During her seven-day residency at the Rubinoff Sculpture Park, Katriina Campitelli spent approximately 40 hours in the park, moving between wandering, sketching, photographing, and reading the accompanying book of essays in the landscape itself. Her days often unfolded without a fixed schedule: lying in the grass with the book, pausing in the shade of a sculpture, or sitting with the surrounding mountain views long enough for attention to slow and reorient. In this way, the residency became a direct extension of Anti Digital Environments: Reclaiming Attention in a Sculptural Landscape: a study of how art is encountered when time, weather, scale, and silence are allowed to shape perception.
Campitelli was especially drawn to the park’s larger sculptures, where she recognized the strongest affinities with her own installation practice. She was struck by the deeply site-responsive nature of Rubinoff’s work, not only in the sculptures themselves, but in the relationship between design, siting, surrounding landscape, and frame. Coming from a busy urban arts community into 200 acres of sculpture space, she reflected on how dramatically setting and atmosphere can transform the experience of viewing art. The residency has already prompted new thinking about how landscaping, pacing, and spatial framing might enter her future installations.
Beyond the artwork, the residency offered Campitelli a rare opening to reflect on her own practice, community commitments, and the importance of slowing her pace to make room for inspiration and new learning. She left Hornby Island feeling inspired, reinvigorated, and restored, with the sense that leaving the JRSP was like saying goodbye to an old friend she hopes to return to in the future.
Contributor Biography
Katriina Campitelli (she/her) is a curator and researcher based in Toronto, Canada. Her curatorial practice is focused on large-scale public art and installation art. With nearly two decades of experience, her projects span festivals, municipal commissions, institutional programming, and grassroots initiatives - always guided by a commitment to building inclusive public spaces. As digital life increasingly dominates our daily experience, she is drawn to creating physical, built environments and exploring how these spaces can foster a sense of belonging and genuine community. Her curatorial interests include an embodied experience, public space, anti-digital thinking, and playful social engagement. She believes that public art is a tool for placemaking, storytelling, and connection.
