Ron Alexander Memorial Lectures in Musicology: Dylan Robinson

Speaker: Dylan Robinson (Department of Language, Literatures, and Cultures; Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Queens University, Ontario)

Topic: "Public Art’s Interpellation: Refusing the Anthropocentrism of Climate Grief"

Abstract: This presentation considers human and non-human encounters with sound art works located in outdoor public spaces. Specifically, I address the ways in which public artworks interpellate the public as settler subjects, alongside other forms of interpellation that hail Indigenous and non-human publics. With numerous artists engaging in ecological art, I also examine the extent to which public art practices amplify climate grief, leaving the larger question of public art’s sonic and material relationships to land's life unspoken.

Professor Dylan Robinson is a xwélmexw (Stó:lō/Skwah) artist, curator, and writer. His book Hungry Listening (University of Minnesota Press, 2020) examines Indigenous and settler colonial practices of listening. It was awarded the Best First Book by the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and the Canadian Association for Theatre Research, and it received the Labriola Centre American Indian National Book Award. Since 2015, Prof. Robinson has been the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts at Queen’s University, Ontario. His curatorial work includes the international touring exhibition Soundings (2019-2025) co-curated with Candice Hopkins. His current research project xoxelhmetset te syewa:l, Caring for Our Ancestors, involves working with Indigenous artists to reconnect kinship with Indigenous life incarcerated in museums.

Admission Information

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