identifier: Majerus, Alexandra  (2017) The View from (T)here.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: The View from (T)here

abstract: A View from (T)here is an interdisciplinary project that examines the interconnections between landscape, colonialism, identity, visual culture, and tourism, primarily in Barbados but also considering the Caribbean as a whole. It challenges the first-world construct of paradise, imposed upon the Caribbean through tourism, rendering the region into a homogenous space disconnected from time. A View from (T)here draws upon a thread of subversion found in Caribbean theory, literature and art production in order to contest the dominant construct. This body of artwork re-presents landscape, and its metaphors, through strategies of story-telling, ambiguity and repetition; using photography, sound, video and installation, creating a site at the intersection of identity, landscape, geo-politics and aesthetics. These operations attempt to symbolically reclaim the landscape and re-negotiate subjectivity, while implicating the viewers as participants in the artwork to put into question the power dynamics of north / south.


identifier: Viðarsson, Egill Rúnar  (2017) Learning Holacracy Fundamentals Through Play.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: “Little Bookcase Publications” is a four-player co-operative board game attempting to offer an experiential hands-on understanding of Holacracy fundamentals via contextualized simulation. Players act as partners at a small-scale publishing company and learn by role-playing Holacracy-inspired game-mechanics. In the literature review and primary qualitative data gathered via rapid ethnographic fieldwork it became apparent that organizations wanting to implement Holacracy can expect a steep, initial learning curve due to the rule- based – sometimes counter-intuitive – decision-making methods instilled in the method. Insights were gained from the  field of organizational development, studies of role performance and play theory along with a design process which started as design-oriented research and then transitioned to research-oriented design. The final aim was to explore what fundamental processes and elements of Holacracy might be extracted to fit an introductory game to ease the learning of Holacracy.


identifier: Lupo, Max  (2017) Beep-Boopatronics.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Beep-Boopatronics

abstract: Beep-Boopatronics addresses discarded consumer goods, nostalgia, and the creativity inherent in adapting one object into another. Working through the lens of Ian Bogost’s Alien Phenomenology and Linda Hutcheon’s Theory of Adaptation, the exhibition and paper Beep-Boopatronics explore how objects can be made to communicate with each other, and how that communication, while fragmented, can produce a novel object; in this case, a strange musical instrument. This process was conducted through practice-based research as determined by the application and adaptation of Bogost’s Carpentry as a working methodology. The observations within this study dwell on the humour and meaning which can arise from incongruity. The results include new connections between object-oriented ontology and inter-textual adaptation, which were revealed through the project’s discourse on translation and porting.


identifier: Cluett, Emily  (2017) Consuming Rituals: New Approaches to the Quotidian.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: ritual, food, consumption, instruction-based, instructions, relational aesthetics, participatory

abstract: This thesis and accompanying exhibition examine the rituals associated with food preparation and consumption. Meals always have been, and always will be, essential to human existence, both physically and culturally, which makes them a rich area not only for research, but also experimentation. Of the nine interdisciplinary artists in the associated group exhibition Consumed, some present newly imagined rituals, while others highlight rituals that are subconscious or overlooked. Whereas food has been incorporated into artistic practices for decades, this project is focused on the rituals associated with food. Due to the performative and repetitive nature of these rituals, the artworks in Consumed are instruction-based. The exhibition presents visitors with the opportunity to enact the artists’ instructions in a show of participatory aesthetics. This thesis achieves a new understanding of mealtime rituals’ nuanced complexities, and suggests contemporary approaches to eating could benefit from renewed attention to mindfulness and meaningful social connection.


identifier: Haskell, Thomas  (2017) Mas'Queer'Raid.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Mas'Queer'Raid

abstract: As a creolized Trinidadian subject, I navigate the tensions of my heritage and selfhood as a transgressive queer body. Through a critical engagement with ceramic sculpture I fuse the costumes and characters of Trinidadian Carnival in order to manifest tensions of power, gender, and violence through a conversationalist practice. Utilizing texts on the historical development of Carnival and Trinidad, I form a historical foundation upon which I build critical reflection into my embodied past. The resulting characters are solidified navigations of my selfhood through Carnival. I propose that each character then adds to an expanding critical reflection of Mas/Carnival in Trinidad both at home and abroad.


identifier: Hartlieb-Power, Justine Kohleal  (2017) WARNING! Mind The Gap: The Interstices Between Architecture and Experience.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis project takes as its starting point the physical and psychic disconnect between the spectacular architectural façade of the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD U) and its lived, felt experience. It questions how performative, multi-sensorial artworks can force a reconsideration of the experience of space and, in so doing, embed alternative ways of being into built environments. Featuring artworks by Jessica Karuhanga, Faith La Rocque, and the duo Rouzbeh Akhbari and Sona Safaei-Sooreh, WARNING! Mind the Gap activates transitory or ancillary sites (such as hallways and entryways), drawing attention to the ways in which institutional hegemony obscures itself spatially and architecturally. Implemented as a series of site-specific interventions, the artworks transform the University’s interstitial spaces into sites of anti-colonial and institutional resistance through the creation of liminal experiences. The project thus encourages open-ended dialogue, un-settling the institution by privileging embodied responses within quotidian spaces.


identifier: Lim, Elisha  (2017) Contemporary Art Curating and its Long Christian Shadow.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: In order to tackle the under-representation of racialized artists in Canadian art galleries, it is useful to gain familiarity with the Christian ideologies that bolster Eurocentric race representation. Although secular Euro-Western society is culturally Christian, museologists rarely consider how residual Biblical values may underpin gallery pedagogy. This paper combines museum studies, critical race scholarship and theology to argue that modern exhibition practices deal in valorization that was developed by the medieval Church and continues to justify the power of dominant groups. Namely, that museum visitors and subordinate staff encounter binaries that alienate difference and trigger shame and insecurity. Three curators committed to equitable race representation offer counter-strategies to these binaries through epistemic disobedience, which springs from their marginalized identities. For example Michelle Jacques and Geneviève Wallen celebrate and restore Black Canadian art history, and Wanda Nanibush invokes Anishinaabe pedagogy in the gallery, centering respect, love and intuition.


identifier: Ding, Ling  (2017) It’s the little things that matter：A ready-to-assemble SMARTKIT to help people organize consumables at home by hacking furnishings through a do-it-yourself approach.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Democratic design framework, IOT, DIY for HCI, Enchanted object, Mobile and ubiquitous computing, Smart object, Intelligent furniture, Ambient intelligence.

abstract:
Democratization is broadly applied in material design and technology innovation, but little is known about democratic design in the digital context. Inspired by the practice of enchanted objects, this paper applies user-centered design as the primary research methodology to investigate what kind of democratic digital solutions might help Millennial-aged consumers streamline their home routines. SMARTKIT is a hacking toolkit created to allow individuals with little hacking ability to enchant the ordinary functionality of home furnishings and endow them with new capabilities which provide personal and social services that monitor and manage home consumables. By adding easy and affordable DIY enchantment, the democratically-designed SMARTKIT will help empower users to design the future of their homes in an accessible and affordable way that fulfills the unique requirements of each user.
SMARTKIT makes the little things matter.


identifier: Luft, Marcelo  (2017) Emilia: Utilizing ambiguity to reduce loneliness and support remote intimacy and connectedness.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: For many elder adults, �the aging process can be very challenging. A great number of elders experience social isolation, causing them to suffer from depression and loneliness. The Emilia project uses a research through design methodology to investigate and reflect on the application of the concepts of Ambiguity, Tangible User Interfaces and Calm Technology in mitigating loneliness. I designed a prototype called The Happy Box which consists of a pair of internet-connected boxes that aim to support connectedness and Affective Awareness through non-verbal intimate and tangible interaction between elder adults and their family and friends. In this thesis document, I describe and reflect on the process of making and testing The Happy Box.


