About:
Felix Kalmenson (b. 1987, St Petersburg, Russia) is a 'rootless cosmopolitan' whose practice navigates film, installation, video and performance. Kalmenson’s work variably narrates the liminal space of a researcher’s and artist’s encounter with landscape and archive. By bearing witness to everyday life, and hardening the more fragile vestiges of private and collective histories through their work, Kalmenson gives themselves away to the cadence of a poem, always in flux.
(Bio by Maya Tounta)
One half of Pejvak with longtime collaborator Rouzbeh Akhbari
Former member of ADL with Rouzbeh Akhbari and Ash Moniz
Education:
Bachelor of Architecture and Urban Studies, University of Toronto, 2011
Grants/Awards:
'Gamodi' Honorable Mention for 'Best Canadian Film', 42nd Vancouver International Film Festival, 2023
Long-list as 'Pejvak', Sobey Art Award, 2023
Prix George for the Best Documentary Form, 24th Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, 2020
Arts Abroad Residencies Program, Canada Council for the Arts, 2019/2021
Concept to Realization Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, 2019 /2020/2021
Mid-Career Artist Grant, Ontario Arts Council, 2019
Research and Creation Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, 2018
Media Artists Creation Projects, Ontario Arts Council, 2018
Mid-Career Artist Grant, Toronto Arts Council, 2017
Trinity Square Video Award, Images Festival, 2017
Emerging Artist Grant, Ontario Arts Council, 2016
International Residencies Program, Canada Council for the Arts, 2016
Chalmers Arts Fellowship, Ontario Arts Council, 2015
Project Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, 2015/2017
Travel Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, 2014/2015
Visual Artists Grant, Toronto Arts Council, 2014
National and International Residency Grant, Ontario Arts Council, 2013
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council, 2013/2014/2015/2016/2017
Residencies:
Kai Art Center, Tallinn, Estonia (Upcoming)
M HKA / Van Abbemuseum Research Fellowship, part of L’Internationale, Antwerp/Eindhoven, 2021-22
Jan Van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, Netherlands, 2020-21
Zarya Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok, Russia, 2019
Theertha Red Dot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2018
Grey Projects, Singapore, 2017
Jupiter Woods, London, UK, 2017
ACSL, Yerevan, Armenia, 2017
National Centre for Contemporary Arts, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2016
Rupert Residency Program, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2016
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Aomori, Japan, 2014
Centro Negra, Blanca, Spain, 2014
Boxes, Zones and Quarters, Casablanca/Marrakesh, Morocco 2014
ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin, Germany 2013
Screenings:
Tampere Film Festival, ’Shokouk’ International Competition, Tampere, Finland, March 6/10, 2024
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, ’Shokouk’ International Competition, Berwick-upon-Tweed, UK, March 9, 2024
26th Media City Film Festival, ’Shokouk’ Official Selection, Windsor, Canada, Nov 9, 2023
47th Mostra Internacional de Cinema/ São Paulo International Film Festival, ’Gamodi’ Official Selection New Directors Competition, São Paulo, Brazil, Oct 19 - Nov 1, 2023
42nd Vancouver International Film Festival, ’Gamodi’ Official Selection, Vancouver, Canada, Oct 3 & 5, 2023
52nd Festival du Nouveau Cinéma ’Gamodi’, National Competition, Montreal, Canada, Oct 8 & 14, 2023
Arkipel-Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival, 2023
Overcoming the forms of the outer world, Cineclub EA, Porto, Portugal, June 13, 2023
like a lurch of earth on the edge of sleep, aashra, Ashkal Alwan, May-June, 2023
Deep Landscape, nGbK, Berlin, 2022
Postwar Modern: New Art in Britain 1945-1965, Barbican Cinema, 2022
44th Mostra Internacional de Cinema / São Paulo International Film Festival, 2020
Kasseler Dokfest, 2020
Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, 2020
Moscow International Experimental Film Festival, 2020
Kyiv International Short Film Festival, 2020
Sharjah Film Platform, December 18-19, 2019
Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival, November 14, 2019
Aesthetica International Film Festival, November 8, 2019
Doclisboa International Film Festival, October 25, 2019
Sum of the Parts, 221A, Vancouver, May 16, 2018
Cold Cuts Video Festival, SOVA Gallery, Dawson City, Canada, March 30-April 1, 2018
Shorts 2: Rare Minerals, AND Festival, Peak District, UK, September 22, 2017
Images Festival, Toronto, Canada, April 23, 2017
Governing the Effects of Retrograde Part 1, Things That Can Happen, Hong Kong
