Centre for Sustainable Curating

(CSC) is a hub for teaching, learning, and sharing information focused on museums and environmental and social justice. Located in the Department of Visual Arts at 深夜福利站 in Ontario, Canada, the CSC encourages research into waste, pollution, and climate crisis, and the development of low-waste/low-carbon exhibitions and artworks. Our focus is on outreach, sharing resources, and training the next generation of cultural workers. CSC research is available for cultural institutions of all sizes and can be found in the regularly updated Resource Guide, and in several toolkits available on the CSC . The CSC is Directed by Dr. Kirsty Robertson, and welcomes contact from postdocs, students, artists, curators, conservators, and anyone else with an interest in creating a greener cultural sector.


CSC projects include:

  • Collaborations with individuals and institutions to lessen or limit the carbon impact of exhibitions.
  • Co-learning environments in which undergraduate and graduate students create art and exhibitions with environmental awareness.
  • Support for postdoctoral fellows. Recent postdoctoral fellows have worked on projects focused on exhibitions/museums and edible plants, agriculture, migrant labour, and extractive industries.
  • Using the Resources at Hand: A Guide for Creating Sustainable Exhibitions
  • An ongoing project with the European consortium and (France) to develop sustainability riders to add to acquisition contracts, and to consider how sustainability might factor in to the long lives and conservation of art works in collection.
  • A guide for more sustainable , co-produced with the Synthetic Collective, Evergreen Brickworks (Toronto), and the Bentway (Toronto).
  • A guide for /vinyl labelling and didactics in museum, led by FOFA Gallery at Concordia University.
  • An overview of sustainability in the museums sector in Canada, with focus on remote institutions, small institutions, and museums and galleries in heritage and rental facilities.
  • In 2024-2025, the CSC will begin a project with the University of Victoria and NSCAD to foregroundIndigenous methods and knowledges in discussions of how to build more sustainable institutions.


Partnerships

The CSC maintains an international network of collaborators across the arts, museums, sciences, design, and engineering. If you are interested in working with us, send us an email at sustainable.curating@uwo.ca.

Visit the for more information and current programming.