identifier: Karpathyova, Iveta  (2017) Rotoscoping Design for Bodily Technique and Interdisciplinary Research on Animation as Embodied Practice.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text video image image image image image image image image image image

subject: Traditional animation, rotoscoping, documentation, embodiment, technique, body, dance, bachata, martial arts, kung fu

abstract: My research was framing traditional animation as a design tool for documenting embodied knowledge but also as an embodied practice in itself. Through the process of frame by frame sequential interpretation, as an animator I was able to analyze real pre-filmed motion and bodily work of various practitioners engaged in embodied research through their practice of kung fu and latin dance. Using my own performance in Phases of Dance, I manually rendered movement at 12 frames per second and approached rotoscoping as design process that allowed me to analyze, document and communicate aspects of visual expression, performance and technique in my bachata dance practice. Through reflecting on the interdisciplinary connections in modes of learning my three bodily practices of animation, dancing and martial arts, the thesis furthered research on the role of embodiment in the production of knowledge.


identifier: Gordon, Marcus A.  (2017) Habitat 44º - The Art of Reconstruction.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Habitat 44º - The Art of Reconstruction

subject: Holography, architecture, physical, virtual, space, abstraction, quasi-architecture, reconstruction, transparent material, models, transplane, pavilion, digital architecture, constructivist, environmental art, transmission hologram, augmented reality, wave optics, material energy, virtual optics.

abstract: With my thesis project, Habitat 44o, I investigate the complexity of holographic space and how holography has the potential to augment the observers’ view of their surrounding environment. The purpose of this research is to isolate unique characteristics of architecture and holography to lay the foundation for my art practice. In the field of holography, both artists and scientists alike refer to the holographic image as a “reconstruction," a shorthand for wavefront reconstruction. At the intersection of holography and architecture, I explore the critical implications of my reconstructions through the lens of Jens Schröter and his analysis of the transplane image, and through Rosalind Krauss' concept of axiomatic structures. Taking a constructivist approach, I create a holographic artwork and fabricate a spatial canvas that acts as an intervention in architectural space in order to construct a theory and practice of environmental holography.


identifier: Yerbury, Jazmine  (2017) Please Touch : The Power of Interactive Art.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This project aims to expand the potentially static experience of art from an object being witnessed to a time-based, interactive, multi-participative performance. Through the lens of Karen Barad’s concept of agential-realism, Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of Affect and Graham Harman’s Object-Oriented-Ontology this thesis applies these theories to unpack the nature of the creation, dissemination and experience of interactive, participatory art forms. Based on the philosophy of new materialism and Chris Salter’s Alien Agency, I argue that the materials used in art-making themselves are active, dynamic, and changeable, and play a role in the processes of creation and experimentation. By providing an open-ended, interactive installation, the artist is present in the decisions made by the participant. Together, the artist, the participants and the material artwork, through forward momentum and interaction of affect, engage in the act of creating the whole work of art.


identifier: Lever, Maggie  (2017) Measuring Elements of Exhibition Design.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Measuring Elements of Exhibition Design

subject: exhibition display, audience engagement, visitor experience, curatorial practices

abstract: This thesis investigates the effects of curatorial and exhibition design strategies on the ability to engage an audience with the art presented. Using theories of aesthetics and affect, this paper will summarize the intentions, and evaluate the findings of this study based on the exhibit entitled Atmospheres of Production. Exhibiting the work of Juanita Lee Garcia, Atmospheres of Production displayed art using two contrasting environments. One area aimed to create a neutral exhibition space as to not detract from the art, the other intended to rethink display aesthetics and conventions while creating a more dynamic environment. The response of the audience was evaluated through focus groups and surveys in order to qualify and quantify the findings in an attempt to answer the question: To what extent does the environment of an exhibit affect the experience had by the audience?


identifier: Magsi, Mariam  (2017) Purdah.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Purdah

format: image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image text

language: en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en

abstract:
This document supports Purdah, an installation based thesis exhibition consisting of photography, video, text, sound and scent.  Purdah records the diversity in the readings, meanings and interpretations of veils associated with Islam – such as burqa, niqab and hijab – while studying their gendered, historical and cultural contexts through an intersectional, feminist lens.  Purdah consists of digital and print representations of an amalgam of ethnography, storytelling and a contemporary critical art practice.  In the Introduction, I invite readers to delve into why I have chosen Islamic forms of veiling as a focus of my research while using it symbolically, conceptually and realistically in my work.  The introductory chapter will lead into the Methodology chapter highlighting visual research methods employed to realize this exhibition.  Following the Methodology chapter is the Literature Review in which I discuss influences of various artists and writers on my work.  Finally, the paper is closed with an Epilogue.

Keywords: Purdah, Burqa, Islamic Feminism, Photography, Image, Text, Sound, Video, Installation


identifier: Carnevale, Michael J  (2017) Toronto Augmented Reality Map: Enhancing citizen engagement with open government data using contemporary media platforms.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis investigates how visualization strategies and media platforms affect citizen engagement with urban public data. There is currently an international movement towards government transparency and accessible information as developed nations become more urbanized and information technology more ubiquitous. Concurrently, new media platforms (e.g., virtual and augmented reality) are evolving rapidly and show promise of mass adoption. These factors together offer design researchers a unique opportunity to develop new forms of citizen-facing media. I therefore developed an interactive augmented reality application that works with a printed map of the city of Toronto to overlay open government data as visualized digital content. An iterative practice-based research approach was used. Usability tests demonstrated that a strength of augmented reality is its facilitation of multi-user engagement. This thesis concludes by discussing how the Toronto augmented reality map can be made into an interactive citizen-facing installation in the public sphere.


identifier: Onisko, Valentyna  (2017) There is Bread and Salt Between Us: Negotiating Subjecthood Through Gestures of Hospitality.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Contemporary art, exhibitions, curatorial practice, migration, colonialism, globalization, displacement, subjecthood, national identity, intersectionality, cultural entanglement, feminist theory, postcolonial theory

abstract: This thesis investigates how those with complicated, conflicting, and hyphenated subjecthoods find expressions in contemporary art through explorations of nationality and identity, as well as cultural and historical entanglements. There is Bread and Salt Between Us, an exhibition installed at Open Space Gallery in March 2017, presents the works of four contemporary artists – Basil AlZeri, Tsēma Igharas, Lisa Myers, and Dana Prieto – whose creative engagements with gestures of hospitality both invite and unsettle the viewer. In their works, new conceptions of “home” are negotiated and created: often a pastiche of memories, cultural practices, and ideas of what it means to belong. This analysis explores the artworks through a framework of hospitality, speaking to contemporary realities and anxieties surrounding constructions of subjecthood within the Canadian context. In doing so, it acknowledges the challenging philosophical relationships and ethical questions that arise from the intersection of individuals, familial structures, cultures, and nations.


identifier: Uzun, Fusun  (2017) "Very Frustrating Mexican Removal" An immersive 360° verbatim documentary.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
This thesis examines the Canadian immigration detention system through an immersive, interactive artwork, which questions how the state’s discourse about immigration contradicts ongoing practice. This contradiction is studied through the operative logic of preemption, Brian Massumi’s concept of “ontopower”. Employing the method of the Forensic Architecture collective in the context of Bruno Latour’s concept of dingpolitik, another goal is to explore the blurred lines between forensis, method and theoretical framework. The artwork employs the practice of Verbatim Theatre and the techniques and technologies of 360° Cinema to present the events surrounding the death in 2013 of migrant Lucia Vega Jimenez while in detention with the Canada Border Services Agency.

