Integrating maps and instruments in art: creating the Habitable Climes exhibition

Kristina Chan, an artist who works with printing methods and photography, will share the process behind the creation of her exhibition at Canada House, 'Habitable Climes’ (12 March-30 April). The exhibition is part of the Sunderland Collection Art Programme and is based on Chan’s encounters with their early modern maps and atlases, and support of her travels in Nevada and the Arctic.

The exhibition features stylised images of instruments in the RGS collections, part of a commentary on the fallibility of ‘accuracy’ in exploration. Chan photographed the instruments through clouded Perspex screens, allowing her to blur the edges of instruments usually prized for their precision measurements.

Following the talk, attendees can view the instruments on display in the Foyle Reading Room.

About the speaker

Kristina Chan is a London based artist working between printmaking, photography and public installation.

Inspired by post-impressionism, Japanese prints, and contemporary photography, her work explores the boundaries between individual and collective memory, and how these colliding narratives can affect our interpretation of space.

Recent solo exhibitions include the Hancock Gallery (2023), the Litvak Contemporary (2022), and the Lightbox Museum (2021).

Her work is in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (2016, 2017), the Ingram Collection of British and Modern Art (2020) and the Royal College of Art (2018, 2016).

She has also completed commissioned pieces for the British Museum (2019) and HRH the Prince of Wales for his 70th birthday (2018).

Booking information

• Advance booking for this event is required. In order to book you will need an account on our website. If you already have an account you will be prompted to log in when you click 'book now'. Please create an account if you do not have one yet (you do not need to be a member of the Society to create an account).

Attending in-person

• We do not issue tickets (electronic or physical) for this event. Instead your name will be on a list at the door. Please use the Society's entrance on Exhibition Road.

Attending online

• If you are attending the event online, the joining instructions will be included in your confirmation email.

If you have any questions or require assistance with your booking, please email events@rgs.org