Fine Arts > News and events

Conference - Practices of World Building: Fans, Industries, Media Fields

2013-06-06T13:53:39Z

June 6 and 7: Film Studies conference to explore transmedial experiences.
Two-day event to explore spectatorship and media production practices in contemporary culture

A plurality of screens, as points of interaction with media worlds, relocates the film-going experience. Producers don't just create stories or characters, they now design worlds and they are increasingly distributing the experience of these worlds across multiple media channels, creating transmedial experiences. In the context of this media convergence, the viewer's experience is not limited to mere consumption - spectators become explorers and, in turn, world builders.

The Practices of World Building conference, organized by Martin Lefebvre, associate professor of film studies at Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, and Marta Boni, Concordia University post-doctoral fellow, in conjunction with the ARTEMIS research project, uses notion of world and world-building as a starting point to revisit and reconsider media theories, in film, television, visual culture, cultural studies and literature, and move beyond traditional notions of communication.

Invited Speakers include: Jim Collins (Notre Dame), Florence Goyet (Université de Grenoble), Dru Jeffries (Concordia), Matt Hills (Aberystwyth University), Jean-Marc Leveratto (Université de Lorraine), Giovanni Macchia (Western Ontario), Martin Picard (Udem), Guglielmo Pescatore (Bologna), Constance Penley (UCSB), Marie-Laure Ryan (independent scholar), Mark J.P. Wolf (Concordia Wisconsin), Alexander Zahlten (Harvard).

When:    Thursday, June 6, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
                Friday, June 7, 2013, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
             (Complete schedule available on the ARTHEMIS website.)

Where:    Room EV 1.615, Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (1515 Ste-Catherine Street West), Sir George Williams campus

Admission to the conference is free of charge, but registration is required. Contact Marti Boni by email at boni.marta@yahoo.com for more information or to register.

Follow the event on Twitter using the hashtag #PWBconference.

This conference is made possible with by support of Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at Concordia University, and ARTHEMIS.

Related links:

May 24: Screening of 'The Cosmonaut'

2013-05-24T18:58:02Z

Free screening and Google Hangout with the director. Sponsored by the Centre for Technoculture, Arts and Games.

The Cosmonaut is a sci-fi movie that takes place during the space race. But it is also something else than a movie: The Cosmonaut is a transmedia project. Apart from the movie there are at least 32 additional episodes related with the story of The Cosmonaut. In an intriguing experiment, this film, directed by Nicolas Alcalá, a young Spanish filmmaker, raised over 400.000€ in financing through crowdfunding. The Cosmonaut will be distributed through the Internet for free at the same time as DVD, TV and cinema versions will be available under a Creative Commons license, allowing anyone to copy, remix and distribute the film.

The Cosmonaut will be screened at Concordia on Friday, May 24, at 5 p.m. Director Nicolas Alcalá will join the audience via Google Hangout to answer questions about his experience with this amazing project.

Stephane Blais, Transmedia Creative Director at SAGA, will introduce The Cosmonaut project before the screening. Blais is a veteran from the gaming industry who spent most of the last 12 years as a lead game designer at Ubisoft Montreal, but his main passion has always been storytelling. From his role as head of content on the Assassin's Creed brand to his current position as transmedia creative director, and discovering new ways to explore narrative universes, he continues to be on the forefront of his creative process.

When: Friday, May 24, 2013 at 5 p.m.
Where: VA-114, Visual Arts Building (1395 René Lévesque Blvd. W.), Sir George Williams Campus

Image by Tamara Martín Sánchez.

Related links:

Nadia Seboussi: UQAM recipient of the 2013 Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art

2013-05-23T20:07:04Z

Renee Dunk Nadia Seboussi is the 2013 UQAM recipient of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art.

Seboussi, who recently completed her MA in Visual and Media Arts at Université du Québec à Montréal, has received a 2013 Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art Fellowship. The two-year award, valued at approximately $55,000, will allow her to develop her professional practice, undertake and exhibit her research/creation and broaden her teaching experience.

The announcement was made on May 22, 2013, at Galerie Graff, at the opening of the exhibition Click Here to Enter by Véronique Savard, a graduate of UQAM and a 2010 Bronfman Fellowship recipient.

Born in Algeria, Nadia Seboussi has lived and worked in Montreal since 2002. Her work has been shown in various group shows in Montreal and Algeria (Galerie de l'UQAM, espaces Jean-Brillant, Galerie Art mûr and CDEx at UQAM).

