Profile
Oliver Kellhammer is an artist, activist, writer, and researcher who seeks to demonstrate nature’s surprising ability to recover from damage. Recent work has included developing new biomaterials protocols, researching the psychosocial effects of climate change, planting prehistorically native trees on landscapes impacted by industrial logging, and cataloging the biodiversity of brownfields. He is currently a part-time assistant professor in Sustainable Systems at Parsons in NYC.
contact: kellhamo[at]newschool.edu | twitter =>okellhammer | archive: www.oliverk.org
Degrees Held
University of British Columbia, (MFA Creative Writing) 2009
Bainbridge Island Graduate Institute, (Certificate in Sustainable Business) 2003
Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada 1994-1995
Ontario College of Art, (A.O.C.A. Photo/Electric) 1985
Professional Affiliation
Tishman Environment and Design Center, Permaculture Institute of North America, ACT-UAW 7902 Union Steward
Recent Publications
Publications:
Upcoming:
'RUDERAL WITCHCRAFT' with Margaretha Houghwout, Goldsmiths, London, 2025
'Ruderal Witchcraft' (with Margaretha Houghwout), article, in WITCH STUDIES READER, Duke University Press , 2024
Past:
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'Urban Autonomous Zones and the Mitigation of Climate Disasters', scholarly article in CITY PREPAREDNESS FOR THE CLIMATE CRISIS: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, 2022
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'The New American Citizen', NATIONAL OBSERVER, July 22nd, 2020
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’Ruderal-Systems', contributor, THE DISTANCE PLAN #5, April, 2019
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’The Subjective Lives of Others', contributor, INTERALIA Magazine, September 2017
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’Dictionary of the Possible', contributor, SHIFTER Magazine, 22nd Issue, August 2016
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'Nodes and Networks’ contributor in SciArt Magazine, August 2016
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’Violent Reactions’, in PETROLEUM MANGA (edited and illustrated by Marina Zurkow), Punctum Publications, NYC, May 2014
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’Neo-Eocene’, in MAKING THE GEOLOGIC NOW (edited by Elizabeth Ellsworth + Jamie Kruse), Punctum Publications, NYC, Dec. 2012
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’Cottonwood Gardens-Oasis in Peril’, in VANCOUVER OBSERVER, Vancouver, Sept 20th 2012
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’Discovering Portland’s Organic Architecture’, in VANCOUVER OBSERVER, Vancouver, Dec 1st 2011
Performances and Appearances
2022: 'Plastivore' at 'Meta.Morf' exhibition, Trondheim International Bienalle for Art and Technology, Trondheim Science Museum, Trondheim, Norway
2019: 'Plastivore' at 'Disposable' exhibition, Science Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2018: 'Plastivore' at 'Life at the Edges' exhibition, Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2018: 'Dear Climate' at 'Indicators' exhibition, Storm King, NY
2017: Neo-Eocene: Gingko spiral at Agrikultura, Malmö, Sweden
2016: Dear Climate, collaborative installation with Una Chauduri, Marina Zurkow, Fritz Ertl at NYPL, mid-Manhattan branch, NY, New York
2015: 'Seeing the Forest Through the Trees' group show @ Abandon Normal Devices, Grizedale Forest Visitors Centre, Hawkshead, Cumbria, UK
2014: Dear Climate, collaborative installation with Una Chauduri, Marina Zurkow, Fritz Ertl at 'Strange Weather' exhibition, Dublin Science Gallery, Dublin Ireland, also at 41 Main Street Windows, Brooklyn, NY | 'Ecological Interventions,' two person show at Sanctuary for Independent Media, Troy, New York
2010: 'other gardens' @ Mobile Media Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
2009: Neo-Eocene, collaboration with scientist Rupert Sheldrake, Cortes Island, BC (ongoing)
2007: Video Screening: „OOH, YAH, YAH, YAH, YAH“ as part of 3by3 event, EFA Gallery, EFA Studio Center, New York, Nov 15th.
2006: Concrete Island, World Urban Forum, Vancouver, Canada
2003: Means of Production, Art and Environment Initiative, Vancouver Parks Board, Vancouver, Canada. (ongoing)
1997: Healing the Cut-Bridging the Gap, Grandview Cut Bridges Public Art Project, Vancouver, Canada. (plantings completed)
1994: End of the Nation State, Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff | Seeds of Resistance, Cheap Art Collective, Hamburg | Healing the Cut-Bridging the Gap, Grandview Cut Bridges Public Art Project, Vancouver (initial work)
1993: Artropolis 93, Vancouver | Roadside Attractions, Or Gallery, Vancouver | Baader-Meinhof-Information-Plant, Gallery Sansair, Vancouver
1992: The State of Things, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto | (founded) Cottonwood Community Gardens, Vancouver
1990: Artropolis 90, Vancouver | Breaking Boundaries, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, BC | The Shaping of Nature, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, ON
1989: Specific Pacific, YYZ Artists Outlet, Toronto | Niagara-Model of the Universe, Niagara Artists’ Centre, St. Catherines, ON
1988: Forest-Model of the Universe, Mercer Union,Toronto | Lead Down the Garden Path, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto
1987: Ear to the World, A Space, Toronto
1986: Park, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto | The New Mechanics, Saw Gallery, Ottawa
1985: Films by Men, A-SPACE, Toronto | The Theory of Evolution, Eye Revue, Toronto | Swamp-Model of the Universe, Orbit Art Room, Toronto | Eyedentities, Orbit Art Room, Toronto
1984: Erect Systems, Frontier Video, (PBS), Buffalo | Swamp Life, Orbit Art Room, Toronto | Works with Paper, Gallery 620, Toronto
1983: Photo/Electric Art Show, La Chartreuse, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, France. | Dataviews, ArtCulture Resource Centre, Toronto | Posthuman Culture, Eye Revue, Toronto
Research Interests
I am interested in exploring the processes of ecological regeneration in the wake of human disturbance, either through passive field observation (what can I not do?) or by actively engaging in biological and socio-political processes through activism, writing, developing new biomaterials techniques, and permaculture design. Through these modalities, I work to improve the relationshipa between humans and nonhumans toward the well-being of all. Some of my past projects include: founding a community managed bio-materials plantation, reforesting an eroded railway ravine to protect the ecosystem as public art, and collaborating with squatters in Canada’s poorest neighbourhood to establish the nation's first public permaculture food forest and public ethnobotanical arboretum. My most recent investigations have focused on partnering with fungi, microbes and slime mold to address some of the pressing material concerns of the global environmental crisis, with the hope this might foster a sense of intersubjectivity between designers and the world around us. I am currently writing a collaborative book entitled 'Ruderal Witchcraft' to be published by Goldsmiths in London, that concerns itself with some of the surprising 'supernatural' aspects of postindustrial landscapes.
Awards And Honors
Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Vancouver Parks Board Art and the Environment Initiative, Vancouver Foundation, Vancouver Public Art Program, TEDC faculty grant