Image: Contemporary Calgary, Calgary
Contemporary Calgary is presenting Adelita Husni Bey’s 'Agency' from June 4 to November 8, 2026, in the Dome Theatre. The work is a documentation of a workshop-based project first carried out in 2014 at Manara High School in Rome, where 35 students took part in a role-playing exercise modeled on a 1970s UK critical civic studies curriculum method. The presentation forms part of Contemporary Calgary’s 2026 exhibition program, which also includes Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Haig Aivazian, Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens, and Erdem Taşdelen.
According to the gallery, 'Agency' follows Italian-Libyan artist Adelita Husni Bey as she led students into five constituencies: politicians, activists, bankers, journalists, and workers. The workshop asked participants to respond to issues in contemporary Italian politics, including unemployment, snap elections, and natural disasters. Before the exercise, the students met with economists, trade union leaders, journalists, editors, and activists. Contemporary Calgary describes those meetings as part of a slow initiation into the responsibilities, challenges, and limits attached to the roles they would later play.
The workshop itself is framed not as a lesson in governance but as a rehearsal of it. In the project, the students move through a staged civic process: reading newspaper headlines, developing strategies in response to unfolding events, preparing a newsreel, and awarding one another “power points” to determine the relative influence of each constituency in the next round. The gallery says the shifting balance of power is produced through collective belief and repeated negotiation, with information circulating unevenly and political agency continually questioned.
Presented more than a decade after its making, 'Agency' is being shown as a high-definition video documentation running 40 minutes. Contemporary Calgary says the work reflects on the nature of power, how it manifests and operates, and how it may or may not be effectively used. The text also notes the relevance of the piece today, though without claiming that it was newly revised for this presentation. The exhibition carries a 2014 date, matching the original workshop year.
Husni Bey’s broader practice is rooted in anarcho-collectivism, theater, and legal anthropology, and often involves workshops and non-competitive pedagogical models. Contemporary Calgary identifies her as an artist and pedagogue who creates temporary sites for collective study and rehearsal. Her previous exhibitions include the 57th Venice Biennale, MoMA’s 'New Photography', the 11th Gwangju Biennale, and 'Really Useful Knowledge' at Museo Reina Sofía.
'Agency' is curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi. The work is one of several exhibitions opening or on view at Contemporary Calgary across 2026, alongside Ghazaleh Avarzamani’s 'Churn, Earn, Burn and then Return' and 'Of Manual', Haig Aivazian’s 'You May Own the Lanterns, but We Have the Light', Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens’ 'Stacking Crates to Reach a Banana', and Erdem Taşdelen’s 'Wounded in Three Acts'. Contemporary Calgary lists its address as 701 11 Street Southwest, Calgary, and its regular hours as Wednesday to Saturday, 12 to 7 PM, and Sunday, 12 to 5 PM.
