15″x11″; collage print on 100lb Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper; 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Art to Resist and Survive Authoritarianism
Fleming College’s Haliburton School of Art and Design in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada
27 October-5 December 2025
On view in the Great Hall are the works from the folio “Art to Resist & Survive Authoritarianism”, which was created as a result of Kolaj Institute’s virtual residency, Collage in Politics: The Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide, which took place in January and February 2025.
Kolaj Institute’s Politics in Collage Project is a series of residencies, publications, discussions, and exhibitions examining complex socio-political issues that contemporary society is contending with, in order to spark meaningful dialogue and inspire deeper engagement. In January 2025, Kolaj Institute organized a residency that brought together collage artists to make artwork that responds to a global rise in authoritarianism. They explored the history of political collage and its early 20th century roots in the European anti-fascist movements. They learned how to read and decode authoritarianism, to understand how it operates, and strategies for resisting or countering it. Discussions and presentations centered on how an artist can make work that picks up the unfinished work of history and contributes to the civic discourse.
Artists in the residency worked together to illustrate and elucidate The Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide, a text written by Martin Mycielski, the Vice-President and Executive Director of the Brussels-based Open Dialogue Foundation. Based on the Polish experience, The Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide offers its readers information and tools for recognizing and resisting authoritarianism. In a clear series of lists, the Guide lays out what to expect in a society being led by an authoritarian regime, rules for surviving such a regime, and strategies for engaging with authoritarian supporters.
15″x11″; collage print on 100lb Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper; 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
The book published by Kolaj Institute combines the text with the artwork of seven collage artists to create a space in which we can think about the rise of authoritarianism and how to navigate the troubling, difficult times in which we find ourselves. The Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide is a testament to the role art can play in our communities.
The folio consists of twenty-six, 15”x11”, collage prints on 100lb Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper in an edition of 5, plus one A/P.
Participating artists: Heather Wright (Elgin, Minnesota, USA), Heather Wishik (Woodstock, Vermont, USA), Lori Petchers (Fairfield, Connecticut, USA), Suzanne Gore (Boise, Idaho, USA), Andrea J. Lee (Fenelon Falls, Ontario, Canada), Jennifer Myhre (Sedona, Arizona, USA), and Olivia Baldacci (New York, New York, USA).
INFORMATION
Great Hall
Haliburton College of Art and Design
297 College Drive
Haliburton, Ontario K0M 1S0 Canada
(705) 457-1680
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