SHORT BIO

Vladimir Kanic is a transdisciplinary artist whose living algae installations transform spectator’s breath into oxygen, creating participatory ecosystems that embody the possibilities of interspecies collaboration. Informed by his maritime heritage and free diving experience, Kanic’s practice uses breath as both material and method for creating art, accessing cultural, ancestral and geological memories embedded within algae – Earth’s principal carbon sinks, responsible for producing approximately 60% of planetary oxygen.

Kanic’s work envisions a symbiotic future where living artworks serve as both ecological interventions and world-building frameworks for socioecological resilience and repair. Collaborating with algae as both artistic medium and carbon capture mechanism, his practice is grounded in ecofeminist methodologies and posthumanist inquiry, drawing on thinkers like Donna Haraway to cultivate responsibility that “feels both for the human and the non-human.”

Recipient of the Governor General’s Academic Medal, Kanic holds an MFA from York University. Alongside his visual arts practice, he is also an award-winning filmmaker and an alum of the Locarno Film Academy and Berlinale Talents. His films and artworks have been exhibited and recognized internationally.

2022                         

Nuit Blanche Toronto. Living Algae Sculpture, curated by Julie Nagam and commissioned by the City of Toronto. https://tinyurl.com/349urmew

2021

Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto. Fresh Voices (group exhibition), curated by Blake Zigrossi. https://tinyurl.com/2p8y9fwu

2020

​​EyeCANdy (touring group exhibition), Only Lovers Leave to Die, filmmaker, curated by Chris Robinson and Ottawa International Animation Film Festival. A collection of innovative and provocative shorts by independent Canadian animators. Worldwide distribution. https://thecinematheque.ca/films/2020/eyecandy

2020-2024 More Than Thirty Exhibitions