Under the groundwork program, Mercer Union invites artist Luis Jacob to develop The Order of Canada (I’ll Be Your Mirror), an artistic project comprising new works in dialogue with a site-specific intervention, as well as a weekly reading group and a series of talks with invited speakers. The Order of Canada (I’ll Be Your Mirror) offers an exercise in close looking and considers how we might get past the noise to detect the signals in need of our attention.
How can we see erasure?
A set of seismograms—traces of shocks—were generated at the Pickering station of the Southern Ontario Seismic Network. These measurements took the pulse at two precise moments: at 12:15pm, on 16 November 2023 (when the “departure” of Wanda Nanibush, the AGO’s Curator of Indigenous Art, was announced)—and at 10:16am, on 10 January 2024 (the time of announcement of the “departure” of Taqralik Partridge, the museum’s first Inuit curator).
An NDA is a non-disclosure agreement—a legal tool designed to prevent someone from disclosing information deemed sensitive by the one who wields the tool.
How can we hear silencing?
A finger points to a wall at the entrance to the AGO’s Department of Indigenous + Canadian Art galleries. The wall once contained a text—in Anishnaabemowin, English, and French—that outlined a mandate indexed upon nation-to-nation relationships, now completely washed away.
An SOS is a universal signal of distress—a transmission now emitted in Canada, that is, in the context of a nation-state premised on dispossession, barriers to contact, severed signals, colonial amnesia and shattering of codes.
I think red thoughts. Red is the colour that reveals itself when we close our eyes. Red is the colour of animal life, coursing deep within us all. Red is beautiful. Red is the colour that whitewashing innocently desires to erase.
Red is what remains.
Public Programming
Fireflies
12 July–23 August 2025
Saturdays, 11am–1pm
Advanced reading is required, please see syllabus below.
The “Fireflies” reading group focuses on Georges Didi-Huberman’s poetic book, Survival of the Fireflies (2018), read alongside additional short texts by Anne Carson, Saidiya Hartman, and AA Bronson. Gathering once a week in July and August, Luis Jacob invites participants to search together for the flickering lights of friendship during a time of fascism. No prior knowledge of contemporary art is needed, only a desire to emit your signals.
The “Fireflies” reading group is free, with registration capped at 25 participants. Participants are invited to attend all seven weekly sessions. Vegetarian refreshments will be provided.
Syllabus
12 July
Anne Carson, “Variations on the Right to Remain Silent”
19 July
Georges Didi-Huberman, “Hells”
26 July
Georges Didi-Huberman. “Survivals”
2 August
Georges Didi-Huberman, “Apocalypses”
9 August
Georges Didi-Huberman, “Peoples”
16 August
Georges Didi-Huberman, “Destruction”
Saidiya Hartman, “Wayward: A Short Entry on the Possible”
23 August
Georges Didi-Huberman, “Images”
AA Bronson, “A Word of Caution”
This page will be updated with additional programming announcements as they come out each month. Sign up for our mailing list to receive them in your inbox.
