Caterina Pizanias, PhDIndependent Curator & Itinerant Academic

Fragments of a Life

“To live means to leave traces.” — Walter Benjamin

Selected Exhibitions

“To curate within culture is to see art in a totality that is not simply bounded by art history. It is there that we begin to make room for new forms of knowledge, new possibilities of articulating different types of intelligence that are unruly and cannot be disciplined by the academic world.”

— Okwui Enwezor

2024

  • “Alchemy of Art”

    The Canadian Institute in Greece, Athens, Greece

    June 6, 2024 — pop-up exhibition and lecture

    Artist(s): Allyson Glenn

    Role: Lecture and exhibition (with Allyson Glenn)

  • “Date with Hermes:” Journeying between Dreams and Reality

    Vorres Museum, Athens, Greece

    May 30 – June 30, 2024

    Artist(s): Allyson Glenn

    Role: Curator, exhibition essay writer and exhibition organizer

  • Ocean’s Breath (a group exhibition in two parts) — Part B

    Herakleidon Museum, Athens, Greece

    January 10 – February 25, 2024

    Artist(s): Theodora Vasiliadou, Maria Korompili, Christos Lazarakis, Yannis Makridis, Konstantinos Patsios, Spiridoula Politi, Virginia Filippousi

    Role: Catalogue essay (curated by Nina Fragopoulou)

2023

  • Ocean’s Breath (a group exhibition in two parts) — Part A

    Herakleidon Museum, Athens, Greece

    November 23, 2023 – January 7, 2024

    Artist(s): Thalassini Douma, Eveline Kolijn, Ioannis Lassithiotakis, Aggeliki Loi, George Stamatakis

    Role: Catalogue essay (curated by Nina Fragopoulou)

  • Nutri Delicious Art

    Harokopio University, Athens, Greece

    May 25 – July 20, 2023

    Role: Exhibition talk — “Notes and queries about food in art”

2022

  • The Ocean Inside

    The Canadian Institute in Greece, Athens, Greece

    November 18 – 26, 2022

    Artist(s): Eveline Kolijn

    Role: Curator, essay writer, and organizer of ancillary events

    Full documentation →

2019

  • “Uses for King Kong”

    The Side-way Stoa Storefront of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

    December 10, 2018 – February 23, 2019

    Artist(s): Blair Brennan

    Role: Curator, exhibition essay writer, and organizer

    Full documentation →
  • passage(s) / περάσματα (an exhibition in two parts)

    Vorres Museum, Athens, Greece

    June 24 – July 14, 2019

    Artist(s): Allyson Glenn

    Role: Curator, essay writer, and organizer

    Full documentation →
  • passage(s) / περάσματα (an exhibition in two parts)

    Cultural Foundation of Tinos, Tinos, Cyclades, Greece

    June 13 – July 8, 2019

    Artist(s): Allyson Glenn

    Role: Curator, essay writer, and organizer

2018

  • “Afthereta / Unauthorized”

    The Vorres Museum, Athens, Greece

    June 2018

    Artist(s): Michelle Paterok

    Role: Curator and organizer

    With the special participation of COSMOTE’s IμChor, under the direction of Dimitris Bouzanis

    Full documentation →

2017

  • Open Horizons

    The Cultural Foundation of Tinos, Tinos, Cyclades, Greece

    August 1 – 20, 2017

    Artist(s): Allyson Glenn, Colleen Heslin, Ron Moppett

    Role: Curator, catalogue essay writer, and exhibition organizer

    A celebration of the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation (1867–2017) and 75 years of Canada–Greece diplomatic relations.

    Full documentation →

2015

  • Bodies, Differently

    The Vorres Museum, Athens, Greece

    June 17 – August 1, 2015

    Artist(s): Blair Brennan, Antonis Choudalakis, Jean-René Leblanc

    Role: Curator and catalogue essay writer

  • Itinerant Images

    S. G. Art Gallery, Athens, Greece

    March 31 – April 18, 2015

    Artist(s): Yiannis Galanakis

    Role: Curator and catalogue essay writer

2013

  • The Lure of the Local — Women Artists in the Canadian (Land)scape

    The Vorres Museum, Athens, Greece

    November 5, 2013 – January 11, 2014

    Artist(s): Julie Cosgrove, Raina Enss, Sara Girletz, Jamie Gray, Kim Huynh, Andrea Kastner, Annie King, Eveline Kolijn, Galia Kwetny

    Role: Organizer, curator, and essay writer

    A celebration of the Canadian Embassy’s 70 years in Greece.

