Cultivating Sustainable Collections – Agenda
Friday, 11 September 2026: Vault Tours
(Please note that transport to the tours is not provided and that necessary travel time between museums means that not all tours can be attended and will depend on your starting location).
11am to 12 noon: Museum London (Registration required – 15 people maximum)
Join Kevin Zacher and Krista Hamlin for an informative tour of Museum London’s art and material culture vaults. This rare peek at ML’s ranging collection of nearly 6,000 works of art and 50,000 artifacts will also provide attendees a first-hand glimpse into the infrastructure, professional practices, and industry challenges facing collections management today.
421 Ridout St. North, London, Ontario, N6A 5H4
Museum London is located in downtown London, Ontario, at the intersection of Dundas Place and Ridout Street overlooking the Deshkan Ziibi / Thames River.
1pm to 2pm: Oil Museum of Canada (Registration required – 12 people maximum)
The Oil Museum of Canada is situated on the site of the very first commercial oil well in North America. This tour offers guests the chance to explore the museum’s new collections storage area and uncover stories of Canada’s oil history through some of the museum’s most significant artifacts.
(The vault at the Oil Museum of Canada is located in the basement and is only accessible by stairs.)
2423 Kelly Road, Oil Springs, ON N0N 1P0.
The Oil Museum of Canada is next to Fairbank Oil Fields, 25 km south of Highway 402 at interchange 25, on Oil Heritage Road.
2pm to 3pm: Museum of Ontario Archaeology (Registration required – 20 people maximum)
A behind-the-scenes tour of Museum of Ontario Archaeology’s collections repository and research space. Guests will explore the museum’s high-density mechanical shelving system, learn about collections management policies and specialized packaging solutions designed for archaeological materials, and see the digitization tools and technologies that support research, documentation, and long-term preservation.
1600 Attawandaron Rd. London Ontario, N6G 3M6
The Museum of Ontario Archaeology is located in a residential cul-de-sac near Wonderland Road and Fanshawe Park Road in London, Ontario.
Saturday, 12 September 2026: Symposium
Conron Hall, University College UWO (UWO campus map)
(Registration required for all panels and workshops)
9-9:30 Welcome
9:30-1pm panel: Collections in Motion
Chair: Sarah E.K. Smith
Panelists: Jenny Durrant, Marie-Claude Mongeon, Germaine Koh, Camille Georgeson-Usher, Jean Dendy.
Papers and Presentations:
Changing ethical disposal from principle to practice: Jenny Durrant
The idea of permanence is enshrined within museum identity but creates tension between limited storage space and missional goals to diversify collections and develop institutional sustainability. This talk will share ideas and experience from the UK sector to explore how object removal can support these goals, be ethically beneficial, and create trustworthy practices within the Canadian context.
Embedding Sustainability in Policy: Marie-Claude Mongeon
While practices and approaches in museums, art institutions, and research are being revisited through a sustainable lens, what does it take to make the change durable, moving beyond specialized and passion-driven work and methodology? Mirroring the careful work of trial and error with materials, climate controls, and widening access to the collection (for example), an equally sensitive and responsive evolution is necessary in the institutional narratives reflected in governance frameworks of cultural organisations. Looking at sample policies and the thoughtful work of embedding within them principles related to sustainability, circularity, accessibility and degrowth, this talk aims to explore the new stories told by organisational governance and its potential for lasting positive impact.
Process in collections in collections in process: Germaine Koh
Germaine Koh will discuss several of her ongoing and process-based works that productively complicate museological conventions, introducing uncertainty into their procedures.
Oceanic Curating – Merging place, poetry, and water bodies: Camille Georgeson-Usher
How might curatorial practice find its influence in oceanic movements? Is it possible for space to hold the memory and movement of the ocean? How might we learn about how we come together, build community, and future worlds through the lens of the ocean? This talk outlines a long-term curatorial research inquiry that looks to the Pacific Ocean as a guide for understanding what it means to be a part of a fluid and ever-changing ecosystem. Looking at two exhibitions, We who have known tides: Indigenous Art from the Collection at the Vancouver Art Gallery from November 2025 – April 2026 and As Waters Merge – Swaying waves beckoning us closer at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria on view until October 2026, this talk considers the ways in which we learn from the ocean. This line of questioning asks how we learn about joy, pleasure, grief, kinship, and love through the ocean and furthermore, how art has the capacity to visualize these questions. This talk frames curatorial inquiries under a particular spatial lens as a way for building oceanic curatorial discourses and methodologies.
What’s This Beetle Doing in my Bakelite? Lessons in Sustainability from Plastics of the Past: Jean Dendy
By examining the degradation of historic plastics and the effect of additives on this process, this talk explores what early, stable materials teach us about long-term preservation and sustainable practices. Dendy will discuss the unique responsibility of conserving plastics in perpetuity to derive lessons from the past for a more sustainable future.