Through her work, she tries to capture the social and political reality of the Algerian Civil War (1990-2000), waged between the political and military wing of the Islamic movement and the ruling military dictatorship.

Her academic background has been awarded numerous grants and awards, such as the Pierre Ayot Award in 2010, and the Bourse d'excellence Joseph-Armand-Bombardier of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in 2010 - 2011. She holds a degree in Visual and Media Arts at UQAM and has just completed her Master's in Visual and Media Arts at UQAM.

"The jury cited the maturity of Nadia Seboussi's artistic practice, as well as the coherence of her work, the richness of its content, and the complementarity of the perspectives presented in her creative project, at once political, documentary and feminist," noted Louise Poissant, dean of the faculty of arts at UQAM. The jury also acknowledged the courage and personal commitment of the artist who does not hesitate to confront a difficult subject head on. The artist's practice will have an impact on the post-colonial debate and will contribute to the training of younger artists through her undergraduate teaching.

Seboussi will have a solo exhibition in November 2013, at Dazibao, the contemporary photography centre, and will take part in several group shows throughout the year, notably in France, Argentina, Morocco and Spain.

Image: Nadia Seboussi, Le dernier été de la raison, (work in progress). Click thumbnail to enlarge.

Related links:

Posted on May 23, 2013

Kim Waldron: Concordia recipient of the 2013 Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art

2013-05-23T20:00:20Z

Renee Dunk Kim Waldron is the 2013 Concordia recipient of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art.

Waldron, who recently completed her MFA in Studio Arts (Photography) at Concordia University, has received a 2013 Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art Fellowship. The two-year award, valued at approximately $55,000, will allow her to develop her professional practice, undertake and exhibit her research/creation and broaden her teaching experience.

The announcement was made on May 22, 2013, at Galerie Graff, at the opening of the exhibition Click Here to Enter by Véronique Savard, a graduate of UQAM and a 2010 Bronfman Fellowship recipient.

Kim Waldron was born in Montreal. She graduated from NSCAD in 2003. Her work has been exhibited widely, notably at Oboro, Expression, Gallery 44, Vu, Galerie Occurrence, Eyelevel Gallery, Eastern Edge Gallery, Art Gallery of Windsor, and La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse. She had a three-month residency in Vienna in 2007, hosted by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, and a one-month residency in Newfoundland in 2009, offered by the English Harbour Arts Centre.

In her work, Waldron makes frequent use of self-portraiture as a way to take a stand on various contemporary social issues. Over the years, her work has questioned the role of the image and the importance of context, while addressing the idea that reality is always a construct.

"The jury selected Kim Waldron for the quality, maturity and consistency of her work," said Catherine Wild, dean of the faculty of fine arts at Concordia University. She submitted a bold project, exploring the role of both art and artist in society. Engaged and invested, the artist directly confronts sensitive issues that challenge our cultural, political and economic assumptions.

Waldron's work Before and After will be presented at the exhibition of Fine Arts graduating students, at the FOFA Gallery, Concordia University, from June 10 to 28, 2013. Kim has been accepted for a residency this summer at Le Cabinet Photographic Studio in Montreal.

Visit Kim Waldron's website.

Image: Kim Waldron, Bleeding Out, 2010. Click thumbnail to enlarge.

Related links:

Posted on May 23, 2013

2013 Bronfman Fellows named

2013-05-23T19:25:40Z

The Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation awarded the 2013 Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Graduate Fellowships in Contemporary Art, each valued at $55,000, to Kim Waldron of Concordia University and Nadia Seboussi of the Université du Québec à Montréal, both completing their master's degrees.

Français (UQAM)

The Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation awarded the 2013 Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Graduate Fellowships in Contemporary Art, each valued at $55,000, to Kim Waldron of Concordia University and Nadia Seboussi of the Université du Québec à Montréal, both completing their master's degrees. The ceremony was held on May 22 at Galerie Graff, at the opening of the exhibition Click Here to Enter by Véronique Savard, a graduate of UQAM and a 2010 Bronfman Fellowship recipient.