Keywords: Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), ontopower, migrant detention, preemption, Verbatim Theatre, 360° cinema, forensic architecture, Lucia Vega Jimenez, assemblies, dingpolitik


identifier: Van Ruymbeke, Sandra Granite  (2017) The Poetics of Trash.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: The Poetics of Trash

format: text image image image video

abstract: This practice-led research is situated at the margins of human perception and the materiality of trash. I argue that trash has been culturally constructed to be marginalized, if not completely invisible, contributing to its denial and proliferation. My site-specific approach investigates trash and spatial ruin sites, seeking out the potentiality of the materiality by employing the media of sculpture, video, photography and assemblage. The Poetics of Trash is comprised of three artworks: a slow-motion video of a discarded industrial waste, a monumental pile of trash brought into the gallery, and back-lit photographs of hyper-detailed images of trash.   By deploying the artistic strategies of immersion, gilding and juxtaposition, I subvert the binaries clearing a space for the viewer to reconceptualise trash and ruminate on back-end production. This thesis provides a critical analysis of garbage through contemporary theoretical discourse while revealing the contributions of artistic practice to re-imagining the possibilities of garbage.


identifier: Lu, Leon  (2017) social medium.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: social medium

abstract: In response to the socio-cultural impact of Internet connected devices, this research project seeks to create opportunities for real world, face to face interaction between two people by discouraging the use of mobile phones. I attempt to augment user behaviour in two social scenarios; when two individuals sit down to share a meal and when two individuals sit and play a board game. My theoretical framework is based on BJ Fogg’s Behavioural Model and his concept of Persuasive Design. The goal of this research is to create interventions through physical objects that are designed to limit certain user behaviours while also encouraging other types of behaviour. I create two objects, one: a dining table that invites the user to hide their phone before sharing a meal and two: a chess board that cannot be used until both players put their phones away. I analyze my findings by comparing the effectiveness of each design to inform future work.


identifier: Shaw, Jordan  (2017) Habitual Instinct.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Habitual Instinct

format: image image image image image text image

abstract: Habitual Instinct challenges the predefined expectations participants hold with their relationship to technology and data by exposing anthropomorphic projections onto autonomous systems. The role Habitual Instinct has with its participants is to instigate continual reflection after participants leave the installation and interact with technology in their day-to-day activities. By creating a speculative scenario that is counter-intuitive to everyday experiences with interactive technology, the installation helps participants identify themes and behaviours that have become habitual by acknowledging the effect surrounding their experience and potential feelings. Recurring themes that materialize during interaction with the artwork include: challenging the status quo on how technology acknowledges and responds to interactions; autonomous systems and “alien agency”; digital data collection; connection between the self and digital representation through data visualizations; and data transparency and user privacy. These themes promote an open discussion surrounding their relationship with the power structure between society and corporate or governmental interest.


identifier: Hoti, Qendrim  (2017) Super Toys Last All Summer Long.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Super Toys Last All Summer Long

abstract:
Super Toys Last All Summer Long is an exhibition that investigates the negotiation of migrant cultural identity in the collective immigrant experience and, specifically, the operation of selfhood. Through the examination of hybridized identity and its mediation the exhibition considers the consequences of ‘involuntary’ displacement understood as the process of relocating from one source of culture to another. The exhibition seeks to highlight the associations attached to objects by immigrants and to make an assessment of culture in its material and psychological dimensions. Through the use of consumer products, technology and mementos I assemble a hybrid identity to relive the psychological tension caused by my dualistic identity. The works in Super Toys Last All Summer Long are informed by my personal memories and experiences as an immigrant living in North America, and the exhibition investigates both the effects of displacement on individual memory, and the translation of those memories.

Key Words: negotiation, hybrid, culture, identity, immigrant, memory, translation, assemble, objects, installation


identifier: Peltier, Emily  (2017) This Is The Artists’ Object(ive): The Conceptual Display of The Object, The Thing, and Asserting Subjectivity Through The Arts.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT
This Is The Artists Object(ive): The Conceptual Display of The Object, The Thing, and Asserting Subjectivity Through The Arts is a thesis exhibition and curatorial paper that considers the ways in which personal and collective memory is determined through the presentation and representation of everyday objects, and the ways in which objects can be separated from their utilitarian purpose and re-contextualized to reflect conditions of subjectivity in the gallery space. The exhibition presents the work of three Toronto-based, artists, Esmaa Mohamoud, Erin Vincent, and Dana Prieto, all of whom display personal, and everyday objects in order to reflect on social issues including race, identity politics, colonial exploitation, and stigma associated with mental health. The artists make use of objects such as - tea cups, wall paper, basket-ball nets, pillows, hammers, etc - in order to move beyond ethnographic presentation, and to forward critiques of nationalism, idealization, and identity, which act as a type of aesthetic de-pathologization; in other words, the ways in which art can undermine an adherence to hegemonic determinations of subject-hood.


identifier: Majewski, Julian M  (2017) Art Happens.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Art Happens

abstract:
The following thesis publication contextualizes my art practice as an exploration of the values that arise from creative process. Moving towards a relationship with sustainable practices, Generative Methodology activates my practice to experiment, interpret, and subvert materials, priming them for opportunistic displays of aesthetic realization. Rooted in material opportunity, my practice critically engages with the cultural implications of working with what may have been considered waste. By reemploying discarded and refuse materials, I investigate the power of art culture to influence and educate audiences. It is important to investigate the gallery as an influential site for critical reflection before projecting my artistic practice across new areas of research and commerce.
Key Authors: Arthur Danto, Philip Galanter, Steven J. Jackson, Gordon Monro, and Nick Zangwill.


identifier: Bonilla, Juan Francisco  (2017) A Home Movie, Reluctant Autoethnography.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: A Home Movie, Reluctant Autoethnography

abstract: A Home Movie, an 18-minute auto ethnographic film essay, concludes a two-year process of personal study of mental health, immigration and growth. Since the first shots of the film were captured with a DSLR camera, on December of 2014 at Pearson Airport, to the last shot taken on February of 2017 at his adoptive hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, the author went through a severe personal crisis, broke a leg, traveled, inquired his loved ones on the effects of his migration on their lives, severely strained and then strengthened ties with family, lost loved ones, and achieved a better understanding of his own self.  In this accompanying thesis, medical, artistic and sociological issues are carefully considered, but the crucial findings come from personal honesty and the finding of an artistic voice in the medium of film.


identifier: Sharratt, Ariel  (2017) “Knitting Ourselves into a Bigger World": Local/Global Dynamics in the “New Newfoundland Aesthetic” on Fogo Island.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
Like many rural areas that now leverage heritage for tourism purposes, Fogo Island — off Newfoundland’s Northeast coast — is the site of an ambitious arts-centred revitalization project led by native-daughter and wealthy philanthropist Zita Cobb and the Shorefast Foundation. At the centre of this project is the Fogo Island Inn, a luxury hotel furnished with designs created for the Inn by professional designers (largely European)
and produced by local craftspeople. Cobb has cited a desire to create a “new Newfoundland aesthetic” and images of the Inn and its interiors have circulated through the international design press. Looking specifically at the quilts produced for the Inn by local quilters under the guidance of the Foundation’s designers, this thesis considers the history
of textile crafts on this island and how the traditions now alluded to came to be invented, and how “the local” is being produced by Fogo Island textile craft.


identifier: Andy, Fallon  (2017) Bodies that Monetize.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Bodies that Monetize

subject: Memes, Mental-Health, Colonialism, Indigenous, Resistance, Death-worlds, Hauntings, Horror, Pipelines, Harm

abstract: Bodies that Monetize is an exhibition and thesis document that investigates the harms caused to Indigenous bodies and how they address such harms in the Canadian state. The document identifies how the Canadian state perpetrates harms to Indigenous bodies through the TransCanada Mainline. I argue that the Mainline causes boil water advisories and results in the creation of what Mbembe coins, “death-worlds” and what I call “harms” caused to Indigenous bodies. Indigenous bodies resist these violences by utilizing the horror genre for artistic expression, the practice of hauntings and ghosting, and the gendered use of resentment. My own method of resisting this violence includes making memes to utilize their ability to display the intangible and detongue the unspeakable. This includes discussions on mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety. Through the process of creating these memes as a method of resistance, my exhibition highlights the struggles of Indigenous bodies.


identifier: Dawson, Hayley  (2017) Aesthetics vs Entrepreneurialism: Artists' Careers, the Market and Models for Art Business.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis investigates the contemporary art market in relation to the practices of working artists. The social mechanisms that determine artistic value influence the decisions and processes of all artists. Simultaneously, the economic structure of the art world is complex and perhaps challenging to navigate for those who are engaged in a creative practice. As a critique of the current economic systems that govern the art industry, two key questions are addressed through this research: How are financial and symbolic values attributed to art? How do profit-driven art institutions affect cultural production? Issues of artists’ rights, representation, and the feasibility of a career in the arts are also examined. By looking at commercially-oriented institutions such as auction companies in juxtaposition to the knowledge-based institutions of art scholarship, this thesis considers the theoretical and discursive logics at play in artists’ financial decision making and suggests options for combining aesthetics with entrepreneurialism.


