ON VIEW
October 9th – November 23rd, 2026
OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, October 9th | 7–11PM
Factory Media Centre (366 Victoria Ave N.)
WITH PERFORMANCES BY
Haolin Munk | Hamilton Noise Orchestra | Earth Wind & Choir | Eschaton | Choose Up
Semantic Drift describes a form of language change through which the meaning or usage of a word evolves over time. This exhibition takes that idea as a point of departure for imagining the ways in which we’ve come to understand and use shared language, visual aesthetics, cultural references, and lived experiences. HAVN emerged at a particular moment when DIY arts and culture offered possibilities for artists to create spaces outside of established institutional structures. It was a space for experimentation and collaboration.
Bringing together artists connected to HAVN and its wider community, the exhibition revisits the art space through ephemera, artworks, and personal recollections. This is our reunion and our homecoming.
Contributing Artists
Ariel Bader-Shamai, Connor Bennett, Vanessa Crosbie Ramsay, Leah Klein, Dima Matar, Petra Matar, Amy McIntosh, Andrew O’Connor, Maria Simmons, Sahra Soudi, and Annie Webber
HAVN is an arts collective and a multi-modal node for the development, exhibition, documentation, and dispersal of sound, images, and ideas. From 2012 – 2020, HAVN has provided access to exhibition space and facilities to hundreds of local and international artists, for a wide variety of different uses. The HAVN collective received project grants from the Ontario Arts Council and Hamilton’s City Enrichment Fund, and did commissioned work for the City of Hamilton Arts Awards and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. With a DIY-ethic, HAVN aspired to provide a safe & welcoming space for artists that had trouble fitting into mainstream avenues of presentation.
Ariel Bader-Shamai is a multidisciplinary, textile-focused artist based in Toronto.
Connor Bennett is a musician, craftsperson, and arts organizer in Hamilton. They play saxophone, flute, and whistle in a variety of musical contexts, mostly focused on improvisation (Current projects include: Tidal Pool; Horseman, Pass By; Blue Moss; Ghost Variables; Madam Sad; Ylang Ylang; Ula Lume). Their craft is in custom mouthpiece making for woodwinds. Connor has been involved with Zula Music and Arts Collective since its conception and is also a founding member of the Hamilton Audio Visual Node (HAVN) and has worked there in collaboration with many other artists in the curation and organization of concerts, art shows, events, and series.
Vanessa Crosbie Ramsay is a Hamilton-based multidisciplinary artist whose work explores feminist issues, social equity, female identity, and concerns impacting communities. A strong storyteller, she works primarily with film/video, visual art, sculpture, installation, sound, and participatory projects. She is an award-winning media artist and an experienced arts-educator. In 2018, she received the City of Hamilton Arts Award in Media Arts. She has shown work internationally and completed a variety of artistic residencies in different locations. Vanessa develops media and visual arts programming as an arts-educator for the Art Gallery of Hamilton and teaches in Media Fundamentals at Sheridan College in the Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design. Her collaborative, community-engaged practice aims to be accessible, providing meaningful opportunities for audiences to connect, create and explore through contemporary art.
Andrew O’Connor is a Hamilton-based new media artist whose practice spans immersive installation, live audiovisual performance, projection mapping, and experimental moving image. Working across digital and analog processes – generative systems, physical optics, field recordings, collage, and improvisation – they build layered visual environments that drift between abstraction and recognition, where projected light alters spatial perception and reveals hidden patterns within natural and constructed worlds. Co-founder of HAVN (Hamilton Audio Visual Node) and OPTICKS, an experimental light and projection art collective, O’Connor has spent over a decade shaping Hamilton’s interdisciplinary arts community through exhibitions, performances, and public programming. Their work has screened and exhibited across Canada, the United States, and Europe.
Sahra Soudi is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, educator, and community organizer based in Hamilton, Ontario. She combine their activism and artistic practice to envision better and more just futures for all. Soudi advocates for the inclusion and participation of Black, Indigenous, disabled, and racialized communities in a range of settings, from artist-run centres, and DIY venues, to national galleries. Soudi is an emerging artist and curator, passionate about cross-movement solidarity and disability justice. She honours this framework by empowering and mobilizing their communities to push for radical change.
About Factory Media Centre
Factory Media Centre is Hamilton’s not-for-profit artist-driven resource centre for film, video, new media, installation, sound art, and other multimedia art forms. Our mission is to develop and support a vibrant, sustainable, creative, and diverse community of Members and non-Members within Hamilton and its surrounding region.
Factory Media Centre · 366 Victoria Avenue North
Venue details →Her collaborative, community-engaged practice aims to be accessible, providing meaningful opportunities for audiences to connect, create and explore through contemporary art.