  • Small Disasters: Andrea Kastner

    Harcourt House Artist Run Centre, Edmonton, Canada

    August 1 – September 6, 2013

    Artist(s): Andrea Kastner

    Role: Catalogue essay writer

2012

  • Bless Your Heart

    Muii Gallery, New York, United States

    October 19 – November 6, 2012

    Artist(s): Kim Huynh, Hye-Seung Jung

    Role: Catalogue essay writer

  • The New Alberta Contemporaries (Inaugural Exhibit)

    The Esker Foundation, Calgary, Canada

    June 14 – August 29, 2012

    Artist(s): 47 artists

    Role: Curator and catalogue essay writer

2010

  • Fragments from Crete

    Scott Gallery, Edmonton, Canada (Sept 25 – Oct 12, 2010) and Virginia Christopher Gallery, Calgary, Canada (Oct 28 – Nov 27, 2010)

    September 25 – November 27, 2010

    Artist(s): Douglas Haynes

    Role: Catalogue essay writer

2008

  • Colour Sense and Sensibilia: New Edmonton Art

    The Triangle Gallery for Visual Arts, Calgary, Canada

    July 3 – August 22, 2008

    Artist(s): Allen Ball, Carolyn Campbell, Ken Macklin

    Role: Curator and catalogue essay writer

2007

  • The New Alchemists: Catherine Burgess and Blair Brennan

    Harcourt House Arts Centre, Edmonton, Canada

    November 22 – December 22, 2007

    Artist(s): Catherine Burgess, Blair Brennan

    Role: Curator and catalogue essay writer

2004

  • Migrations in the Third Dimension: Tradition and Innovation in Canada and the Cyclades

    The Art Exchange, Calgary (Oct 9 – 31, 2004); The Tinos Cultural Foundation, Tinos; The Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts, Calgary (Nov 12, 2004 – Jan 25, 2005)

    October 2004 – January 2005

    Artist(s): Ray Arnatt, Isla Burns, Honsun Chu, Petros Dellatolas, Annette Fougnies, Katie Ohe, Reinhard Skoracki

    Role: Organizer, curator, and catalogue essay writer

    Official Athens 2004 Olympic Participation.

  • About Looking: Recent Sculptures by Ken Macklin

    The Edmonton Art Gallery (now Art Gallery of Alberta), Edmonton, Canada

    March 5 – June 6, 2004

    Artist(s): Ken Macklin

    Role: Catalogue essay writer

2003

  • Three Alberta Sculptors: Ken Macklin, Isla Burns, and Clay Ellis

    The Edmonton Art Gallery (now Art Gallery of Alberta), Edmonton, Canada

    May 2003

    Artist(s): Ken Macklin, Isla Burns, Clay Ellis

    Role: Catalogue essay writer

  • Ray Arnatt: Perfecting the View, a Retrospective

    The Triangle Gallery for Visual Arts, Calgary, Canada

    March 13 – May 3, 2003

    Artist(s): Ray Arnatt

    Role: Curator and catalogue essay writer

2002

  • House Guests — Contemporary Canadian Artists at the Exhibition House: Re-collections

    The Exhibition House, Tinos, Greece

    September 7 – 27, 2002

    Artist(s): Phil Darrah

    Role: Organizer, curator, and catalogue essay writer

1998

  • some where else

    Neutral Ground, Regina, Canada

    February 14 – March 14, 1998

    Artist(s): Elizabethe Lemoine

    Role: Catalogue essay writer

Selected Publications on Art

Books and Anthologies

  • “Manifesta 2006: When Art met Politics,” chapter in Sustainability, a New Frontier for the Arts and Cultures, ed. Sacha Kagan and Volker Kirchberg. Leuphana, VAS, Germany, 2008: 324–350.
  • “Habitus Revisited: Notes and Queries from the Field,” in Bourdieu: Fieldwork in Culture, ed. Nicholas Brown and Imre Szeman. Rowman and Littlefield, 2000: 145–164.
  • “Modern Greek Visual Art and Artists,” in Greece in Modern Times: An Annotated Bibliography of Works Published in English in 22 Academic Disciplines During the Twentieth Century, ed. Dr. Stratos Constantinidis. Scarecrow Press, 2000: 37–60.
  • “Considering the Prospect(s) of On-line Fields of (Techno) Cultural Production,” in Pierre Bourdieu: Language, Culture and Education — Theory into Practice, ed. Michael Grenfell and Michael Kelly. Berne: Peter Lang A.G., 1999: 121–133.
  • “Habitus: From the Inside Out and the Outside In,” in The Body and Psychology, ed. Henderikus J. Stam. London: Sage Publications, Chapter 8, 1998: 141–159.
  • “The View from Nowhere: Digitalization, Body Art, and the Symbolic Economies of Cyberspace,” Proceedings: The Sixth Biennial Symposium on Arts and Technology, Centre for Arts and Technology, Connecticut College, 1997: 140–155.
  • “Who Counts and Who Is Counting — the Artworld, the Market and Women’s Art,” in Women and Art: Empowering Narratives, ed. Regine Boucar. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Office on Women’s Issues, 1996: 2–12.

