An intimate conversation under the stars brings together artist, poet, and educator Elder Duke Redbird and renowned astrophysicist Dr Renée Hložek to discuss the human relationship to the cosmos from multiple perspectives. In the context of Redbird’s Indigenous interpretive learning centre and evolving art installation Wigwam Chi-Chemung at Ontario Place (Marina), and Caecilia’s Tripp’s project Interstellar Sleep at Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) and 259 Lake Shore Blvd E, the conversation moves toward indigenizing astronomy curricula.
Location Notes: This event will take place at the Ontario Place South Marina.
For further information on the process and program around Wigwam Chi-Chemung, please visit: wigwamchichemung.com.
Image Credit: Decolonizing Astrophysics, 2019. Photo: Sue Holland.
In case of rain or adverse weather, the event will be postponed. Please visit the Toronto Biennial of Art website for further details: www.torontobiennial.org/programs
Bios
Dr. Renée Hložek (born in Pretoria, South Africa; lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) studies a variety of problems in theoretical and observational cosmology through observations. Using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, her research focuses on constraining cosmological models, as well as determining the structure and amount of dark energy in the Universe. Hložek studied at the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town. She received her DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2011, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Hložek was a Lyman Spitzer Jr. Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Astrophysics at Princeton University and the Spitzer-Cotsen Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows. She is also a Senior TED Fellow.
Elder Duke Redbird (born in 1939, Saugeen First Nation, Canada; lives in Toronto, Canada) is a pillar of First Nations literature in Canada and is an Elder, poet, activist, educator and artist. He occupies the position of Elder at the following organizations: the Myseum of Toronto; the Toronto Biennial; Summer Works; and the Toronto Arts Council’s Banff Leaders Lab. In 2020, Duke was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Toronto-based performing arts organization JAYU to recognize his artistic influence on human rights.