*brief coffee break before the Q&A
1 to 2pm: Lunch – Room 206, John Labatt Visual Arts Centre (UWO campus map)
2 to 3:30pm – Workshops (registration required)
Concurrent Workshops all held in the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre (Note specific locations) (UWO campus map)
Workshop #1: title of workshop and description coming soon: Ingenium: Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation
Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 247
(capped at 25)
Workshop #2: Strategies for Sustainable Climate Control: Fiona Graham
Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 249
(capped at 25)
Discover the strategies that are helping museums reduce energy consumption while maintaining or improving collection preservation conditions. The workshop will begin with some myth-busting around environmental specifications and then use real-life examples to introduce a range of energy-saving strategies and their effects on collection environments and vulnerable objects. In groups, participants will tackle a scenario to get a taste of the practical process they can later bring to their own institutions.
Workshop #3: Introduction to Solar-Powered Web Archives and Slow Computing: Imogen Clendinning
Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 234
(capped at 25)
In this workshop, instructor Imogen Clendinning will offer an alternative to pre-existing digital archiving work by guiding participants in the design of a collaborative micro archive hosted on a raspberry pi microcomputer and open-source software. Following this, Clendinning will demonstrate how to power the microcomputer with solar energy. Taking to heart the themes of slowness and reciprocity established by Slow Internet, participants will gain skills in minimalist web design while discussing digital sovereignty and the environmental and material impacts of technocapitalism. By building our own slow web archives, these small acts of resistance can cultivate new ways to cultivate digital records outside of increasingly corporatized, extractive digital platforms.
Breakout rooms (available during lunch and all afternoon):
From 12:00 to 3:30 p.m., two additional breakout rooms will be available for attendees who would like to network, meet with others, or continue informal discussions. These rooms will not have designated facilitators, allowing conversations to develop organically. Notepads, markers, sticky notes, and other supplies will be available for participants to capture ideas, questions, and feedback. All written materials will be collected at the end of the symposium.
Breakout #1 – Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 230 (back of the studio near the windows): Suggested topic: Collections under threat: Adapting to changing funding climates for the arts and culture in Canada.
Breakout #2 – Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 148: Suggested topic: Exhibition brainstorm: Are you working on an exhibition and would like to share ideas or have an informal critique of work in progress? Here’s a chance to discuss ideas with colleagues.
3:30 to 4pm – Coffee Break – Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 206
4 to 6pm – Film screening
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 100 (UWO campus map)
Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]
2026 | USA/Denmark | 80 mins | Directors: Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil
Trapped in museum archives, Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place. The film documents the emotional and vital work of MACPRA (Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance). This alliance, made up of repatriation specialists representing all Michigan tribes, fights to bring their Ancestors and funerary objects home from settler colonial institutions like museums, libraries, and archives.
preceded by:
The Museum Visits a Therapist
2021 | Canada/Netherlands | 19 mins | Directors: Sameer Farooq, Mirjam Linschooten
The Museum Visits a Therapist follows the restoration of a series of bisj poles from the Asmat people of Papua, brought to the museum between 1959 and 1962. Structured as a conversation between a museum and a fictional therapist, the film weaves together fragments from journals, interviews and letters from Dutch veterans, missionaries and collectors, who each played a role in the accumulation of objects, juxtaposed with detailed images of the daily activities in the museum. The film also applies the formal qualities of therapeutic language as filmic elements, referencing EMDR-treatment through sounds and flashbacks, asking the viewer to participate in the session.
Sunday, 13 September 2026: Symposium
(Registration required for all panels and workshops)
9:30am to 1pm Panel: In Conversation with Collections
Chair: Kirsty Robertson
Panelists: Jessica Cooley, Kim Kraczon, Sebastian De Line, Kristine McCorkell.
Papers and Presentations:
All That Sustains You: Crip Materiality and the Care of Collections: Jessica Cooley
Cooley will introduce her concept of “Crip Materiality” which argues that ableism is so pervasive that it shapes how we value not only human beings but also art objects. This is especially true of objects subject to what conservators call ‘inherent vice,’ art that is unintentionally disintegrating because it is composed of materials that degrade in ways conservation science cannot stop or reverse. Cooley will sketch a few new trajectories for how this concept is evolving in her current curatorial and scholarly work and what it could mean for considering more sustainable conservation and curatorial practices that are centered in the principles of Disability Justice.
The Plastic Paradox and Inevitable Decay: Rethinking Frameworks for the Perpetuation of Art Objects: Kim Kraczon
Museums and arts organisations are currently striving to reduce their use of petrochemical plastics when it comes to the stewardship and care of cultural heritage objects. This is partly because plastics are derived from fossil fuels, but also because they are insufficiently recycled and have a long lifespan, taking up to thousands of years to biodegrade and thereby disrupting ecosystems and human health. However, within the art conservation paradigm, plastic objects are paradoxically “problem children”: they degrade too quickly relative to acceptable change, requiring energy-intensive climate control, ongoing treatment and specialised display and storage to maintain their stability. In this talk, Kim Kraczon will shed light on the plastic paradox while introducing “Objects as Temporal Entities,” an immaterial prototype that forces a re-evaluation of conventional collection and conservation practice. This prototype was developed by the Synthetic Collective and the Centre for Sustainable Curating as part of the Sustainable Institution artist residency in 2024.
