Thursday, March 19, 2026, 11 am – 12:30 pm
Shifting:
Kirsty Robertson and Kim Kraczon in conversation on contemporary art and sustainability
Pavilion
Please join us for the first program in our new series Shifting, a talk by Kirsty Robertson (in-person) and Kim Kraczon (joining virtually) moderated by Clara Halpern, assistant curator, exhibitions.
Shifting is a new initiative at The Goldfarb Gallery with two branches. The first is a series of public programs centered on ecology, resilience, and art, focused on curators, writers, and artists doing generative work and discussing pathways to action. The second is the development of a living document centered on The Goldfarb Gallery’s operations, providing guidance for sustainable practices.
This program is generously supported by York University’s Sustainability Innovation Fund.
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.