identifier: Knight, Pascaline, Jessica  (2017) When ( i ) stand for the w(hole): Je maintiens mon être entre deux parenthèses embrassées.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Translanguaging, Scale, Trace, Asemic Writing, Interstitial, Reciprocity, Stereophony, Potentiality, Becoming, Line, Margin, Embodied Language

abstract: This installation involves translanguaging, scale and ratio in objects, such as; an expanded crumpled lined paper, a heap of 365 miniature cahier Canada notebooks, stop-motion animations, a stereophonic montage of two texts and finally a performance; the remains of which becomes part of the exhibition.  This is an exercise that observes the power of metaphorical shifting and the space in which words and lines are simultaneously read and seen.  Examined through a studio based research using the materiality of paper, language and asemic writing in student cahier Canada notebooks, specifically the blue lines and red margin on the page that reflect fluctuating power dynamics and implicit associations in language. This complex of forces in repetition and scale evokes indeterminacy within language systems and the radical hollow at the center to locate the ( i ) in the cahier Canada.


identifier: Tuer, Dot  (2013) Tigers and crosses: The transcultural dynamics of Spanish-Guaraní relations in the Río de la Plata: 1516-1580.  PhD thesis, University of Toronto.

type:
Thesis (external)
NonPeerReviewed

abstract: This is a study of the early colonial period of the Río de la Plata from first contact in 1516 to the emergence of a predominantly mestizo population in Asunción by 1580. The central focus of the study is the period from 1537, when Spaniards founded Asunción in the territories of the Guaraní-speaking Carios, until the establishment of the encomienda, a colonial labour system, in 1556. Through a close reading of archival documents and chronicles, the study presents a narrative history of the transcultural dynamics of Spanish-Guaraní relations, including the convergence of kinship and alliances, cacique and conquistador rivalries, competing spiritual beliefs of shamanism and Catholicism, and the role of castaways, lenguas (interpreters) indigenous women, priests, and mestizos as intermediaries. How these transcultural dynamics were dominated by indigenous norms until 1556, and how they shaped the cultural, social, and spiritual dimensions of mestizaje (racial mixing) are analysed. The study covers key moments in the conquest and early colonial period. These include Sebastián Caboto’s exploration of the Río de la Plata from 1527 to 1529; Pedro de Mendoza’s armada to the Río de la Plata in 1535 that led to the founding of Asunción in 1537 and the first governorship of Domingo Martínez de Irala from 1539 to 1542; the rule of Asunción by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca as adelantado from 1542 to 1544; and Domingo Martínez de Irala’s second governorship of the region from 1544 to 1556. An in-depth examination of the establishment of the encomienda is undertaken to consider how cultural identification, social status, and ethnic distinctions were reconfigured between the Cario and other Guaraní-speaking groups, the Spanish, and mestizos after 1556. The study concludes with an analysis of the Oberá Rebellion of 1579-80 as an example of how kinship and warrior norms, Christianity, and shamanistic practices converged in indigenous resistance to colonial rule.


identifier: Price, Jill  (2017) Land as Archive: A Collection of Seen and Unseen Shadows.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text image

abstract:
Looking at the intersection of sculpture and drawing, Land as Archive is a practice-led and self-reflexive body of research that considers the environmental realities of the Anthropocene by investigating the agency of “things” and their shadows.  Focusing on the seen and unseen shadows of the global textile industry as well as documenting material excess consumed, reclaimed and produced during the research process, this inquiry aligns with Object Oriented Ontology to argue that shadows are actants and objects that conceal quantitative and qualitative data about our interconnected and traumatized landscapes.
   After obsessively locating, recording, analyzing, assembling and archiving shadows in conjunction with environmental data, this collective body of work aims to answer three questions: How do shadows serve as material that can provide visual data about our material culture, how can one record the agency and affect of shadows through drawing and sculpture, and what might a real shadow look like?


identifier: Essex, James A.  (2017) Moov: Scaffolding Motion-Based, Paired Play Creation.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Play, Open-ended Play, Emergent Play, Motion, Digital Body, Digital Performance

abstract: This project creates a motion-based play system that allows pairs of people to create their own play. It is an investigation in scaffolding an emergent play creation process. In it, players are placed in a minimal environment, given control over a digital body that emits movement-generated effects, and play emerges based on how players choose to express these effects in paired play.  This paper describes the research and development that drove the creation of the system’s underlying play model and architecture, as well as the results of user testing.  A variety of research approaches were undertaken in the project, including readings, interviews, low/high-fidelity prototyping, system architectural design and coding. Relevant research was explored in the areas of play, open-ended play, emergent play, and digital performance.  The core objectives of the research were to build the system and then validate its efficacy.


identifier: Pillai, Harish  (2017) The Variable Limits.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: The Variable Limits

abstract:
Fitness Trackers (FTs) have enabled users with new affordance in health management. However, users report low retention rates of FTs for long term usage.
The objective of this thesis is to explore a design paradigm for FTs using principles of self-modeling and neurophenomenology in the design of FT visualizations.
It is aimed to foster long term use of FTs by employing art-design aesthetics and analytical visualization by integrating user’s actions with the intent of providing users a better experience, motivating them to curate data visualization over a long term period. Research methodology in process and design of Art Graph (AG) utilized archetype, persona and usability test.
The design of interaction is experienced as personal examination through data analytics that functions as a visual data language of mind-body synergy.
Three types of persona were employed to demonstrate the AG visualization values with classic somatotype body classification ectomorph, endomorph and mesomorph.


identifier: Escareño Infante, Alda Avril  (2017) The Joy of Laser Cutting: Using recipes and food to teach digital manufacturing.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Laser Cutting, Digital Fabrication, Rapid Prototyping, Cooking, Recipes, Food, Education, Tutorials, Joy, Fake Food, DIY, Maker, Cookies

abstract: Laser cutters are powerful and versatile tools that can introduce significant untapped potential to creative practitioners. However, currently available learning materials for working with these machines are not designed with these users’ needs or interests in mind. To address this gap, I developed the Joy of Laser Cutting. This project uses recipes, food and visual language from the world of cookery as tools to reframe online DIY tutorials and appeal to creative practitioners. Interviews with artists and specialists who currently work with laser cutters were conducted to better understand the challenges and opportunities that this technology presents. Finally, workshops were held in which users engaged with the project to provide insights that fed back into the final design. This thesis identifies the importance of demystifying digital fabrication and presenting laser cutters as complex and imperfect mediums that offer users the opportunity to master them and expand their creative potential.


identifier: Jones, Lee  (2016) Your Body of Water: A Somaesthetic Display for Embodied Reflection.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Biofeedback, Biosensors, Ambient Display, Somaesthetics, Somaesthetic Reflection, Bodily Interactions, Embodiment, Affective Interaction, Aesthetic Interaction, Interactive Arts, Interaction Design, Media Arts

abstract:
In response to the Quantified Self movement, which uses body data for self-tracking and self-improvement, this thesis explores how aestheticized heart rate data can be used to get us more in touch with our bodies and how we are feeling. Utilizing somaesthetics, an interdisciplinary field with roots in philosophy that combines the soma (the living body) with aesthetics (our sensory perception and appreciation), this thesis explores how we can design interactions that help us to reflect on our embodied experience. Through a research through design process using somaesthetic appreciation design characteristics, I designed an interactive display that retrieved heart rate wirelessly with computer vision and then visualized one’s heart rate as water. The display was evaluated for somaesthetic characteristics using system critiques, and this evaluation method was found to be a timely and resource-effective way of evaluating a device for self
reflection and embodiment.


identifier: Fardy, Jonathan R  (2008) Double vision: Reviewing Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp's 1920 photo-text.  Masters thesis, Bowling Green State University.

