Artist Spotlight: Aaron Borchardt

Aaron Borchardt is an architectural designer and artist based in Toronto, Canada, originally from Denver, Colorado. He holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, where he lived for three years while studying and working.

Embracing Imperfection: Aaron Borchardt's Use of Intentional Disruption as a Canvas to Tell the Story of the Reinterpretation of Memory.

Aaron's work explores the intersection of photography, digital distortion, and abstraction, transforming images through fragmentation and intentional disruption. Each piece reflects a balance between order and chaos, where digital imperfections become tools for discovery.

What does “MY VIEW YOUR?” mean to you?

For me, “MY VIEW, YOUR?” speaks to the idea that our perspectives are always partial and unstable. Memories change over time, and no two people ever see the same thing the same way. My glitch work comes directly from that place of fracture and reinterpretation. The pieces I chose for this exhibition embody error and distortion, asking viewers to consider how much of what they see is “mine” and how much is reconstructed in their own perceptions.

Can you walk us through the artwork "Botanic Gardens"?

One of the works I’m exhibiting is GLITCH 25.805 | The Botanical Garden, which began with a photograph I took at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens in Scotland while I studied architecture for my master’s degree. The gardens were a warm, calming environment I would retreat to when I felt overwhelmed or stressed. By glitching the original image, I wanted to capture the way my memory of the space has shifted over time. It remains vivid, but also fragmented and abstracted through personal experience. I hope viewers feel both the serenity of the original garden and the instability of memory layered over it, reflecting on the places in their own lives that have offered comfort, and how those memories change as time passes.

Much of this exhibition explores the relationship between humans and the environment. How does your work engage with nature, space, or the world around you?

Even though I work with digital tools, my practice always starts with real places and environments that I have been in. A glitch is essentially a system reacting to conditions, a breakdown or shift that mirrors how natural systems also change under pressure. In my work, landscapes and built environments are filtered through this process of distortion, showing that nothing, whether nature, urban environments, or memories, remains stable. It’s a reminder that the world around us is constantly in flux.

What kind of questions or conversations do you want your work to spark, especially in a group exhibition like this, where so many perspectives collide and coexist?

I hope my work sparks questions about what’s “real” and what’s constructed. How do we know a memory, an image, or even a place? What happens when that perception is disrupted? In a group exhibition, I think the dialogue becomes richer. Viewers can see how my glitches resonate with or contrast against other artists’ explorations of perception and identity. I want conversations to grow around uncertainty, fragility, and the beauty of imperfection in memories and our perceptions of the world around us.

If you had to describe your exhibited work in just three words, what would they be and why?

Fragmented – because it embraces error and incompleteness.

Perceptive – because it reflects how we hold onto, distort, and reimagine places and moments.

Alive – because even though its origins are a digital representation of a fixed moment, it feels like it’s in motion, never fixed in one state.

How does it feel to be part of a group exhibition like this one, sharing space, theme, and energy with other artists?

I’m very excited about the exhibit. Glitch art is often seen as niche or outside the mainstream, so being in dialogue with a range of artists makes me think about how my work connects across mediums and ideas. Sharing space allows me to see new connections between my practice and others, and I hope visitors feel that collective energy as well.

What’s next for you as an artist? Are there themes you’re beginning to explore, or directions you’re excited to grow into?

I’m excited to keep pushing glitch beyond the screen. I have started to experiment with physical materials, layering digital errors with paint and wood. I would love to explore sculptural installations and interactive environments. I’m also interested in exploring glitch as a metaphor for larger cultural breakdowns such as memory loss, ecological fragility, or technological dependence. For me, glitch is a language that keeps evolving, and I want to see how far it can go.

MY VIEW, YOUR? is backed by RADRCanada as our media partner.