Jayda Karsten

Jayda Karsten is an independent interdisciplinary artist, curator and architectural technologist who is drawn to the gaps and overlaps between Fine Art and Architecture in the built environment that are in a state of flux. Her artwork has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Contemporary
Calgary, and resides in the permanent collection of Los Angeles Contemporary Archives (LACA). She has independently and collaboratively curated exhibits for various institutions such as Calgary Board of Education,
University of Calgary’s Kasian Gallery and various Artist-Run Centre’s. Her collaborations also include co-founding and serving on the executive
committees of Design Talks Institute (d.talks) and Building Equality in Architecture Calgary (BEAC).

“Sign Poetry” is a series of sculptures and prints that invite the viewer to reconnect with the natural world around them. Rather than semiotic signs that instruct the viewer what to do or not to do, I hope that my Sign Poetry will trigger nostalgic memories and transport the viewer to another time and place. Like relational aesthetics, where the social space or situation is the art, I believe that the natural and built environments are the shared social spaces where we all have similar experiences therefore, these signs are a key to unlocking the memory of those shared experiences.