The Power Plant

The Power Plant, as part of the Toronto Online Art Fair, presents Glimpsing the Future vol. 3. During short virtual presentations, emerging artists from Toronto's diverse art scene will speak about their studio practice and their vision of the future. This fast-paced format will allow each artist only 14-18 images and 30 seconds per image to describe their studio practice, process, and artworks. Following the presentations, the artists will respond to questions from the audience.

Participating artists are Mitchell Chan, Basil Alzeri, and Nico Taylor and Queen Kukoyi of BSAM.

Artists

Mitchell Chan:
Mitchell F Chan has created innovative works about technology since 2006. He creates large-scale public works, gallery installations, and digital artworks. He is best-known for creating one of the earliest non-fungible token artworks, which linked the immateriality of blockchain to the conceptual art practice of Yves Klein. In 2009, he was awarded the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Trustee Scholarship in Art & Technology Studies. His work has been covered and discussed in numerous media outlets including Artforum, Art In America, VICE, Canadian Art, Slate, the Toronto Star, and Gizmodo.

Basil AlZeri:
Basil AlZeri is a visual artist living and working between Toronto and Waterloo region, Canada. AlZeri's practice involves the intersection of art, education, and food, taking multiple forms, such as performance, drawing, video, and ephemeral installation. His ongoing research and practice examine the politics and significance of work in our lives. Issues he addresses include professionalization, careerism, emotional/immaterial/unrecognized labour, and the co-optation of relational practices by socially engaged art.

BSAM Canada:
BSAM Canada is an award-winning cultural arts non-profit organization and artist collective led by Black creatives who are educators and community advocates,Queen Kukoyi, a queer, mother, artivist, award-winning scholar and digital artist; and Nico Taylor, a black feminist scholar, activist and cosplayer. BSAM Canada focus is to create a collaborative and supportive platform that can empower, elevate, and evolve Black creatives and organizations who work within the respective field of the speculative arts. Through, projects, programs, and partnerships, the mission of BSAM Canada Institute combines related theory and practice using a speculative lens to create a better future and possibilities for the next generation by focusing on five areas of inquiry: Taking Care of the mind, body, and energy; developing a critical vocabulary; community economics and sustainability; cultivating inter-disciplinary insight and global citizenship for the Black Pan-African diaspora.

Nico Taylor:
Nicole “Nico” Taylor (she/her)is a scholar, cosplayer and activist who uses feminism and critical race theory to dissect social constructions surrounding race and representation. She holds a Master’s in Media Studies where her research touched on decolonial practices, cosplay subculture and Afrofuturism. Therefore making her a huge (and proud) nerd.

Queen Kukoyi:
Queen Kukoyi (she/her/they) is a Black, Queer, Mother, Author, Art Educator, Award-winning Scholar, Artivist, Mental Health Advocate, and International Artists. Queen uses visual arts, mindfulness and storytelling to facilitate discourse that decolonizes the Black identity and affirms all intersections of Blackness.