Angel Callander

Born 1991 in Canada.

Currently based in Toronto, Angel recently completed her M.A. Kunst- und Bildgeschichte (Art History and Visual Culture) at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Under the supervision of Dr. Inge Hinterwaldner, her Master's thesis focuses on women's performance art as the locus of historical conceptions of what constitutes "womanhood" as a material, social category, and of the speculations for the future ontology of womanhood through posthuman theory.

She completed her B.A. in Art History and German Studies at the University of Guelph with a thesis supervised by Dr. Amanda Boetzkes, and studied abroad at the Universität Konstanz with a scholarship from the Baden-Württemberg Foundation in 2014.

Since 2009, she has worked in public institutions and artist-run-centres in Canada and Germany, including the Art Gallery of Guelph, Ed Video Media Arts Centre, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanian, and currently The Power Plant. She has also curated projects in Guelph, Berlin, and Stockholm.

Her major research interests include abjection and monstrosity, materialities of difference, cybernetics, surveillance politics, posthumanism, processes of ontological becoming, neoliberalism, and materialist feminism.

Working languages: English, French, German.

Photo by Nadine Maher

Publications

The Trouble with Capitalist Utopia: A totalizing scheme of subsumption and planetary urbanization, in Architecture and the Smart City, edited by Sergio M. Figueiredo, Sukanya Krishnamurthy & Torsten Schroeder (Routledge, 2019): pp. 56-67.
Updating the logic of the monument: in conversation with Susanna Jablonski, for Public Parking, 11 December 2019.
How to turn the world back on itself, in Roundtable Residency 2019 (exhibition catalogue), edited by Dallas Fellini & Angel Callander (Toronto: 2019): pp. 3-7.
Inhabiting zones of estrangement, for Public Parking, 10 July 2019.
On Sickness, Institutions, and Care, for Public Parking, 7 February 2019.
Ecofeminist Guide to Finding Home on Earth, in Cross Process 2, edited by Rachelle Sabourin & Calin Stefan (Toronto: 2018): pp 45-49.
"Unable to establish a connection": Interpreting Empathy within the Interface, in Interface Critique I, edited by Florian Hadler & Joachim Haup (Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos, 2016): pp. 211-225.
“This is here and so I give it back to you”: Experiencing Art and the World with Jon Rafman and Google, in ARTHattack! Undergraduate Symposium Journal No. 7 (Guelph: 2014): pp 1-15.
Postmodern Pastiche: The Internet and Dadaism, in ARTHattack! Undergraduate Symposium Journal No. 5 (Guelph: 2012): pp 40-56.

Selected writing/research

Master's thesis "Performance, Womanhood, and Disentangling Humanism in Pursuit of Something Else" evaluated by Dr. Inge Hinterwaldner and Dr. Eva Ehninger. Grade: 1.0 (outstanding), January 2018
Image research and editing assistance for Texte zur Kunst #108: "Idiom - Languages of Art", December 2017
Conceptualization and text with Nick Verstand for "AURA", 2017. Premiered at Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven, NL, 21-29 October 2017)
"Inhabiting the Grey Zone: Reconciling the ontologies of human and data bodies." Research paper for graduate seminar "bild/schirm/welten" with Dr. Cheryce von Xylander, April 2017
"The Trouble with Capitalist Utopia: A totalizing scheme of subsumption and planetary urbanization." Research paper for graduate seminar "Unterirdisch, Oberirdisch, Außerirdisch. Urbanistische Visionen seit Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts" with Dr. Inge Hinterwaldner, April 2017
Research and text for Nick Verstand, "POV", 2017
Research and translations for "A Gallerina's Dream (Arbeitstitel)", curated by Celina Basra at Galerie im Turm, Berlin, 17 March - 30 April 2017
Transcriptions, translations and research for CTM Festival 2017 exhibition "Critical Constellations of the Audio-Machine in Mexico", curated by Carlos Prieto Acevedo at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, 28 January - 19 March 2017
Transcription for subtitles (German and English): Thomas Bratzke, Schreiben mit Jungpionieren, video, 1 hour. Exhibited at Galerie im Turm, Berlin, 11 November 2016 - 15 January 2017
"How did we get here? A study of art "after" the Internet." Research paper for graduate seminar "Virale Bilder" with Dr. Matthias Bruhn, March 2016.
"Viennese Actionism: Actionists and the abject citizen." Research paper for graduate seminar "Blick, Körper und Geschlecht in der Kunst nach 1960" with Dr. Susanne von Falkenhausen, February 2016
Text for Nick Verstand, "ANIMA I", 2014

Translation

Catalogue essay by Melina Gerstemann into English, "Schreiben mit Jungpionier Espinosa", Galerie im Turm, Berlin
Curatorial essay by Ece Parabezi into German, "The Muscle Memory", Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin

Selected exhibitions

Everything Woman is Alien to Me with Aggie Davies and Elle Peril, April 13 - 20, 2017 at Premarts, Berlin
2017 - ongoing
Those who live independently of authority are considered a threat to the established order. The figure of the witch, for example, is that of a woman who is dangerous for her associations with evil, that is, for her hidden knowledge, her rejection of Puritanism, her autonomy in patriarchal society. Today, some social conditions remain the same, women are still discounted and disbelieved. Taking "woman" as a social rather than biological category, we would see the tides change - to have those who have remained silent finally speak up. Instead of asking for permission to speak, it is time we spoke for ourselves. For if you do not define yourself, you will be swallowed by the definitions of others.
In this participatory project, all are invited to contribute to the compilation of a live text comprised of the voices that are often unheard. As we rewrite the narrative from the perspective of the suppressed, the text reveals sacred truths and the essential testimonials of events, history, denied by institutions of power and those who would maintain them as they are, in perpetuity.
In its first iteration, Everything Woman is Alien to Me consisted of a week-long co-working space, library, and installation, as well as a series of workshops, discussions and performances by Elle Peril, Aggie Davies, Nisha Bhakoo, Verónica Mota, Annique Delphine, and Kara Johnstad.
Post-Internet Philosophy, group exhibition, May 23 - 28, 2016 at Pergamom-Palais, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

How could the philosophical practice of our generation look? How does our digital socialization impact the way we want to do philosophy? What kind of philosophical praxis feels right to our digitally mediated brains?
In order to answer these questions, participants of the project tutorial “Post-Internet Philosophy” were encouraged to experiment with new formats and to defy the conventions of the ivory tower. The aim was to emancipate ourselves from what our professors hold as the right way to "do" philosophy and, through this, to find our own philosophical identity within the contemporary landscape. To fill the empty notion of Post-Internet Philosophy with content, the participants completed individual projects inspired by bi-weekly discussions, workshops and work-in-progress showings.
The exhibition was accompanied by an open panel discussion with Jorinde Schulz and Babette Babich on the function of philosophy and academic practice, philosophical education in universities, and the opportunities and challenges of new philosophical formats.

Education
October 2015 - March 2018	M.A. Kunst- und Bildgeschichte Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, DE
April - September 2014	Language and Literature Studies (study abroad) Universität Konstanz, DE
September 2009 - April 2014	B.A. Honours Art History and German Studies University of Guelph, CA

Work experience and internships
May 2019 - present	Gallery attendant The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, CA
July 2019 - August 2019	Writer-in-Residence/Programming Coordinator Roundtable Residency, Toronto, CA
September 2017 - December 2018	Research assistant Studio Nick Verstand, Amsterdam, NL
September 2017 - December 2017	Image editing/editing Texte zur Kunst, Berlin, DE
December 2016 - March 2017	Project assistant Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, DE
March 2014 - June 2016	Member of the Board of Directors Ed Video Media Arts Centre, Guelph, CA
September 2013 - April 2014	Student Gallery Coordinator Zavitz Gallery, Guelph, CA
May - August 2013	Collections Management Assistant Art Gallery of Guelph, CA
January 2013 - April 2014	Gallery Assistant Art Gallery of Guelph, CA
September - December 2012	Project intern Art Gallery of Guelph, CA
June - September 2009	Collections Management Assistant Grimsby Public Art Gallery, CA

Conferences and Presentations
March 15-16, 2019	Tropes of Visibility: Performance art, womanhood, and bodies in semiosis OCAD University CADN Graduate Conference, Toronto, CA
November 15-17, 2018	Utopia through smart technologies (Session chair) Architectural Humanities Research Association Annual Conference, TU Eindhoven, NL
March 17, 2018	Watching and Being Watched: Self, Peer, and State Surveillance MATTER/DAMAGE exhibition at Cuore di Vetro, Berlin, DE
November 7-8, 2014	“Unable to Establish a Connection”: Interpreting Empathy within the Interface Interface Critique Symposium, Universität der Künste, Berlin, DE
March 5, 2014	“And so I give it back to you”: Art and surveillance with Jon Rafman and Google ARTHattack! Undergraduate Symposium, University of Guelph, CA
January 16-19, 2014	You Are What You Reblog: The Digital Aesthetics of Self-Expression Canadian Association of Cultural Studies Biennial Conference, University of Waterloo, CA
March 9, 2012	Postmodern Pastiche: The Internet and Dadaism ARTHattack! Undergraduate Symposium, University of Guelph, CA

Events/exhibitions organized
April 3-7, 2019	Shadow Protocol Curator for Ed Video Media Arts Centre, Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm, SE
April 13 - 20, 2017	Everything Woman is Alien to Me Curator, Premarts, Berlin, DE
May 23 - 28, 2016	Post-Internet Philosophy (group exhibition) Co-curator/Participant, Pergamom-Palais, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, DE
March 9, 2014	ARTHattack! Undergraduate Symposium Co-chair, University of Guelph/Art Gallery of Guelph, CA
November 9, 2013	Beyond the Frame Annual Art Auction Art Gallery of Guelph, CA
October 21 - 24, 2013	Source Materials (group exhibition) Curator, Zavitz Gallery, Guelph, CA
June 13 - July 18, 2010	ROY G. BIV: Artist as Colourist Curator, Grimsby Public Art Gallery, CA