Refereed Journals

  • Review of Kiss & Tell’s November 8, 1997 Vancouver performance “That Long Distance Feeling,” Canadian Theatre Review, Vol. 25, Summer 1998: 93–95.
  • “Graph(t)ing the Visual: Modern Greek Studies in the Diaspora,” Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Vol. 15, 1997: 268–273.
  • “Habitus: From the Inside Out and the Outside In,” Theory and Psychology Journal, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1996: 649–667.
  • “Making the Grade: Multiculturalism and the Arts in Canada,” Blurring Genres Series, Vol. 1, No. 5, 1994: 3–21.
  • “Reviewing Modernist Painting and Criticism in the Canadian Prairies: A Case Study from Edmonton,” International Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol. VIII, Winter 1993: 139–169.
  • “Centering on Changing Communities: Multiculturalism as Meaning and Message,” Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal, Vol. 24, No. 3, 1992: 87–98.
  • “Making Art in the ‘Global Village,’” in Global Restructuring: Canada in the 1990’s, Canadian Issues, Vol. 24, 1992: 109–128.
  • “Of Earth and Steel: Taming the Prairie in Canada,” in Practicing the Arts in Canada, Canadian Issues, Vol. 11, 1989: 113–126.

Arts Journals and Magazines

  • “Three Things I Know About Magic,” review of Blair Brennan’s survey exhibition at dc3 Art Projects, Edmonton. Prairie Seen Arts Magazine, December 6, 2014. http://www.prairieseen.com/prairieseen-notes/
  • “Dissident Acts — Spirit and Matter,” Artichoke — Writings About the Visual Arts, Vol. 16, No. 3, Spring 2004: 38–41.
  • “Edmonton 2000: The Public and Private Face of Steel Sculpture,” Artichoke — Writings About the Visual Arts, Vol. 12, Summer 2000: 38–40.
  • “Priceless Paintings: All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go,” Artichoke — Writings About the Visual Arts, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1999: 23–25.
  • “Ceci n’est pas un’ archive,” FUSE, Vol. 21, No. 2, 1998: 38–40.
  • “A ‘Different’ Angelus Novus,” Artopos Electronic Journal. http://www.artopos.org
  • “TRANSlocal: A Metaphor for Space,” Artopos Electronic Journal. http://www.artopos.org
  • “imagining communities (bojagi),” Jin-me Yoon. C magazine, Vol. 51, October 1996: 50.
  • “Feminist Art: Issues and Agendas,” Part II. Artichoke — Writings About the Visual Arts, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1994: 16–31.
  • “Feminist Art: Issues and Agendas,” Part I. Artichoke — Writings About the Visual Arts, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1994: 40–43.
  • “Testimonial for Brennan,” SNAP Newsletter, December 1993: 2–9.

Awards & Special Appointments

  • The Canada Council — Travel Grant (individual)

    For “passages / περάσματα,” Allyson Glenn solo exhibitions at the Cultural Foundation of Tinos and the Vorres Museum. Summer 2019.

  • University of Saskatchewan — International Relations Writing Grant

    For Allyson Glenn’s exhibition “passages / περάσματα.” Summer 2019.

  • Alberta Foundation for the Arts — Travel Grant (individual)

    “Uses for King Kong: An Imaginary Book,” Side-way Stoa, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. December 10, 2018 – February 23, 2019.

  • Alberta Foundation for the Arts — Cultural Relations Grant (individual)

    “Open Horizons,” Cultural Foundation of Tinos. August 1–20, 2017 (Canada’s 150th celebration).

  • Alberta Foundation for the Arts — Cultural Relations Grant

    “The Lure of the Local: Women Artists in the Canadian Landscape,” Vorres Museum. November 6, 2013 – January 11, 2014.

  • Foreign Affairs Canada — Cultural Relations Fund Grant Programme

    “Migrations in the Third Dimension: Tradition and Innovation in Canada and the Cyclades,” 2004 Olympics celebration, Tinos, Greece.

  • Alberta Foundation for the Arts — Visual Arts Project Assistance Grant

    “Migrations in the Third Dimension: Tradition and Innovation in Canada and the Cyclades,” Tinos, Greece, 2004.

  • Calgary Institute for the Humanities — Visiting Research Fellow

    Spring–Summer 1997.

  • Banff Centre for the Arts — Fall Thematic Residency

    1996.

  • Calgary Institute for the Humanities — Post-Doctoral Fellow

    1992–1993.

  • Association for Canadian Studies — Regional Development Programme Award

    1991–1992.

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada — Doctoral Fellow

    1983–1985.

Teaching

“…ancient Greek offers us uniquely ‘concise, explosive, ironic, open-ended modes of expression.’”

— Andrea Marcolongo, classics scholar

“It is to the Greeks that we turn when we are sick of the vagueness, of the confusion of our own age.”

— Virginia Woolf
  • Annual course on Crete — “By the Way of the Labyrinth: Minoans as Architects, Engineers and Merchants”

    Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada

    Since 2007.

  • Psychology 503 — “Healing Bodies and Minds: A Journey to Ancient Greece and Back”

    University of Calgary, taught in Greece

    In collaboration with Dr. Henderickus Stam.

  • Introductory Seminar on Arts Management (MBA Programme)

    Athens Economic and Business University, Greece