In this round table, artist k.g. Guttman brings together artists and researchers around notions of play, authenticity and trust. How do these ideas operate in the teacher / student relationship in fine arts? How does the ability to forge powerful connections with students enable learning in the creative process? How does teaching inside the university reflect on intimacy in learning? With Nika Khanjani Rosadiuk, Skye Maule-O’Brien and François Morelli, k.g. Guttman will attempt to answer these questions which form the basis of her new publication, It’s like hammering into nothing when I speak it. To be launched following the discussion, the publication is an accumulative interview between art historian, professor and writer Nancy Ring (1962-2010) and Guttman. The questions asked during their dialogues were on the topics of art, teachings, politics, love and memory, among other things.

k.g. Guttman is an artist, educator, and research candidate in the PhDArts program of Leiden University and the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, the Netherlands. Her work, funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), considers post-colonial discourse, choreographic practice, and site-specific interventions. From 2008-2013, k.g. held the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Contemporary Dance, Concordia University, Montreal. Her work has been screened, performed and exhibited nationally and internationally through institutions such as Mediamatic, Amsterdam,; Palais de Tokyo and Galerie Khiasma, Paris; Ottawa Art Gallery; and, Galerie La Centrale and VIVA! Art action, Montreal. Her choreographic works have been commissioned through the Canada Dance Festival, Dancemakers, Le Groupe Dance Lab of Ottawa, and the University of Sonora in Mexico. Her performance publication Elapse I & II was launched in Toronto at Art Metropole and in Montreal at Galerie La Centrale, and resides in the collection of the Library and Archives of the National Gallery of Canada.