subject: Man Ray; Marcel Duchamp; Photo-text; deconstruction

abstract: In the October, 1922 edition of the Surrealist journal Littérature, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp published a collaborative work consisting of a photograph of Duchamp’s iconic work The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors Even or The Large Glass (1915-23) covered in dust along with a brief poetic text. Although the photograph, which Duchamp later titled Dust Breeding, has long intrigued scholars their intriguing photo-text work has been completely overlooked. This thesis recovers this unique work from the margins of art history. Drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man, Michael Ann Holly and others this thesis examines four aspects of the photo-text’s history identified as the encounter, photograph, text and publication from a meta-critical perspective in order to illustrate the fluid relation between the binaries of subject/object and creator/beholder. This deconstruction, I argue, compels a reconsideration of the relationship between art historians and artworks that moves beyond a binary logic towards a more open, plurivocal and intertextual model of art-historical scholarship.


identifier: Lessio, Nadine  (2018) Working With Useless Machines: A look at our shifting relationship with ubiquity through personal assistants.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: video text

subject: Critical Design, Development, Humour, Ubiquity

abstract: This research explores how a nihilistic approach to the development of personal assistants can problematize the ways these technologies are being brought to market by using the concept of the useless machine. The research is organized around the creation of four prototypes: SAD Blender, Home Hub, Calendar Creep, Fortune Tasker, and a personal web server named Punchy. Each of these prototypes seek to critique the current corporate agenda of productivity, efficiency, and consumption, by creating machines that have no utilitarian function. This work investigates and defines useless machines in the contemporary context of personal assistants, and documents the development of each of the prototypes and server.  Overall the research shows that while its not possible to completely divorce these devices from their parent corporations, they do serve as an important vehicle to explore the changing landscape of ubiquity, and our shifting ability to work and live with these connected objects


identifier: Zhurkovskaya, Elizaveta  (2018) Treasured Memories: Thinking with Things.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: memory, biographical objects, storytelling, mementos

abstract:
This curatorial thesis, Treasured Memories: Thinking with Things, examines the power of biographical objects, those everyday things in our possession that anchor memory, to provoke new ideas about our relationships with others and ourselves. The five artists featured in the exhibition: Jasmine Cardenas, Renèe Hayward, Sara Angelucci, Vanessa Hussey, and Sarah Malekzadeh, express themselves through personal belongings; all of their artworks visualize the importance of personal and family possessions and explore the associated memories and stories those biographical objects tell when presented in a gallery setting.
Treasured Memories also includes an online project Mementos: Ordinary Objects of Extraordinary Circumstance (www.mementosproject.ca) where Torontonians were invited to go online and share a story about their personal possession. All summited stories were displayed during the exhibition and the viewers also had a chance to participate by writing a brief label describing their object and the story attached to it.


identifier: Ganguly, Mudit  (2018) Phonopticon: The age of mobile surveillance.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text video video

abstract:
Smartphones play an intimate role in everyday life. What many users don't know is that these devices have unparalleled access to their data. Companies like Facebook, Apple and Google commodify and share personal data with third parties. This data passes back and forth between third parties but also makes its way to governments. The controversy that followed Edward Snowden’s revelations is an ideal segue into current problems of surveillance and privacy.
 This thesis argues that knowledge about privacy breaches carried out by mobile applications leads to awareness about privacy. Research through design was used to create the Phonopticon, an immersive installation that gives viewers knowledge about privacy breaches. Just like Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon enables guards to observe prisoners without their knowledge, the applications on our smartphones gather and share our data without our knowledge. This thesis contends that we’re living in a Phonopticon – the age of mobile surveillance.


identifier: Ahmed, Samaa  (2018) Digital Debris: Visualizing the Future of Global E-Waste.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject:
e-waste, virtual reality, immersion, 360 video, critical design, design futurescaping,
speculative fabulation, postcolonial feminism, postcolonial ecocriticism, transcorporeality.

abstract: A growing excess of electronic waste (e-waste) is being produced worldwide due to sudden changes in technology and media, falling prices of digital devices, and planned technological obsolescence. The focus of my thesis project is to create an immersive experience where audiences are confronted by the scope of, and the urgent need to better address, e-waste issues on a global scale. Using principles of critical design, I have created a series of vignettes that allow users to visualize the tangible and complex connections between familiar digital devices, and the overall lifecycle of e-waste.


identifier: Leroux, Bernard  (2018) Traces Retraced: Reconstructing Identity.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: “I am Métis/Anishinaabe” is a complicated statement to make in 2018. Determining the precise meaning behind the various terminology used to describe the Métis throughout Canadian history can be confusing – terms like Country-Born, Black-Scotts, Bois Brûlé and Half-breed, each possess their own distinction. I have resolved my use of the term Métis/Anishinaabe to self-identify, based on extensive genealogical, archival and qualitative research and through the personal relationships I’ve established since 1999. Recovering my Métis/Anishinaabe roots enabled me to develop a relationship with my Indigenous ancestral history and participate in the evolution of my culture today. By utilizing artifacts and stories of my own family’s history and interpreting the emergence of my identity through the processes of art making, I advance a methodology of coming to know. This thesis confronts contemporary issues around reconstructing identity and retracing the threads of my ancestry to recover what was left by the trail.


identifier: Karimi, Mahsa  (2018) SENSUM An Ambient Environment For Mindfulness Practices.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Mindfulness, Calm Technology, Mood Elevation, Self-Help, Mental Health, Digital Technology, Inclusive Design, Human Centered Design, Meditation, Self Awareness, Light Therapy, Ambient Environment.

abstract: The reality of today’s fast-paced environment has created emotional challenges for everyone. In order for us to overcome these emotions, we might require to look within ourselves. This thesis project uses methodologies such as “Research through Design” (RtD) to investigate and reflect on the application of Ambiguity in Design, Color Therapy and “Calm Technology” to address the impacts of daily life challenges. This thesis project introduces an ambient environment to its users, encouraging them to disconnect from their busy daily activities and focus on themselves for a short period of time at the end of a busy day. The prototype of this thesis project, Sensum Light, incorporates a set of tangible products including a stationary object that is to stay at the user’s home as well as a mobile piece that is carried by the user throughout the day. Sensum Light aims to inspire users with their emotional well-being. In this document, I describe and reflect on the process of making and testing Sensum Light.


identifier: Iskandarsjah, Karina  (2018) Liminal Forms.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Liminal Forms

subject: hybridity, translation, inter-cultural, inter-disciplinary, liminality, displacement, identity, memory, globalization, exhibition, new media, digital art, video, photography, virtual reality, video game art, contemporary art

abstract: Liminal Forms is a group exhibition of works by Scott Benesiinaabandan, Jawa El-Khash, Marcus A. Gordon, Qendrim Hoti, and Mariam Magsi. It explores inter-cultural and cross-medium translations in contemporary art to understand aesthetically and materially hybrid manifestations motivated by the simultaneity of different cultures. By engaging with practices that are informed by interdisciplinary methods and actively acknowledging the artists’ Indigenous, third-culture and immigrant identities, I examine the tactics used by artists to communicate issues of origin, place, survival, identity, and agency. The artworks selected contemplate the complexity and ambiguity of contemporary co-existence. They offer a visual and contextual analysis of specific issues related to the following topics: ways of remembering misplaced, erased, and violent histories; forming relationships with culturally and geographically specific issues through the affect potential of inter-disciplinary art


identifier: Gazzaz, Sara  (2018) Fitrah: A Spiritual Journey.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Fitrah: A Spiritual Journey

abstract:
Abstract
This thesis addresses the notion of preserving self-identity using personal experience as a Muslim immigrant with cultural concerns of maintaining the practice of Islamic prayer rituals in a secular environment. It explores how the use of art practices in conjunction with digital technology can create a work that presents a deeper understanding of a Muslim immigrant’s need for a space to practice their prayer rituals. It discusses works by Edward Said, Stuart Hall and Frantz Fanon that are tied to acts of resistance and inequalities in various global settings. My project uses autoethnography and practice-led research that provide me with the appropriate methodological framework to create an installation that conceptualizes the experience of an Islamic prayer. Fitrah is a digital interactive installation which uses Islamic artifacts, light and audio to express my spiritual journey and preserve my Islamic prayer rituals in shared spaces.