Image: The two 2013 Bronfman Fellows - Kim Waldron, Concordia (centre, striped dress), and Nadia Seboussi, UQAM (centre left) - were announced at a ceremony at Galerie Graff on May 22, 2013, joined by (left to right): Claudine Blondin Bronfman; Louise Poissant, dean of the faculty of arts at UQAM; Catherine Wild, dean of the faculty of fine arts at Concordia; and Stephen Bronfman. | Image credit: Jean-François Hamelin Photographe

The Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowships in Contemporary Art are presented annually to a graduate student in visual and media arts at each of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University and the Faculty of Arts at UQAM. Created in December 2009 with a generous donation of $550,000 from the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation, these fellowships are awarded for a period of two years and offer invaluable assistance to emerging artists. The financial support enables them to launch their careers by devoting themselves fully to the conceptualization, production and distribution of their works.

This year, the jury selected Waldron and Seboussi, two artists whose practices demonstrate an impassioned commitment and exhibit a speculative dimension that directly questions our relationship to the world. The members of the jury also praised the element of risk and daring in both projects.

"The jury selected Kim Waldron for the quality, maturity and consistency of her work," said Catherine Wild, dean of the faculty of fine arts at Concordia University. She submitted a bold project, exploring the role of both art and artist in society. Engaged and invested, the artist directly confronts sensitive issues that challenge our cultural, political and economic assumptions.
About Kim Waldron

"The jury cited the maturity of Nadia Seboussi's artistic practice, as well as the coherence of her work, the richness of its content, and the complementarity of the perspectives presented in her creative project, at once political, documentary and feminist," noted Louise Poissant, dean of the faculty of arts at UQAM. The jury also acknowledged the courage and personal commitment of the artist who does not hesitate to confront a difficult subject head on. The artist's practice will have an impact on the post-colonial debate and will contribute to the training of younger artists through her undergraduate teaching.
About Nadia Seboussi

Related links:

Past Winners:
The Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Post-Graduate Fellowships in Contemporary Art have been awarded since 2010. Here is a list of the past winners:

Julie Favreau (Concordia) - 2012
Additional information

Sébastien Cliche (UQAM) - 2012
Additional information

Pavitra Wickramasinghe (Concordia) - 2011
Additional information
Currently presenting her exhibition Time Travel at Concordia's FOFA Gallery until May 27

Aude Moreau (UQAM) - 2011
Additional information

Steve Bates (Concordia) - 2010
Additional Information

Véronique Savard (UQAM) - 2010
Additional information
Currently presenting the exhibition Click Here To Enter at Galerie Graff until June 22

Posted on May 23, 2013

Co-op annual awards and recognition event to showcase design students' work

2013-05-23T18:33:48Z

Three Department of Design and Computation Arts students have created a trio of trophies that will be given out at the Concordia Institute for Co-operative Education Annual Awards and Recognition Event (CARE) on May 30.
Three Department of Design and Computation Arts students have created a trio of trophies that will be given out at the Concordia Institute for Co-operative Education Annual Awards and Recognition Event (CARE) on May 30.

Ida Kovaleva, Daniel La Rotta, and Rachel Tardif each designed a trophy using skills they honed in a digital sculpture course - the only one of its kind in Canada - taught by part-time faculty member Erwin Regler in the winter 2013 semester. The trophies - sculptural works approximately 6 inches in height - were produced on the ZCorp three-dimensional printer at the Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research-Creation in Media Arts and Technologies. Ten trophies will be given out in total - three each of La Rotta's and Tardif's pieces and four of Kovaleva's.

Kovaleva, La Rotta and Tardif answered a department-wide call for submissions and worked with associate professor Christopher Moore to come up with the concepts of the trophies for the award ceremony, which celebrates the co-op program's students and employers.

Kovaleva's Handshake represents a short ritual in which two people grasp each other's hands. The sculpture features two hands coming close, but not yet grasping each other. Kovaleva explains that "Handshake is a symbol of cooperation between two people who, together, are able to achieve something different, something greater than one person can achieve".

La Rotta's Dynamic Transformation symbolizes an evolution from a square to a sphere. Moreover, he says, the statue represents the gradual transformation of one shape to the other. La Rotta says that "the balanced turn of the pieces signifies the modernism of the figures" and demonstrates how in the co-op program, both student and employer learn from one another.

Tardif's Quartz is a solid pyramid representing the process of creating a dynamic and unique form starting from the repetition of the same element. Much like how the co-op program unites students and employers, Quartz "represents the evolution of a single element into a complete and harmonious ensemble".