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, November 17 & 20, 2016
On The Currents Of Distant Worlds, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany, July 12, 2016
Ozo Kino Sale Presented with Rupert Vilnius, Lithuania, June 3, 2016
Connectivity Through Cinema Presented by Mono No Aware and Pleasure Dome, Center for Performance Research, NYC, USA, March 27, 2016
Felt Book Screening, Institute for New Feelings, EMMEDIA , Calgary, Canada, February 11, 2016
False Histories, Buntport Theatre, Denver, USA, January 15, 2017
New Toronto Works, Pleasuredome, Toronto, September 26, 2015
Hello Darkness: New Toronto Works, Pleasure Dome, Toronto, October 18, 2014
Video Night, Le Cube, Rabat, July 1, 2014
Talks and Panels:
The Counterimaginaries, Centre d'Art Santa Mònica , Barcelona, Spain, February 1, 2024
Artist Talk, Nida Art Colony, Nida, Lithuania, July 22, 2023
Change Feeling, Research Presentation, Van Abbemuseum, July 8, 2022
Ac/kademie #3: Place/s of Return, Jan Van Eyck Academie, November 17, 2021
Planetary Imaginations (Moderator), Eindhoven Design Academy, October 23, 2021
Environmental Identities #5: A Thread Between Two Mountains, from Ararat to Cîlo, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, Netherlands, October 22, 2020
WYD? (Out There), Naval, May 10, 2020, Los Angeles, USA
On Collaboration, Onsite Gallery, January 19, 2019, Toronto, Canada
In Between Mean Time, Malaysia Design Archive, December 13, 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mapping Li-qui-di-ty, Goldsmiths University of London, July 22, 2017, London, UK
Waterline, I: Project Space, August 22, 2016, Beijing
Unsettling Colonial Modernity, University of Alberta, April 25, 2015, Edmonton
Sunday Scene, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, March 15, 2015, Toronto
Politics in Practice Artist Talk, Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Aomori City, Japan, 2014
Boxes, Zones and Quarter Artist Talk, Casablanca American School, June 20, 2014, Casablanca
New Discourses for a Tired Century: A Debate Series, Gladstone Hotel, Nov. 19, 2012, Toronto
Boxes, Zones and Quarter Artist Talk, Casablanca American School, June 20, 2014, Casablanca
New Discourses for a Tired Century: A Debate Series, Gladstone Hotel, Nov. 19, 2012, Toronto
Reviews:
’Languid becoming in Felix Kalmenson’s Gamodi’, REISSUE Vancouver, Canada, 2023
Als antagonisme dichtbij komt, Mister Motley, February, 9, 2023
Folding the Landscape: Interventions of Nomad Space in The Work of Wind: Land, Kitt Peacock, The Comparative Media Arts Journal Issue 11, 2022
Pejvak’s “If Need Be”, Art Agenda, July 26, 2021
Get rid of the idea of the singular artistic genius, subbacultcha.be, July, 2021
Interview and Online Premiere of A Passage, Sygma, June 15, 2021
An ancient windcatcher becomes a hypnotic device in this new installation, CBC Arts, October 30, 2018
Taking back the suburbs, CBC Arts, October 24, 2018
Art Daybook: ‘Atlas’ holds up time, Houston Chronicle, June, 6 2018
Pašportrets sacaurumotas ainavas interjerā, Arterritory, March 13, 2018
"Sometimes when I wake up, I don't remember where I am", Arterritory, March 13, 2018
Artist Felix Kalmenson Proves Decay Can Be Gorgeous, Vice Magazine, March 7, 2018
How One Toronto Artist is Critiquing Putin’s Reign, Canada Art, March 23, 2017
10 Artists Who Disrupt the Status Quo, Canada Art, March 13, 2017
Felix Kalmenson как всегда / As Always at Pari Nadimi, Artoronto.ca, February 2017
In the galleries: Tau Lewis at 8-11 Gallery and Felix Kalmenson at Pari Nadimi, Toronto Star, February 9, 2017
Romantic Pastoralism, Art Fag City, August 21, 2015
Speaking Across Histories, Magenta Magazine, Spring 2015
Felix Kalmenson at Pari Nadimi, Akimbo, March 3, 2015
Felix Kalmenson: A Year in Revenue at Pari Nadimi, Artoronto.ca, February 2015
Raising the Alarm, Fast Forward Weekly, January 16, 2014
Identification Papers at Critical Mass, Akimbo, July 9, 2013
Urban shrines: Statements in the cast-off and derelict, Toronto Star, July 18th 2011
Publications:
Between Mean Time, Afterall Journal, Issue 55-56, 2024
’An Enclosure’ Cabinet Magazine: Issue 66, Winter 2019 - Spring 2020
’The Bell at the End of Time’ Artist Project, C Magazine 142: Monument, Summer 2019
'A Question of Living' included in the publication The Village and the Revolution, Edited by Simon Mraz, Published by Austrian Cultural Forum, Moscow, Russia, 2018
The Work of Wind: Land, Edited by Christine Shaw and Etienne Turpin Co-published by K. Verlag in partnership with the University of Toronto Mississauga, September 2018
The Funambulist No 17: Weaponized Infrastructure, (with Rouzbeh Akhbari) May-June 2018
