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Hello,
I am an independent curator, researcher, and arts administrator working exclusively in collaboration with others - including as part of Younger Than Beyoncé (with Geneviève Wallen, Marjan Verstappen, and Michael “Humboldt” Magnussen) and Gendai (with Petrina Ng). Informed by my position as an immigrant and settler, my projects explore experimentation in learning, working, and playing together to nourish diverse ways of thinking, specifically in relation to issues of equity and meaningful inclusion. This is reflected in recent and ongoing collaborative projects that test models of collective knowledge and resource-sharing, such as between art collectives exploring operational methodologies to address burn out (Gendai MA MBA: Mastering the Art of Misguided Business Administration); racialized curators and cultural workers navigating predominantly white institutional spaces (Souped Up, with Geneviève Wallen); art organizations seeking to improve racial equity sector-wide (Gendai CO-OP); and emerging arts practitioners interested in co-learning virtually (Cyber Fellows, with YTB). I have written for Xpace Cultural Centre and the anthology The Politics of Spatial Transgressions in the Arts, edited by Gregory Blair & Noa Bronstein.
My research explores practices of collective care and radical friendship as grounds for institutional structure, work culture, and labour practices. I hold an MA in Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories from OCAD University and a BA in Art History from the University of Toronto. My past institutional experiences include working as the Exhibitions Coordinator at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto and as the Assistant Curator at Sheridan College, as well as serving on the board of SAVAC.
I am living, working, learning, and raising a family here on the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, as well as the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.
Can I ask you questions about the futures of failure, winning culture, sustainable collaboration, alternative hierarchical governance models, meaningful inclusion and diversity work, radical friendship, and ways of being with one another? Do you want to think out loud over (virtual) dinners, reading groups, co-working days, studio visits, walks, hang outs....?
Let’s be friends.
marsya[dot]maharani[at]gmail[dot]com
P.S. Here’s what else I’ve been up to
︎Program: GENDAI GUIDANCE COUNCIL AT LONG WINTER
︎Exhibition: YTB IN GUDSKUL: KNOWLEDGE GARDEN FESTIVAL, AGYU
︎Talk: YTB IN WALKIE TALKIE, HOSTED BY RUANGRUPA
︎Talk: WHY DIY WHEN YOU CAN DO IT TOGETHER
︎Talk: GENDAI AT OPEN SOURCE GALLERY, BROOKLYN
︎Interview: YTB IN “IMAGINATION TOOL FOR INSTITUTIONAL OPERATIONS” BY VINCE ROZARIO, C MAGAZINE
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Above: detail image of an installation of rejection letters received by the curators and artists involved in the exhibition An Index. Photo by Yuula Benivolski.
Homepage images: design work by Marina Fathalla for the project From A to B isn’t always linear and by Strike Design Studio for the projects An Index and MOCA Goes Dark: Night Visions.