Gerry Hughes, director of the Institute for Co-operative Education, said that he and the co-op team wanted to do something different, modern and creative for the program's students and employers.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to partner with the Faculty of Fine Arts and especially these three highly imaginative students. We also wanted to leverage the creative abilities of our students in this program and we have to say that Christopher Moore was extremely supportive for our cause."

The CARE event isn't the first time that Design and Computation Arts students have partnered with other university units: last year, students in assistant professor Nathalie Dumont's design class participated in a competition to create a series of posters for the theatre department.

Click thumbnail images to enlarge.

Related links:

Posted on May 23, 2013

Associate professor wins honorable mention at Prix Ars Electronica

2013-05-17T13:21:40Z

Christopher Salter, Design and Computation Arts associate professor and director of the Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research-Creation in Media Arts and Technologies, won Honorable Mention in the Hybrid Arts award category at the 2013 Prix Ars Electronica for his piece, N_Polytope: Behaviors in Light and Sound After Iannis Xenakis. Christopher Salter, Design and Computation Arts associate professor and director of the Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research-Creation in Media Arts and Technologies, won Honorable Mention in the Hybrid Arts award category at the 2013 Prix Ars Electronica for his piece, N_Polytope: Behaviors in Light and Sound After Iannis Xenakis. The project was one of 13 winning entries out of more than 400 submitted projects.

Created by Salter, with Sofian Audry, Marije Baalman, Adam Basanta, Elio Bidinost and Thomas Spier, N_Polytope is a spectacular light and sound performance-installation combining lighting, lasers, sound, sensing and machine learning software. Inspired by composer Iannis Xenakis's radical 1960s and 70s works named Polytopes (from the Greek 'poly', many and 'topos', space), N_Polytope is a largescale, immersive architectural environment designed, with hundreds of tiny lights and speakers suspended on cables, to explore how both scripted and indeterminate systems affect an individual's stability -- and how they move between order and disorder.

N_Polytope will tour in 2014 to Germany, Spain and Montreal.

Photos of N_Polytope courtesy of Christopher Salter

The Ars Electronica festival has sought out interlinkages and congruities, causes and effects between art, technology, society since 1979. Held annually in Austria, Ars Electronica's divisions - the Festival, the Prix as competition honoring excellence, the Center as a setting for presentation and interaction, and the Futurelab as in-house R&D facility - inspire one another and put futuristic visions to the test.

Related links:

Posted on May 17, 2013

Canadian Association for Music Therapy honours Concordia prof

2013-05-16T19:21:53Z

Guylaine Vaillancourt, Creative Arts Therapies (Music Therapy) assistant professor, was given a Peer Recognition Award at the 39th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Music Therapy. Guylaine Vaillancourt, Creative Arts Therapies (Music Therapy) assistant professor, was given a Peer Recognition Award at the 39th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Music Therapy, held in Saskatoon from May 9 to 11, 2013.

The Peer Recognition Award is given to people who use their innovation to advance and inspire the music therapy profession in Canada.

Related links

Posted on May 16, 2013

Marcie Frank re-appointed director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture

2013-05-09T15:27:39Z

Catherine Wild, dean of Fine Arts, and Brian Lewis, dean of Arts and Science, are pleased to announce the re-appointment of Marcie Frank as director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture (CISSC). Catherine Wild, dean of Fine Arts, and Brian Lewis, dean of Arts and Science, are pleased to announce the re-appointment of Marcie Frank as director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture (CISSC). Frank, an English professor who has served as the centre's director since 2010, will continue her role effective June 1, 2013 to May 31, 2015.

"We look forward to working with Marcie and supporting her work to foster interdisciplinary initiatives between both faculties," says Wild. "Under her direction, CISSC will play an important role when Concordia hosts Encuentro 2014," added Lewis. Encuentro is a prestigious pan-American conference that will bring together hundreds of scholars, artists and activists in Montreal from June 21 to 28, 2014.

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture is dedicated to promoting advanced interdisciplinary work across the social sciences, humanities and arts by creating avenues for research and exchange among faculty and graduate students. The work of the Centre focuses on the questions, values, and forms of expression that arise from experiences of the human condition.

The Centre supports innovative interdisciplinary scholarship across the social sciences, humanities and arts, and creative work through its unique PhD in Humanities as well as through public lectures, conferences, seminars, and working groups.

