Charles Stankievech

2025 Upcoming Event:

Roundtable: Charles Stankievech with Seamus Kealy and Ala Roushan

A meteorite floats above a sand floor, a psychedelic volcano crystallizes deep time. The Desert Turned to Glass is a meditation oscillating between the cosmic and the chthonic. Travelling through vast distances in space and time from outer space to Paleolithic caves, Stankievech entwines science fiction speculation and contemporary scientific theories on the origin of life, consciousness, and art. At a moment obsessed with planetary endings, Stankievech returns to the formation of the earth’s atmosphere in geologic time—in a word, to creation itself. 

Exhibited across both Gairloch Gardens and Centennial Square, a collection of videos, photographs and sculptures invites the visitor into a material and mystical world under tectonic transformation. During the exhibition, an accompanying concert entitled The Glass Key will be performed by Stankievech at Trinity College Chapel, University of Toronto. 

Charles Stankievech is an artist redefining "fieldwork" at the convergence of geopolitics, deep ecologies, and sonic resonances. From the Arctic’s northernmost settlement to the depths of the Pacific Ocean, Stankievech's practice uncovers the paradoxes of our existence on the planet by engaging with the imperceptible. His award-winning work has been presented at institutions such as the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; Kunste Werke, Berlin; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; National Gallery of Canada; TBA21, Vienna; as well as several biennials from Venice to SITE Santa Fe. As a composer he mentored under World Soundscape founder R. Murrary Schafer and then Alvin Lucier, leading to the premiere of his work Radiance for Philip Glass’ MATA foundation. He has lectured at dOCUMENTA (13) and the 8th Berlin Biennale, and his writing has been published by Verso, MIT, Sternberg Press, e-flux, and Princeton Architectural Press. He was the Director of Visual Studies at the University of Toronto from 2015-2021, where he is now Associate Professor in the Faculty of Architecture. For 2023, he was visiting Research Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo.