear Gas Epiphanies: Protest, Museums, Culture (MQUP, 2019), and in her forthcoming Countering the Museum: Activism at the Limits of the Institution (Museums in Focus Series, Routledge). She is a founding member of the Synthetic Collective, a group of artists, scientists, and cultural researchers addressing plastics pollution in the Great Lakes Region. She is also co-lead on A Museum for Future Fossils, an ongoing “vernacular museum” project that responds to the ecological crisis.
Kim Kraczon is a conservator of modern materials and contemporary art whose work centers on sustainable practices in the visual arts. She focuses on reducing the socio-environmental impact of materials and methods used in conservation, art production, exhibition-making, and fine art transport. In collaboration with non-profit organizations such as Gallery Climate Coalition and Ki Culture, Kraczon creates online resources and tools that support a more ethical and environmentally sustainable art sector. Carrying out research at the intersection of sustainability and cultural heritage, she regularly leads workshops and delivers lectures on conservation ethics and sustainable approaches for museum professionals, gallery staff, and university students.
Shifting is an initiative organized by Clara Halpern, assistant curator, exhibitions. This program is generously supported by York University’s Sustainability Innovation Fund.