Frank joined Concordia University's department of English in 1991, receiving tenure in 1996. Her research and teaching interests include restoration and eighteenth-century British literature and culture, gender and sexuality, and post-1945 American literature and media, especially film and television. Frank's current book project, "The Novel and the Repertory," investigates the reciprocal relations between the novel and the stage from 1730 to 1820. She is also researching and writing about the manifold cultural representations of Richard Nixon since Watergate. An active scholar and administrator, she was promoted to full professor in 2005, chaired the English department from 2005 to 2008.

Related links:

Photo by David Ward. Story posted on May 21, 2013

Breaking the silence of suicide

2013-05-06T19:36:12Z

Drama Therapy professor Yehudit Silverman uses the arts to reveal the cross-cultural implications of suicide. Just over a month ago, a young high school student from Halifax committed suicide after photos of her being raped were posted on the Internet. Her story wasn't just about bullying. It was also about the complex feelings her friends and family faced with her decision to take her own life.

Such a reaction is common to cultures around the word. New research from Concordia University shows that, no matter where it occurs, a veil of shame and sense of taboo surround suicide. These attitudes often force those affected to grieve alone and can produce feelings of helplessness and despair.

Yehudit Silverman, an associate professor of drama therapy in Concordia University's Department of Creative Arts Therapies, has focused much of her career on the issue of suicide. Having written and directed a film called The Hidden Face of Suicide, Silverman has now published new findings on the cross-cultural commonalities associated with suicide in the peer-reviewed journal, The Arts in Psychotherapy.

The article, co-authored by art therapist, Fiona Smith, and drama therapist, Mary Burns, describes how using the arts can help create dialogue between people from diverse cultural communities, all affected by suicide, so that they may begin to heal and hope. "When a subject is taboo, it important to find ways other than words to express feelings," explains Silverman. "Using the arts can be a powerful means of sharing what feels inexpressible, and helping to break through the silence and stigma which still surrounds suicide"

The results of Silverman's findings are based on an innovative symposium, held in Montreal in June 2010, which brought together people from Inuit, Mohawk, Jewish, Christian, Baha'i, South-Asian Canadian, senior and LGBTQ communities. At the beginning of the symposium, members from each group performed a non-verbal presentation to show their community's perspective on suicide. These powerful presentations allowed participants to see the differences and similarities in how each culture views suicide.

Participants worked in cross-cultural groups, organized according to what themes and identities spoke most intensely to their own experience of suicide. They were then able to explore perspectives and feelings that brought them to the symposium. All work was done through creative artistic expressions of the group.

One group built a tepee with a white mask with tears drawn on at its base. A bowl of water was placed in front of the structure, circled by candles and cedar branches, with feathers placed in the circle to represent a victim of suicide. "We want to create a ritual and a safe space to respond to suicide awareness; a ceremony to create openness, sharing and a connection to the earth," explained one participant. Another project involved the creation of banners, combining text, colour, images and objects, to reflect themes and feelings emerging among participants.

Using such exercises over the course of the symposium, the researchers pinpointed cross-cultural themes about suicide that emerged from the discussion and creative expressions of the participants. These themes included suicide as taboo, hiding and isolation, multi-generational impact, witnessing others and being witnessed. As Silverman points out: "Participants realized for the first time that the taboo of suicide touches every culture, every community, every class and status."

The project was a success on two levels: using art to facilitate suicide awareness and finding themes that transcend cultural boundaries. Explains Silverman, "Our findings offer a new method of bringing out complex feelings associated with suicide. By showing that different communities and cultures are all connected around this issue, we can begin to help with healing - and with and breaking the silence."

Related Links:

Posted on May 6, 2013

Social networks, social pedagogy

2013-05-06T15:43:55Z

Assistant Professor Juan Carlos Castro encourages his art education students to learn from each other.

Pinterest is a pedagogical tool, not just a place to display your lust for Hèrmes handbags, tattoos or vintage Converse high-tops. Who knew? -- Juan Carlos Castro, for one.

The assistant professor in the Department of Art Education promotes Moodle and such social bookmarking sites as Pinterest, Diigo, and Delicious to his students. They're encouraged to post their own work to Moodle and anything else that interests or informs them as neophyte art educators, or to a social bookmarking service.

Castro calls such sites a "collective memory" for students. "They're looking at each other's images and learning from it. They're not only learning from what other people are doing; they're learning cues in terms of how people are talking about each other's work also. The nice thing about Moodle and social-bookmarking is that it captures those conversations so that students can access them asynchronously and in a different space.