Casablanca: From Protectorate to Neoliberal Polis, With Rouzbeh Akhbari, Unsettling Colonial Modernity in Islamicate Contexts, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017
Speaking to the Future, Under the Influence Magazine, 2016
Order and Progress, Prefix Photo No. 33: Performing Labour, Spring/Summer 2016
Solo Exhibitions:
If Need Be, Z33, Hasselt, Belgium, 2021
A Passage, Shell, Toronto, Canada, 2021
The Bell at the End of Time, Critical Distance co-presented by C Magazine, Toronto, Canada, 2019
In its place only steel, State Silk Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2019
From the body I spent, Kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga, Latvia, 2018
Make Breeze (with Rouzbeh Akhbari), Hay Art Cultural Center, Yerevan, Armenia, 2018
Tides of Sand and Steel (With ADL), Si Shang Museum of Art, Beijing, China, 2017
Kak Vsegda/As Always, Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2017
A House of Skin, Artcite, Windsor, Canada, 2017
The Hum, as part of Spaces R&D, The Sculpture Center, Cleveland, USA, 2016
A Year in Revenue, Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto, 2015
HLS-F71, The New Gallery, Calgary, Canada, 2014
I Came Here to Find Myself, Priscilla Queen of the Medina, Marrakech, 2014
Centre for the Interpretation of Water and Light, Centro Negra, Blanca, Spain, 2014
Three Monuments, ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin, 2013
Selected Group Exhibitions:
Obsessions, Nida Art Colony, Nida, Lithuania, 2023
Rewinding Internationalism, Villa Arson, Nice, France, 2023
my final prayer, Art Museum, Toronto, Canada, 2023
Aisle, Dangxia Art Space, Beijing, China, 2023
Histoires Vraies, MAC VAL, Paris, France, 2023
Rewinding Internationalism: The 1990s and Today, Van Abbemuseum, Netherlands, 2022
A scaffold with, against, Art Museum, Toronto, Canada, 2022
1934, Tilde, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2022
Diving Deep for Light into Darkness, Beiqiu Museum of Contemporary Art Nanjing, China. 2022
Eurasia: A Landscape of Mutability, M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium, 2021
But These Forms Need to be Created, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, Ramallah, Palestine, 2021
The Whole Sell, Online w/Praksis, Oslo, Norway, 2021
Northern Convergences, Maclaren Art Centre, Barrie, Canada, 2020
To see and see again, Hamilton Artist Inc, Hamilton, Canada, 2019
Salon of Conviviality, White Room Foundation, Moscow, Russia, 2019
How to Breathe Forever, Onsite Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2019
The Work of Wind: Air, Land, Sea Presented by Blackwood Gallery, Mississauga, Canada, 2018
contact landing(s), Thames Art Gallery, Chatham, Canada, 2018
The Future is Certain, it is the Past That is Unpredictable, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, USA, 2018
The Future is Certain; It's the Past Which is Unpredictable, Calvert 22, London, UK, 2017
CITIZENSFIVE, Art Athina, Athens, Greece, 2017
of movement and dwelling, Trinity Square Video, Toronto, Canada, 2017
Portals... or Location Scouting in Kaunas, Presented by Spike Art Quarterly, Web-Based, 2017
Land Also Moves (With ADL), Independent Art Spaces, Beijing, China, 2016
Von Den Strömen Der Stadt – On The Currents Of The City, Museum Abteiberg, Germany, 2016
No Confidence, Success, Perth International Arts Festival, Perth, Australia, 2016
A Line is Not a Line, Part of First Thursday, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2015
Swimminal Poolitics, DIS Magazine, Web-Based, 2015
Stories Told, O’Born Contemporary, Toronto, 2015
Felt Book, Institute for New Feelings, Web-Based, 2015
Anatomy of a Square, Art Now, Toronto, 2015
Under New Management, The New Gallery, 2015
Material and Mechanism, Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Aomori City, Japan, 2014
Watch Your Stops, Minsheng Art Museum and Bazaar Compatible, Shanghai, China, 2014
Boxes, Zones and Quarters, La Fabrique Culturelle des Anciens Abattoirs, Casablanca, 2014
A Wicked Problem, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, 2014
AADK, Centro Párraga, Murcia, Spain 2014
Some New Fires, Art Metropole, Toronto, 2014
Pics or It Didn’t Happen, Pari Nademi Gallery, Toronto, 2014
Limited Access 4, Aaran Gallery, Tehran, Iran, 2013
Sticky Substance, Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, 2013
Under New Management, ODD Gallery, Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Dawson City, 2013
The Archivists, Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto, 2013
Mortal Coils, Shudder Gallery, Vancouver, 2012
Now Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2012
Obscured Transmissions, Nuit Blanche, National Film Board of Canada Mediatheque, Toronto, 2011
Videodrome, MOCCA, Toronto, 2011