Events & Gatherings
Gathering the Great Plains
Presented in collaboration with the MacKenzie Art Gallery, with support from the Indigenous Curatorial Collective/Collectif des commissaires autochtones (ICCA).
Coinciding with Kisik | Skywatching the Future, ICCA 2025 National Gathering.
About the Gathering
Remai Modern and the MacKenzie Art Gallery come together to present a four-day gathering that reflects on contemporary art rooted in the rich and layered narratives of the Great Plains. Coinciding with thematically-related exhibitions, discussions, and opportunities for community engagement, the gathering aims to foster knowledge exchange, collaboration, and increased solidarities — particularly between Indigenous and Black communities throughout the region.
Informed by themes of movement, borders, and migration, the program foregrounds overlooked stories and histories of displacement and resilience. Highlighting artistic practices that make visible the lived experiences of marginalized communities—such as Black and Indigenous migrations in Oklahoma and across the northern Plains—the gathering aims to strengthen cross-border networks and nurture dialogue across geographies.
Through exhibitions, conversations, performances, and more, Gathering the Great Plains offers a forum to consider how artists and cultural organizations articulate histories, sustain cultural traditions, and shape contemporary understandings of place. In doing so, the Plains emerge as a shared terrain of relation and responsibility, alive with the stories it carries and the futures it makes possible.
Gathering Dates: November 12–15, 2025
Locations
- Remai Modern, Saskatoon (Nov 12 & 13)
- MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina (Nov 14 & 15)
Event/Exhibition meta autogenerated block.
When
November 13 at 9:00AM–5:00PM
Where
Remai Modern
November 13 at 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Saskatoon Program Schedule
Wednesday, November 12 – ICCA National Gathering Kick-Off Event (Open to the public)
5–7 PM — PAVED Arts, 424 20th St W, Saskatoon (Second Floor)
Thursday, November 13 – Gathering the Great Plains
9 AM-4:30 PM – Remai Modern, 103 Spadina Crescent East, Saskatoon
Register to attend in person or attend the Saskatoon program remotely via Zoom by registering here.
Complicated Entanglements: Black and Indigenous Historical Intersections in the Plains
Featuring: Dr. Alaina E. Robert and Dr. Ryan W. Booth (moderated by Sally Frater)
Building Solidarities Through Creative Practice
Featuring Dr. Pablo Barrera, Michelle Jacques, Crystal Mowry, Erica Violet Lee (moderated by Dr. heather ahtone)
On Land: Artistic Relations to Space and Place
Featuring Diedrick Brackens, Crystal Z Campbell, Yatika Starr Fields (moderated by David Garneau)
Solidarity Building workshop for Indigenous and Black participants (moderated by Dr. Joy James)
Concurrent exhibitions on view
Great Plains Series: Points of Return – Spaces of Departure — Now on view
Althea Thauberger: Der Kleiekotzer (The Bran Puker) — Opening November 13
Joi T. Arcand: ᐯᐦᐯᔭᐠ ᐆᒥᓯ ᐃᓯ ᐁᐊᑎᐦᑌᑭ ᑕᑿᐦᐃᒥᓈᓇ — Opening November 13
Remai Modern welcomes all Gathering attendees to celebrate the opening of two new artist commissions presented as part of the multi-year project Carried by rivers, held by lands. The opening celebration takes place at Remai Modern on November 13 at 6 PM and features a performance by HYPERFEMME GALACTICA, an experimental sound and video performance by Mahlet Cuff. Through DJing, Cuff explores how the dancefloor can become an incubator for dreaming.
Learn more about the program of events taking place at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina on November 14-15
Gathering the Great Plains is supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Frank & Ellen Remai Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture through the Sask Lotteries Fund, SK Arts and the City of Saskatoon.