Artist-in-Residence Program

Established in 2014, the Diefenbunker’s Artist-in-Residence Program fosters connections between the museum, local artists, and the wider Ottawa community through the creation and presentation of art inspired by the history of our national historic site.

Announcing selection for our 2026 Artist-in-Residence Program

We're pleased to announce this year's selection for our Artist-in-Residence Program: introducing Jean-Sébastien Côté and Julien Morissette. Based in Gatineau, Quebec, Côté and Morissette are an artistic duo whose practice explores sound, archives, and physical space. This year, the duo will create an immersive audio installation inspired by the Diefenbunker’s historic CBC Radio Broadcasting Studio. Drawing on archival material and field recordings, their work will explore emergency broadcasts, which blend official messages with the unheard human element behind the voice of authority that the listening public would hear.

The exhibition will open to visitors in November. 

“We don’t just play sound in a space; we use archives and field recordings to make places ‘speak’ in their own register. To us, architecture is an instrument: a door, the hum from an air vent, or a piece of institutional signage is as much a compositional element as a musical note.”

- Jean-Sébastien Côté and Julien Morissette

Past Artists-in-Residence