OCAD University

Based in Toronto, Ontario, Kobi Barhat is designer, researcher, and educator.

He's a graduate of the Royal College of Art, UK, co-founder of the Radical Norms research lab at OCAD University, Toronto, Canada.

His work has been exhibited and published internationally, The Victoria and Albert Museum in UK, Science Gallery, Dublin, Z33 House for Contemporary Art and Design and Architecture, Belgium, Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts, Switzerland, Art Forum, Wired Magazine, Fast Company, DZINE, and others.

His latest project is his first graphic novel entitled Joyless.

At institutions such as the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa-Gatineau area, the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian in Washington, D.C., and then the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

And just before I retired, I was at OCAD University, where I directed a research center called the Wapata Center for Indigenous Visual Knowledge.

When I started, Indigenous art was still mostly filed under the, uh, rubric of anthropology and not art history.

It was supposed to be evidence of culture and not the work of an artist, but that's shifted a great deal, and even now, most of that shift has happened inside Western art historical language.

Today, through Jagdeo Adventures, he advises organizations and leadership teams on strategy, foresight, innovation, and transformation.

He's also a professor of strategy development at OCAD University, an advisor to technology companies through Toronto's Mars Discovery District, an early stage investor, a board member of the Toronto Transit Commission, And I guess at some point this guy finds time to sleep.

Fenton's central argument is that organizations perform better when leaders remain radically curious, challenge inherited assumptions and have the courage to act on what they discover.

So how can curiosity help us build better careers and more innovative organizations? Well, let's find out as we have a conversation today.

Everything she touches, she turns into a work of art.

She graduated from OCAD, one of Canada's most prestigious art and design universities, and has built Wallware into so much more than a mural business.

She runs a mural community for muralists, hosts live painting masterclasses, and offers one-on-one consultations for artists who want to grow their own creative careers.

And if the name wallware doesn't sound familiar to you, it should.

I'm really excited to be here today.

Let's start at the beginning.

You graduated OCAD in Toronto.

What did your path look like right after school? Did you always know you wanted to work as a professional artist or did that take time to figure out?

There's been a lot of protesting against this event.

There was an entire counter summit held with progressive thinkers, with Indigenous voices, people of color coming together at the Ontario College of Art and Design, OCAD.

They were holding a counter summit there throughout the week that featured many guest speakers talking about progressive issues that, like you said, were being left out by the current government, such as his over-focus on militarism, his lack of focus on the environment.

There was a panel on women's issues.

Thank you.

[clapping] I'd also like to just take a moment to recognize the students and young leaders joining us today from OCAD, Humber Polytechnic, and York University.

Their presence is made possible through our charitable arm, the Empire Club Foundation, and the generosity of our donors.

This support enables us to invite future leaders to take part in the, in the dialogue of today, and to empower them to turn knowledge into leadership that shines in communities, boardrooms, and national conversations that are shaping Canada's future.

So we try to do whatever we can with them whenever.

Right behind it is actually the OCAD University and it's actually an art school.

And I bring that up because there's like one of the buildings there, it literally sits on these stilts that look like pencil crayons.

That's the coolest thing ever.