"For instance, not everyone's necessarily going to have the confidence of a teacher to get up, walk over, and look very closely at what someone else is doing in an art class. But if a student posted work to a shared space online, other students could look at what they've done and learn from it. My research - how mobile media and the visual arts curriculum can engage youth in their communities and their education - has found that this is a very powerful thing."

Castro notes that "it's enriching to me, too, because they're bringing content to me that is applicable to what I'm teaching. Instead of having the teacher as knowledge giver, it's a reciprocal relationship in which we have 35 minds all contributing together."

On the web, the concept of intellectual property gets short shrift. Accordingly, Castro also teaches his students about attribution and copyright. "We talk about the nature of sharing, how when we put our work out there, people could take it," he says. "We have to think about how we can protect our intellectual property while also contributing to the larger cultural collective knowledge systems. We spend a lot of time talking about Creative Commons licensing structures. And I encourage my students to license all of their work that they post so that they feel comfortable in sharing."

Castro is currently the undergraduate programs advisor for his department. He's been developing his insights first as a high-school art teacher and now as a researcher. Earlier this month, he received the 2013 Manuel Barkan award from the National Art Education Association for an article he published in the journal Studies in Art Education.

Barkan, a prominent art educator in the 20th century, believed that art education encourages children to interact with others. He believed that the social environment enables children to learn through such interactions. Sounds like a prescription for Pinterest, doesn't it?

Story by Phillipa Rispin, courtesy of Concordia University. Image: Assistant Professor Juan Carlos Castro is currently the undergraduate programs advisor for the Department of Art Education. Photo by Concordia University

Related links:

Posted on May 6, 2013

What can your clothing do?

2013-05-06T15:29:40Z

Renee Dunk

From corsets to caftans, we have seen dramatic changes in popular fashion during the 20th and early 21st centuries. Our descendants will surely wear clothes that are radically different from those we wear today. New research from Concordia University brings this future into focus by taking a closer look at the next quantum leap in textile design: computerized fabrics.

Joanna Berzowska, professor and chair of the Department of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia, has developed interactive electronic fabrics that harness power directly from the human body, store that energy, and then use it to change the garments' visual properties. The animated garments made with these fabrics would change their colour and their shape in response to physical movement.

The major innovation of this research project is the ability to embed these electronic or computer functions within the fibre itself: rather than being attached to the textile, the necessary electronic components are woven into these new composite fibres. The fibres consist of multiple layers of polymers, which, when stretched and drawn out to a small diameter, begin to interact with each other. The fabric, produced in collaboration with the École Polytechnique de Montréal's Maksim Skorobogatiy, represent a significant advance in the development of "smart textiles."

Although it's not yet possible to manufacture clothing with the new composite fibres, Berzowska worked with fashion designers to create conceptual prototypes that can help us visualize how such clothing might look and behave. Imagine a dress that changes shape and colour on its own, or a shirt that can capture the energy from human movement and use it to charge an iPhone.

"We won't see such garments in stores for another 20 or 30 years, but the practical and creative possibilities are exciting," says Berzowska. "Our goal is to create garments that can transform in complex and surprising ways -- far beyond reversible jackets, or shirts that change colour in response to heat. That's why the project is called Karma Chameleon."

There would also be a performative aspect to wearing such garments, whose dramatic transformations may or may not be controlled by the wearer. This research raises interesting questions about human agency relative to fashion and computers. What would it mean to wear a piece of clothing with "a mind of its own," that cannot be consciously controlled? How much intimate contact with computers do we really want?

Berzowska will raise these questions and present her findings at the Smart Fabrics 2013 conference this week in San Francisco. She has also written an article detailing her research for The Fashion Studies Handbook, forthcoming from Berg Publishers. An exhibition, to be held at the Phi Centre in the next year, will give the public an opportunity to learn about her research, and to enter the imaginative space produced by her futuristic fabrics and clothing.

Partners in research: The Karma Chameleon project was funded by a Research Creation grant from the Government of Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), as well as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada/Canada Council for the Arts (NSERC/CCA) New Media Initiative. These programs (which are no longer offered) were intended to support scientific and academic research in artistic disciplines, and only a few grants were awarded each year. The partnership has been a fruitful one: Karma Chameleon's composite fibres are just one of the achievements of their four years of work together.

