2025

Media: Installation, survey, constantly growing list of resources, performance, workshop, and roundtable.

H ART Department is a performance and series of public programming investigating the unethical ways the art world functions at the expense of burnt-out artists and art workers.

Mimicking bureaucratic processes used by institutions to give the illusion of power, Snack Witch plays with the visual language of administrations to give authority to whisper networks, generally frowned upon by systems of and people in power. This project will highlight the tactics used by artists and arts workers to protect those who continue to work in the industry.

From Wednesday October 29 – 31st, 12 – 6 PM, the H ART Department invites artists and cultural workers located in Tiohtiá:ke—Mooniyang—Montréal to walk in or book an in-person or virtual appointment with Snack Witch, our Chief Director of Compliance & Lead Administrative Receptionist to document a negative incident or positive experience working with a Canadian arts institution/production studio. Visitors fill out an online or paper questionnaire and can speak to the CDC & LAR if they require additional assistance or resources. Participants will get to enter a raffle if they would like to receive a limited edition H ART Department mug!

In the survey, visitors can choose to publicize their report or have it used only for statistical purposes. Public reports will be used to create a web application, similar to Google Reviews on a later date, where users can view comments left by artists and cultural workers who have worked with listed institutions/production studios. Specific details about individuals involved in an incident remain anonymous to protect story-sharers and those who are working/have worked at an institution. Only the workplace itself would be named. 

Unlike typical HR Departments, H ART Department wants to look at the systemic flaws that allow for worker exploitation, harassment, abuse, and discrimination. H ART Department hopes to be a more accessible safety and accountability tool for precarious artists and art workers, made in collaboration with community members and potential future partners who believe in this cause. 

Co-Conspirators: maya rae oppenheimer, Geneviève Wallen, Amanda Lickers, Camille-Zoé Valcourt-Synnott, Gendai: Marsya Maharani and Petrina Ng.

Public Programming:

CBA: Collective Bargaining Agency / Workshop — Gendai

Join Gendai for a contracts workshop on Thursday, October 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Gendai is a collective based in Tkaronto/Toronto dedicated to building a more equitable art sector through collective research with BIPOC artists and arts workers. Together, we will look at institutional contracts from the contemporary art sector to discuss how they could be more supportive for freelance artists, curators, and/or arts workers. Bring your own contract to contribute, or come ready with your gossip!

💋 xoxo: gossiping as + on wayfinding in the arts 💋

Organized in conjunction with the performance, H ART Department, come for a brunching good time where we’ll learn about the ways these fellow artists/curators/educators/arts workers use whisper networks to navigate the spicy art world we continue to work in. 🌶️