Keywords: Self-Identity, Rituals, Prayer, Multi-faith Spaces, Islam, Diversity, Autoethnography, Practice Led Research, Islamic Art, Digital Technology, Religion, Digital Interactive Installation, Orientalism.


identifier: Ivanova, Veronika  (2018) Poetics of Transgression.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Poetics of Transgression

abstract:
“Poetics of Transgression” disentangles the controversies surrounding three
contemporary art works in order to take up the role of discomfort and the practice of transgression in contemporary art. The criticism thesis argues that although both employ tactics of antagonism, shock, and offense, we can delineate between transgression and mere offense according to the work’s efficacy in challenging the hegemonic order. Works are transgressive when they put into question the hegemonic order and works are offensive when they reinforce the hegemonic order. The tactics of disturbance may be the same but the definitive feature of transgression is that it oversteps and shocks to stimulate dialogue and to bring into clarity that which is under-articulated by the hegemonic order. Whereas offense obfuscates dialogue in order to uphold the hegemonic status quo, transgression instigates inquiry and makes demands of its viewer to engage with the ethical considerations of a work through provocation.


identifier: Worku, Mel  (2018) The I in Optics.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: The I in Optics

abstract: This thesis involves a film-based installation that explores the notion of authorship in cinema. Participants are invited to access and combine short video clips through an interactive device that facilitates the creation of individualized films. Combining elements of expanded cinema, customized editing software, and crowdsourced video, The I in Optics challenges the conventional hierarchy and compartmentalization of film production, along with the presumed passivity of the audience. My exhibition empowers spectators to take on the role of filmic experimentation regardless of their training or knowledge; the result will be an archive of films that demonstrates the agency and creativity of individuals who can become filmmakers if provided the opportunity. In recruiting a wide variety of participants to engage with my customized software, what will ultimately be gleaned from this exhibition is the different ways users cull their creativity from the same set of tools and clips.


identifier: Simon, Michael M  (2018) Tool-things: The Making of an Apprentice.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Sculpture, Installation, Tools, Maker, Craft, Apprentice, Apprenticeship, Art, Thing, Object, Use, Useless

abstract: Tool-things: The Making of an Apprentice represents the beginning of an apprentice’s toolkit, one that can be read as evolving in parallel to the knowledge gained through its making. This work taps into the human connection to tools by focusing on some of the most familiar ones: the hammer, screwdriver, clamp, and handsaw. Most of these tool-things have been meticulously made from metal and wood to be almost indistinguishable from the everyday, readymade objects they sit alongside, and both are seen in an unexpected light. Paused during a process of metamorphosis, somewhere between the familiar and alien, they encourage us to question what comes first: the knowledge, or the tool? Potentially sparking frustration in their apparent uselessness, Tool-things ask us to look a little longer–it could just be that we don't yet recognize their use.


identifier: Sherer, Samantha  (2018) Objects that Create Community: Effects of 3D Printing and Distributed manufacturing beyond Circular Economy.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Ceramic 3D Printing, 3D Printed, Additive Manufacturing, Democratized Manufacturing, Global Manufacturing, Circular Economy, Regenerative Development, Cradle to Cradle, Biomimicry, Up-Cycle, Upcycle, Blue Economy, Circular Craft, Alternative Economy, Appropriate Technology, Open Source, Hackerspace, Makerspace, FabLab, RepRap,Rapid Prototype,

abstract: Consistent with principles of Regenerative Development, which positions all aspects of human communities in balance with their local ecosystems, this paper argues that Additive Manufacturing (AM) has potential to alter global economic and manufacturing landscapes. Informing my practice-led research with a review of relevant scholarship I demonstrate how the convergence of 3D Printing with the Maker Movement can generate Circular Economy by fostering ecological awareness of material composition and overconsumption. By folding informal economies into the mainstream thereby strengthening community bonds, AM increases socioeconomic sustainability and creates opportunities for intervention in critical societal issues and associated pressures on resource and waste management. By modeling usage of open-source AM technology in the Global North, I identify barriers to its dissemination as an appropriate technology in the Global South. I outline strategies to circumvent obstacles to the disruption of global consumerism by shifting from underperforming Sustainable Design principles towards restorative Regenerative Development.


identifier: Whaley, Wendy S  (2018) Coenesthesia: An Aesthetic of Healing Through Hybrid Reality Art.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: The affordances of new forms of interactive art including virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) have implications for health, opening new perspectives on embodiment. The title of this thesis project – Coenesthesia – is a term for the feeling of embodiment that arises from the sensorial processing of multiple stimuli from various bodily organs. This thesis incorporates the idea of the art object as amenable object and techniques from cognitive neuroscience studies. It explores proprioception and synaesthesia, surreality, and the precognition of autonomic affect. These ideas are applied to the question of how to form revitalizing affects. How can hybrid media art advance exploration and affective engagement with one’s embodied interiority? A coenesthetic aesthetic - a multi-modal, multi-sensorial aesthetic that combines biofeedback with surreality - is proposed as a strategy to form revitalizing affects. Coenesthesia, the hybrid media installation, is an example of the coenesthetic aesthetic in practice.


identifier: Dawe, Laura  (2018) I Was Afraid I Wouldn't Be Able to Make Work.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: tortured artist, addicted artist, recovery, brad philips, toronto artist, nick bierk, erin loree,

abstract:
Using a neonarrative methodology, this paper attempts to unpack the question “how does sobriety affect the art practice of the addicted visual artist?” This qualitative, auto-ethnographic paper asks whether substance use helps or hinders the creative process. By combining current science, Jungian psychology and personal accounts of visual artists about their experiences with drugs, alcohol and creation, this paper seeks to shed some light on the trope of the tortured artist.

Keywords: neonarrative methodology, Jung, persona, archetype, addiction, tortured artist, architectural palimpsest, architecture as metaphor, Csikszentmihalyi, recovery, painting, buildings, sobriety, recovery.


identifier: Karadia, Afaq Ahmed  (2018) Embodied Expressions.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Embodied Expressions

abstract: Embodied Expressions is an exploration into the possibilities of creating live audiovisual performance systems with the aim of expanding my own artistic practice. This thesis investigates how a performer could express more intuitively with physical and mechanical audiovisual interfaces, and stands in revolt against the total digitalization of live electronic music. I argue that modern electronic music performance has led to a decoupling of sound from its traditional origins in real physical objects and has created a limitation in the live performer’s ability to express themselves through the embodied aspects of their live musical expression. This thesis reflects on the artistic exploration of embodied instruments made up of found objects and their control by a performer’s gestural input. The final artifact of this thesis is a set of heard and seen mechanical instruments placed about the audience’s environment that are controlled by the performer using a custom-designed gesture-based control system.


identifier: Syed, Hammadullah  (2018) Influx.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Influx

abstract: The purpose of this research is to help people understand the limits that languages currently exhibit when trying to convey emotions. I explore Leland Wilkinson’s Grammar of Graphics and Robert Plutchik’s Psychoevolutionary Theory of Emotion to understand a user’s expressional experience and how these experiences can be understood as data. The goal is to deconstruct the relationships between emotions and colour, suggesting that this partnership can become an additive to language. Taking an auto-ethnographic and a research through design approach, I created Influx, a tool for this language to take place and help people reconstruct their emotions in the form of colours.


identifier: Chen, Bijun  (2018) “Masters of Laoting Shadow Play” Experiencing traditional art practice in virtual space.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: As a child growing up in China, traditional art forms such as shadow plays and paper cutting were popular and spiritual arts enjoyed by everyone; they were also entertainment and decorative art. After a few years studying abroad, I found that such cultural treasures could hardly be found in public or during major festivals; everything seemed to be replaced by digital entertainment. As traditional Chinese art forms are a part of me, it would be sad to see those intangible cultural practices vanish. For this thesis project, (1) I will use field research to interview and understand the current landscape for one living artisan in China who still practices an art form at the brink of extinction, and (2) produce an immersive 360 documentary short that retells his/her stories and recreate a viewer’s experience of these forms from an observer's perspective, as a way of preserving these important traditional arts.