About the researcher: Joanna Berzowska is the founder and research director of XS Labs, where she and her team develop innovative methods for producing electronic textiles and garments that can interact with and respond to their wearers. She is also a member of the Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research-Creation in Media Arts and Techologies. Maksim Skorobogatiy is a professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at École Polytechnique de Montréal.

Story by Emily Essert. Images of the Karma Chameleon project by Ronald Borshan.

Related links:

Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research-Creation in Media Arts and Technologies
Department of Design and Computation Arts
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada/Canada Council for the Arts (NSERC/CCA) New Media Initiative
Phi Centre

Spring Shows still on!

2013-05-06T15:25:03Z

Renee Dunk

Pavitra Wickramasinghe: 2011 Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art Laureate
Until May 24, Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
FOFA Gallery, 1515 Ste. Catherine St. W., EV 1.715
Admission is free of charge.

Article: Exhibition travels through time and place

May 2 to June 8, Tuesday to Friday from 12 to 6 p.m.,
Saturday from 12 to 5 p.m.
IGNITION: GRADUATE STUDENT EXHIBITION
Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery
1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Room LB-165
Admission is free of charge.

Article: Ready for Ignition!

June 10 to 28
GRADUATING STUDENT EXHIBITION
FOFA Gallery: Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
1515 Ste-Catherine St. W. , Room 1.715
VAV Gallery: Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
1395 René Lévesque Blvd W., VA Building lobby
Admission is free of charge.

Related link:

Spring Shows 2013

Image credits:

Banner - Contemporary Dance photo by Pascale Yensen; Ingrid Tremblay, Construction Destructive (Studio Arts); University Chorus photo by Christie Vuong; Julie Wera, Zaria (Design and Computation Arts); Fibres and Material Practices composite image; Jane Nam, Painting #1 (Art Education)

Home page button (clockwise, from top left) - Anna Mayberry, My Childhood (Studio Arts); Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema studio; Kathryn Mailloux, Trash (Art Education); Sabrina Dufour, In The Corner Of My Head (Studio Arts)

May 3: Centre for the Arts in Human Development Open House

2013-05-03T15:40:23Z

Learn more about the Centre for the Arts in Human Development programs through this unique experiential opportunity. The Centre for the Arts in Human Development at Concordia University is an educational, clinical and research centre serving adults with developmental disabilities and other special needs populations.

Participants of the Centre for the Arts in Human Development program demonstrate one of the program's therapies.

As part of the centre's public outreach program, the open house provides visitors with an experiential opportunity to discover the nature of the creative arts therapies used in the centre's unique therapeutic programs. Learn more about the centre and its programs through this unique experiential opportunity.

When:
Friday, May 3, 2013, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Where:
Centre for the Arts in Human Development, TA Building (7141 Sherbooke St. W.) Loyola Campus
NOTE: Civic address is 7079 De Terrebonne St.

Cost:
$10 per person - registration required. Everyone welcome.

Confirm your attendance sending a completed registration form by fax to 514-848-7514 or by email to poppy.baktis@concordia.ca. For more information, call 514-848-8616.

Related link:

Centre for the Arts in Human Development

Cinema alum headed to Cannes

2013-05-03T13:28:50Z

Renee Dunk
Two cinema alumnae, Chloé Robichaud and Fanny Malo, both BFA 10, are heading to Cannes.

Their film, Sarah préfère la course, tells the story of a young woman (Sophie Desmarais) who moves from rural Quebec to Montreal with her boyfriend to run on the McGill track team. But big-city life and her passion for the sport put pressure on their relationship. It will be screened in the Un certain regard ! section of the famed film fest, which runs from May 15 to 26, 2013. This is not the pair's first feature to make it to Cannes. Their first Cannes appearance was last year for the short Chef de meute.

Fellow cinema graduates involved with the production - and accompanying director Robichaud and producer Malo to Cannes - are director of photography Jessica Lee Gagné, BFA 12; artistic director Bruno-Pierre Houle, BFA 10; and first assistant director Catherine Kirouac, BFA 12. Another film studies graduate Alice Black, BFA 93, is among the festival's jury members.

Part-time Concordia instructor Micheline Lanctôt - who introduced Robichaud to directing through her course - also stars in the film as the athletic coach.

Watch for Sarah préfère la course in Quebec theatres June 7.

Related link: