Student Gallery Spotlight: Squashing Bugs

From February 20–26, 2026, the School of Art Student Gallery presented Squashing Bugs, a collaborative exhibition by Winnipeg-based artists Juca Aquino and Julia Mary Langer, curated by Madison Beale.

Bringing together painting, sculpture, video, and installation, the exhibition explored painting as a space of testing — where disruption, labour, and process were not resolved but examined.

Borrowing its title from computing terminology, Squashing Bugs framed the “bug” not simply as an error to be corrected, but as a moment that reveals deeper systems at work. Across the gallery, stacked painted panels, worn materials, immersive blue forms, and accumulative gestures reflected shared interests in experimentation and introspection.

Julia Mary Langer’s work examined the self as shaped by technology, place, and perception. Moving away from representational approaches, her practice embraced deconstruction, often working within a restrained palette anchored in blue. Through negative space, material layering, and immersive installation, absence became an active presence within the work.

Juca Aquino’s interdisciplinary practice centred on labour — particularly the often unseen labour embedded in artistic production. Through the use of found objects, repeated forms, and accumulated surfaces, Aquino explored how tools, time, and gesture leave traces. His works expanded painting beyond the canvas, positioning labour itself as both subject and medium.

While their approaches differed, both artists engaged painting as a testing ground — a place where instability was not corrected but examined. Throughout the exhibition, disruption — whether technological, material, or emotional — became a generative force.

Curated by Madison Beale, Squashing Bugs was presented in the School of Art Student Gallery at the Taché Arts Complex.