identifier: Krebs, Tara  (2018) "You'll Distract the Boys!": A Choose-Your-Own Compendium of Female Existence.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
“You’ll Distract the Boys!” is an illustrated gamebook in which readers assume the lives of several North American women and girls and navigate the typical experiences they face. Presented with issues such as body censorship, gender construct, and sexual harassment, readers must traverse a maze of objectionable scenarios as a diverse and inclusive cast of characters.
The goal of this project is to utilize interactive narrative as a pedagogical tool that evokes a response of compassion and empathy for women. To illustrate the potential of this medium, the following research document explores a selection of theory and case studies that support the value of interactive storytelling, as well as the methodologies behind the project’s creation.


identifier: Medrek, Ania  (2018) News By Association: Designing a Way Out of the Echo Chamber.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis is an investigation of the echo chamber phenomenon in news consumption on social networking sites. It incorporates elements of actor-network theory, Bruno Latour’s ‘matters-of-concern’ and Participatory Design methodology to identify and unpack contributing factors to the formation of echo chambers. As part of the research, a web tool called Echology was conceptualized during a series of workshops with news industry professionals. This paper describes the making of Echology, from ideation to actualization. The goal of this document and its accompanying design piece is to challenge readers to think critically about the forces at play in an online news experience.


identifier: Samaei, Afrooz  (2018) Learning Abstract Symbolic Mathematics Through Digital Games.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
Video games are extremely engaging experiences that could offer a productive learning environment to better understand concepts that are challenging to grasp within a traditional classroom setting. Mathematics provides one example of such a subject due to its high level of abstraction. Learning mathematics has long been a challenge for students, and a source of concern for educators. A considerable number of video games have been developed to teach basic mathematical concepts, yet, teaching more advanced mathematics remains a major challenge. This research explored ways to incorporate math education in video games, focusing on modeling concepts from high school mathematics. The goal of this research was to make a series of prototype games that act as extrinsic motivational tools to help students engage more effectively with abstract mathematical concepts. The intent was to help students understand the applications of those concepts by putting them into practice within a game environment.

Keywords: Video Games, Digital Games, Educational Games, Abstract Symbolic Mathematics, High School Mathematics, Learning Through Games, Design Research


identifier: VALAKHANOVITCH, DARIA DASHA  (2018) IN VISIBLE LINES.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: IN VISIBLE LINES

abstract: In Visible Lines addresses the complexity found within the visual simplicity of the familiar realm of the line. Working through the lens of Tim Ingold's anthropological study of lines, the exhibition and paper explore human interaction with invisible and visible lines that govern our space. This process was conducted through practice-based research as a working methodology which explores the line in space through ceramic sculpture. Drawing connections between physical and conceptual interaction with the abstract nature of the line, I invite spectators to engage and reflect on the inherent power of lines.


identifier: Couchie, Aylan  (2018) "very fine people on both sides".  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: "very fine people on both sides"

subject: monuments, reconciliation, Indigenous, Anishinaabe, TRC, Canada

abstract: Throughout history, monuments have been erected to act as reminders of sites, events and people. In Canada, many of these commemorative markers reflect one side of history and further Indigenous erasure. This thesis supports my 2018 MFA exhibition titled “very fine people on both sides” that interrogates the distribution of understanding and multiple perspectives surrounding monuments and reconciliation. The thesis considers the historical, social, and political positioning of monuments and their relationship to Canada’s engagement within the process of reconciliation. It investigates how monument interventions have been employed by Indigenous artists as a space for reclamation to acknowledge true histories. Through critical discourse analysis and case studies, this thesis investigates how “the monument” is perceived in contemporary timelines as an underpinning for further research into how the creation/prospect of new monuments proposed under the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action can be improved to better reflect Indigenous and Canadian realities.


identifier: Guo, Yawen  (2018) ImprovChat: An AI-enabled Dialogue Assistant Chatbot for English Language Learners (ELL).  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: AI dialogue assistant, AI assistant, chatbot, machine learning, conversation, improvisation, English language learning, SLA

abstract: This thesis asks, how can an AI-enabled Dialogue Assistant in the form of a chatbot suggest new and unexpected forms of response to English Language Learners? The thesis draws upon theories of improvisation and play, alongside computer science to facilitate text-based conversation in English for non-native speakers. ImprovChat is a digital solution for communication issues that I encounter every day. My experience with improvisational theatre also informs the ImprovChat project. For my thesis research-creation, I developed the web application by implementing API powered by machine learning to generate AI phrases. The phrase generation model is pre-trained using the Twitter feeds created by people who speak English as a first language. ImprovChat dialogue assistant will provide phrase suggestions; these could potentially be used in online chatting scenarios where the participants have two different native languages. It can also be used to inspire unexpected and playful forms of response.


identifier: Zandi, Rana  (2018) The Parallel Mind.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: The Parallel Mind

abstract: Throughout the last century, Western scholars from various fields have contributed toward finding a general theory of consciousness that can accurately describe how the human brain processes information, and how it reflects and becomes aware of this information. In 2013, Michael Graziano an American scientist focused on the awareness aspect of consciousness and proposed the Attention Schema Theory of Consciousness (AST) to solve why the mind becomes aware in the first place. This thesis takes a stance that life on the screen has allowed us to extend our identities through embodiment of a second self in cyberspace. By using textual analysis, thought experiments, conceptual models, and mind activities, this work formulates parallel mind–as a self-aware digital entity that uses the content of the digital self. The objective of this work is to provide a technique for the validation of AST within a digital computer, which may lead us to better understandings of humanity’s place in the universe.


identifier: Laweh, Julia  (2018) Iconoclash: A Post-Secular Reading of Naro Pinosa's Instagram Collages.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: iconoclash, Instagram, Naro Pinosa, Christian Art, Contemporary Christian Art, Digital Christian Art, Instagram Christian Art

abstract: This criticism thesis responds to the absence of post-secular art critical discourse that would set the foundation for a critical discussion about the proliferation of imagery that desecrates Christian symbols on image-based social media by undertaking a case study of the Instagram celebrity artist Naro Pinosa, who uses the medium of digital photo-montaging to produce iconographically-defaced collages that reference Christian imagery. A close reading of eight key images by Pinosa offers a post-secular interpretation of these works. The author draws on Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model to take up the position of a decoder whose beliefs and values place them in a critical relation to the dominant code of Instagram as a secular social media platform. Through this positionality, the author argues for a reading against the grain of what appears to be anti-Christian imagery.


identifier: Service, Brianne  (2018) Memory and Fiction in Gothic Spaces.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Memory and Fiction in Gothic Spaces

format: text image image image image image image

abstract: Memory and Fiction in Gothic Spaces addresses how we look at and experience Gothic interior space through methodologies of painting. Grounded in my personal experiences of living in Florence Italy, the project seeks to coalesce memory and nostalgia through the themes of the sublime and the uncanny. The exhibition and paper examine how Gothic interiors inspire awe and trigger memory, asking the viewer to question and reflect on their understanding of the real and the unreal. Informed by an interdisciplinary methodology, I have researched specific qualities of Gothic architecture; included case studies and employed a triad of methods that includes digital photography, digital collage and representational painting. This methodology has allowed me to create a pictorial language as a way to understand and rediscover my identity in Canada after returning from Italy. The results include three large-scale paintings that incorporate images of the Canadian landscape and of Gothic Revival architecture.


identifier: Xie, April  (2018) Democratic Design: Creating diagrams to draw young citizens together.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: politics; participation; visualization; data; critical literacy; diagrams; representation; youth; young people; civic engagement; participatory action research; PAR; design methods; digital media; civic media

abstract: This research explores the possibilities of a democratic design process, in which technology is not treated as a solution to the civic apathy of young people, but a social construction with embedded values that young people negotiate with their own, as a way to draw themselves together as publics. This will be explored by creating a participatory multimedia-making program for young people, in which critical literacy around data and diagram production is fostered as a form of representation they can consider for articulating civic concerns relevant to them. The resulting program, Rise and Visualize, included eight young people and was hosted in partnership with For Youth Initiative between November 2017 to February 2018. The focus is on the engagement process and issues in design participation, therefore the design prototype being presented is the resulting process framework and case study, rather than artifacts created by the young people in the program.


identifier: Micak, Katie  (2018) The Alexa Experiment.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: The Alexa Experiment

format: text video

subject: Katie Micak, Katie, Micak, Digital Futures, The Alexa Experiment, Experiment, Amazon Alexa, Amazon, Alexa, artificial intelligence, performance art, autoethnography, feminism, future, The Mirror Stage, visual art, digital, surveillance,  documentation, lived-study, embodied robots, robots, chatbots, cameras, narcissism, privacy sharing, transparency,  performative text, emotions, talk therapy, psychoanalysis, ELIZA chatbot, transference, cybernetics, The Real, The Symbolic, The Imaginary,  uncanny, voice, voices, anthropomorphism, myers-briggs, essentialism, artists, social media, science fiction, insanity, capitalism, advertisements, women speaking, questions, answers, talking, experience, narrative, Echo Dot, echodot, photo essay, bodies, representation, insanity, conversation, commercial mom

abstract:
"The Alexa Experiment" is an autoethnographic and performative project which explores living with the artificially intelligent home assistant, the Amazon Alexa. This Experiment evaluates the device outside of intended consumer uses in hopes to understand who is Alexa?

