An integral part of a thriving capitalist economy is its reliance on the continual production, circulation, and consumption of goods. Yet, such consumption depends on people who have the means to pay for these goods as well as for the goods’ planned obsolescence, which incentivizes and makes it necessary for people to purchase more. Quebec-based artist José Luis Torres explores these types of issues in an unconventional manner with his contribution Trojan Horse to this year’s The Works Art and Design Festival.

How can visual art activate possibilities for public engagement within the urban environment? Jill Stanton’s Supergarden explores these possibilities with her larger-than-life art installations that have populated Churchill Square during this year’s The Works Art and Design Festival.

The name of Jason Fielding’s exhibition, Hidden Realms, may imply the presence of unseen realities of which people are unaware, but that could be accessed by those who keep their minds open. Deriving inspiration from elements within natural and human environments, Fielding’s graphite drawings reveal visually evocative, abstract landscapes that explore the interrelated themes of human society, nature, and industry.

Upon initial viewing, what may strike people about Erika Germain’s Collected Translations is the expansive plethora of colours, lines, and objects that inhabit the coloured canvas of each work, which lack any conventional visual cues or signposts to guide people’s interpretations of them. Instead, these works encourage people to approach them without preconceptions and to arrive at their own understandings about what they mean and how the images within each work relate to each other.