Listening to Collections: Ancestor-Led Care in Museological Policy Reform: Sebastian De Line
How do we practice ancestor-led care? Ancestors (or the spirit of beings who museums refer to as “objects,” “human remains,” and “artifacts”) communicate their will in ways that call for expanded practices of care which go beyond the universalization of Western curation, collection management practices, and institutional policy. This talk reflects on the spiritual practices of contemporary artists and knowledge keepers whose care practices are guided by ancestors and an ability to listen to their needs, while thinking about institutional reform.
Sovereign Expressions: The 2SLGBTQIA+ Art Collection at CMH: Kristine McCorkell
Rooted in ancestral, pre-colonial understandings of gender and sexuality, this initiative marks a vital expansion of the Museum’s dedication to autonomous Indigenous narratives. Through the deliberate rectification of past archival silences, the collection honours the fluid identities shaping our present and safeguards the legacy of Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer artistic expressions. This talk will focus on the building and active utilization of a Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer art collection, exploring how recent acquisitions foster sustainable, community-rooted curatorial practices that permanently transform museum spaces.
*there will be a brief coffee break before the Q&A
1 to 2pm: Lunch – Room 206, John Labatt Visual Arts Centre (UWO campus map)
2 to 3:30pm – Workshops (registration required)
Concurrent Workshops all held in the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre (Note specific locations) (UWO campus map)
Workshop #1: What Happens When the Smoke Arises: Galeries Ontario/Ontario Galleries – Dr. Zainub Verjee, Executive Director of GOG and Dr. Peter Pavement, CEO Surface Impression
Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 247
(capped at 25)
When disaster strikes, galleries and museums are often forced to make critical decisions under the pressure of time and competing priorities. This highly interactive session invites participants from all levels of museum operations to engage in in-depth discovery, navigate complex decision-making, identify vulnerabilities, share institutional experiences, and uncover common patterns that influence preparedness and response. This session will capture collective knowledge and emerging insights to inform the foundation of a sector-wide resilience assessment. Participants will leave having contributed to an important national conversation on building a more resilient cultural sector.
Workshop #2: A Dust Walk: Attuning to Drift: Shannon Garden-Smith
McIntosh Gallery (meet outside)
(capped at 25)
In this session, artist Shannon Garden-Smith will lead a short walk through Western University’s campus, inviting the group to attune to the often invisible or overlooked presence of drift matter, or dust. Together we will collect a small quantity of drift matter, which the artist will use to create a large-scale installation at D.B. Weldon Library as part of the exhibition The Fiction of Permanence opening in January 2027 at McIntosh Gallery. Please dress comfortably for the weather conditions; all other materials will be provided. This session involves gentle walking and some limited bending.
Workshop #3: Sustainable Strategies for Collections Care Materials in Cultural Heritage: Kim Kraczon
Visual Arts Centre (VAC) Room 234
(capped at 25)
In an era of climate emergency, cultural heritage has a crucial role in shaping more equitable and sustainable futures. As new material innovations continually emerge, how can we as cultural heritage practitioners determine which materials to incorporate into our daily work in the stewardship of cultural heritage while also reducing our impacts on people and the planet? This workshop will introduce participants to frameworks, practical tools, and resources that support informed decisions about the materials we use in cultural heritage. Building on a holistic understanding of material impacts, we will explore environmental, social, and health considerations for materials and methods in fine art transport and collections care. Through group exercises and case studies, attendees will learn how to evaluate materials, navigate trade-offs, and learn how to spot greenwashing. By honing our skill set to critically assess and negotiate humanitarian and environmental burdens in a holistic manner, we will move away from labelling materials in the visual arts as simply “good” or “bad” for the environment, and instead cultivate more nuanced, responsible approaches to material choices.
Breakout rooms (available during lunch and all afternoon):
From 12:00 to 3:30 p.m., two additional breakout rooms will be available for attendees who would like to network, meet with others, or continue informal discussions. These rooms will not have designated facilitators, allowing conversations to develop organically. Notepads, markers, sticky notes, and other supplies will be available for participants to capture ideas, questions, and feedback. All written materials will be collected at the end of the symposium.
VAC230 (back of the studio near the windows): Suggested topic: Share your sustainability-related questions, ideas, and challenges. We’ll do our best to address your questions and encourage participants to share suggestions, solutions, and experiences that may be helpful to others.
VAC148: Suggested topic: What should the next Cultivating Sustainable Collections cover? What still needs to be addressed and how can we effectively share strategies?
Saturday, October 3, 2026: Additional Workshop
(Registration required for all panels and workshops)
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre, Room 247 (UWO campus map)
Sustainability and Built Heritage: Allison Ward and Chiraz Guellela
Hosted by the Canadian Conservation Institute
This workshop will explore sustainability through a built heritage lens, focusing on the role of heritage buildings as containers of collections, such as house museums and historic sites. The session examines a common challenge faced by museums and heritage organizations: balancing pressures to reduce environmental footprints with the need to retain historic fabric, authenticity, and conservation values. Drawing on the perspectives of heritage professionals working in heritage places conservation, the workshop introduces ways of thinking and decision-making frameworks that help navigate these often-competing priorities.