EDUCATE, ADVOCATE, AGITATE: THE MINING INJUSTICE SOLIDARITY NETWORK’S CREATIVE INTERVENTIONS
1 - 23 March 2019
Anniversary Gallery (MCA 265)
OCAD University
100 McCaul St. Toronto
Curated by Zoë Heyn-Jones & Valérie Frappier
The Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) is a Toronto-based activist group that organizes to draw attention to and resist the negligent practices of Canadian mining companies, who comprise over 75% of mining businesses worldwide. In solidarity with affected communities and in response to their calls for support, MISN
Educates… the Canadian public on mining injustices in Canada and around the world.
Advocates… for stronger community control of mining practices, and in support of self-determination in mining-affected areas.
Agitates… against corporate impunity and in support of substantive regulatory change.
This exhibition highlights and celebrates ephemera from, and documentation of, some of MISN’s actions, including the “Spoil Sports and Smear Leaders” guerilla street theatre intervention at the Pan Am Games in 2015 that brought attention to Barrick Gold’s role as medal supplier to the games and created points of disruption in the spectacle; the sidewalk peoples’ trial of the “HudBay Minerals, Corporate Criminals on Trial” action (2014; video by Monica Gutierrez & Allan Lissner); and acts of solidarity with Angélica Choc, widow of Guatemalan Q’eqchi’ Maya land defender Adolfo Ich Chamán and plaintiff in the precedent-setting Choc vs. HudBay case that has sought justice in Canadian courts, among many other creative disruptions.
With this exhibition we aim to highlight the vibrant and engaging ways in which the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network uses performative tactics in their activism, and how these actions leave behind material traces and compelling vernacular archives of resistance.
This exhibition is a component of the “Resisting Extractivism, Performing Opposition” project, supported by the Canadian Consortium on Performance and Politics in the Americas, York University’s Graduate Program in Theatre and Performance Studies and Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts and Technology, and OCAD University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences & School of Interdisciplinary Studies, with the support of the Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories and Criticism and Curatorial Practice programs.
mininginjustice.org
