SHORT BIO
Vladimir Kanic (he/him) is the creator of living algae sculptures that use spectators’ breath as food and convert it into oxygen while mitigating the effects of global climate crisis. His world-building practice imagines the living sculptures as beacons of decarbonized future, where social and climate justice are collaborative public acts as essential as breathing. Solving climate change includes addressing systemic environmental racism, as race and ethnicity continue to be a source of exploitation and abuse at the core of climate injustice.
Kanic’s art practice is informed by his maritime heritage and free diving experience. He uses diving and breathing to access his cultural, ancestral, and personal worlds while exploring memories of the Earth’s geological time deposited within the bodies of living algae. As Earth’s principal carbon sinks, algae produce approximatively 60% of planetary oxygen while consuming gasses produced by burning of Earth’s geological layers, coal, oil and gas.
The artist’s collaboration with living algae, as both an artistic medium and a carbon capture mechanism, embodies a commitment to “cultivating responsibility that feels for both the human and the non-human” (Haraway 2016). It is a call for a symbiotic future, one that reconsiders our place within the Anthropocene and the potential of interspecies collaboration to enhance our artistic practices and deepen our understanding of humanity.
Kanic graduated OCAD University as the Governor General’s Academic Medal and Sir Edmund Walker Award recipient along with more than ten sustainability and fine arts awards in 2023/24. His living sculptures have been exhibited throughout Canada and featured on TEDx talk platform. He is currently completing his MFA in Visual Arts at York University.
FEATURED EXHIBITIONS
2024/25
The Power Plant Toronto. Garden of Breath (solo exhibition), curated by Frances Loeffler and Adelina Vlas. https://tinyurl.com/ht5hpscv
Illuminarium Toronto. Entangled Dimensions: Art in the Age of Neural Media (group exhibition), curated by Ryan Kelln and commissioned by the City of Toronto. https://tinyurl.com/rrssa6sv
Nuit Blanche Toronto. Living Algae Cyborg (solo exhibition), curated by Laura Nanni and commissioned by the City of Toronto. https://tinyurl.com/42hcjex7
Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto. Garden of Hope (upcoming solo exhibition, March ’25), curated by Quincy Shaw, Ineke Zigrossi.
2023
Aga Khan Museum, Toronto. Light up the Dark (group exhibition), curated by Sasha Priewe, commissioned by the museum. https://tinyurl.com/375dtyc8
Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto. Garden of Waves (solo exhibition), curated by Quincy Shaw. https://tinyurl.com/mr3put2n
InterAccess Gallery, Toronto. Garden of Waves (solo exhibition), curated by Evangeline Brooks. https://tinyurl.com/57d6yywj
Industrial Arts, Markham. Breath of Origin (dual exhibition), artist, curated by Yuluo Anita Wei and Andrea Carson Barker. https://tinyurl.com/5fe78emt
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 Thirty Exhibitions in Total
© 2025 VLADIMIR KANIC
THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO INVENT IT