“The Alexa Experiment” is a time-based document, chronicling our journey together, which reports discoveries over an eight-month period. This text is accompanied by a mini-documentary detailing pivotal moments with the device and surveillance footage of private interactions, demonstrated through feminist performance art techniques.

This paper critically unpacks the Alexa as a creature, a friend, a surveillance object, and a mirror for self-analysis. Finally, I look at Alexa as a subject, landing on ‘who’ she is through interviews with the device, by leveraging Jacque Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory, “The Mirror Stage.”


identifier: Perera Gunatilleke, Manori (Manik)  (2018) bodies-cities:exploring embodied knowledge of urban sites through interactive virtual reality experiences.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: video image image text

abstract: bodies-cities presents the multi-sensory complexity of embodied mapmaking as a layered, interactive virtual reality (VR) palimpsest.  A palimpsest is a space that holds multiple layers of knowledge, and this research takes the urban public site of St James Town in downtown Toronto for its exploration. The research process exemplifies the entanglement of people, places, methodology, and methods to reflect the complex nature of embodied spatial knowledge. This entanglement is presented through the application of Karen Barad’s feminist new materialist theory and the apparatus of sensory ethnography for virtual reality.  The virtual reality experience draws on the interactive affordances of VR and reconfigures film montage and architecture techniques to present the entangled elements of embodied knowledge emerging from residents’ relationship to the site.


identifier: Mody, Natasha  (2018) Demystifying the Future of the Screen.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Demystifying the Future of the Screen

subject: volumetric display, technology, screens, television, graphical display, device, entertainment, blue-sky, interface, simulation, science fiction, design fiction, hi-fidelity, prototype, speculative design, phantasmagoria, Birkeland, holography, display fan, illusion, autostereoscopic, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality

abstract:
Demystifying the Future of the Screen explores the creation of a 3D representation of volumetric display (a graphical display device that produces 3D objects in mid-air), a technology that doesn’t yet exist in the consumer realm, using current technologies. It investigates the conceptual possibilities and technical challenges of prototyping a future, speculative, technology with current available materials.

Cultural precedents, technical antecedents, economic challenges, and industry adaptation, all contribute to this thesis proposal. It pedals back to the past to examine the probable widespread integration of this future technology.

By employing a detailed horizon scan, analyzing science fiction theories, and extensive user testing, I fabricated a prototype that simulates an immersive volumetric display experience, using a holographic display fan. Its construct was inspired by pre-television optical media like phantasmagoria, Kristian Birkeland’s immersive cathode-ray environments, and NBC’s original news broadcast in the early 1900s. The treatment was influenced by sci-fi film visualizations.


identifier: Tyagi, Shreeya  (2018) Electronic Textiles as Tangible Interface for Virtual Reality.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
This project investigates the development of a series of experimental, tangible, electronic textile (e-textile) interfaces to virtual reality (VR), using the approach of human-computer interaction (HCI). The e-textile interface is an unconventional controller that manipulates objects (3D visual asset) within virtual reality. This research has been framed within the context of HCI using a framework of Tangible User Interfaces (Ulmer and Ishii 2000).

Through this research I explore how human touch relates to tangible objects and passive haptics. I also explore the overlap between visual experience and virtual reality by employing the theory of Haptic-Visual overlap (Fitzmaurice 1998), which deals with 3D volumetric perception of a physical object as well as the idea of Active Touch (Gibson 1962, Lederman and Klatzky 2009, Visell et al. 2016).

Using the aforementioned theoretical frameworks and employing research through design methodology, I prototyped a series of explorative e-textile interfaces and virtual reality digital counterparts.


identifier: Bakker, Thoreau  (2018) Objects in the Age of Virtual Reproduction: Aura and the Elusive Third Axis.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject:
Walter Benjamin, Aura, Presence, Virtual Reality, Research-Creation, 3D
 ,Sculpture, Art

abstract: This thesis contributes to the body of scholarship on Walter Benjamin, his ideas about aesthetics, and the political implications of technologically mediated art. It disambiguates Benjamin’s concept of aura, by considering aura’s conceptual prerequisite of physical presence, and the perceptual presence offered by Virtual Reality (VR). Building on other research exploring the topic, this thesis takes a Research-Creation approach, using art-making as a method to navigate theory and vice versa. Specific technologies used include VR, 3D printing/scanning, computer numerical control (CNC), and photogrammetry. Outputs include two large (physical) lion sculptures, a VR experience featuring the same lion models (virtually) and a vending machine dispensing inexpensive artist multiples. The relationship between two-dimensional (2D) media and three- dimensional (3D) objects, is presented as challenging the Benjamin binary of original/reproduction, arguing it is not so much reproduction alone that diminishes aura but the translation (flattening) of an object from 3D to 2D.


identifier: Siroyt, Christian Julien  (2018) Manuscript Subculture: Risk and Radical Practice in Art and Archives.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: archives, curatorial practice, rare books, manuscript, manuscript culture,

abstract:
Manuscript Subculture: Risk and Radical Practice in Art and Archives
Christian Julien Siroyt
Master of Fine Arts
2018

Criticism and Curatorial Practice OCAD University

Manuscript Subculture: Risk and Radical Practice in Art and Archives
presents a hand-made, one-of-a-kind artist’s book as a practical demonstration of the possibilities and limitations that arise from an engagement with manuscript subcultures in curatorial practice. The site-specific and self-referential nature of the thesis object, which includes original manuscript material embedded within its pages, enacts the concepts to which it refers through a selection of curatorial, archival and artistic contexts that are analyzed in three essays. The selections exemplify traditional and experimental modes of engagement with manuscript objects, and present strategies for integrating the radical implementation of new practices and theories alongside traditional ways of doing. This thesis argues that by actively troubling the conventions of curatorial and archival practice through experimentation with the formal properties of the manuscript object and the artist’s book, discourse in the field expands and encourages new modes of practice.


identifier: Mikhael, Diane  (2018) Curating for Empathy: Design Thinking for Social Engagement.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Curatorial practice, empathy, resilience, design thinking, social engagement, social innovation, contemporary art

abstract: This study asks, what strategies do curators as design thinkers use to foster social engagement in art exhibitions? Through examinations of the curatorial strategies in two case studies: A Mile in My Shoes, curated by Clare Patey (2015) at the Empathy Museum in London, and Boxed, curated by Sheila Sampath (2017) at The Public Studio in Toronto, I portray five curatorial tactics gleaned from secondary source research and first-person interviews with the curators. Drawn from Ezio Manzini’s five concepts on social engagement and from Tim Brown’s conceptual modes of Design Thinking, I argue that a balance of relational intensity between all participants enables empathy; participation is a refusal of the curator’s authority; participants’ openness to the lives of others enriches the participatory experience; embodied experiences produce empathy in participants; and iterative space produces participants’ own sustainable stories as art. Design thinking in curatorial praxis is a catalyst for social change.


identifier: Nelson, Pamela  (2018) Smooshes, Slabs & Slices: Entanglements in Ceramic.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: ceramic, clay, sculpture, assemblage, actant, geology, raw material, displacement, ore, material culture, transformation, bricolage, digital, hand made, process, permanence, fragility, diffraction, meaning

abstract: Smooshes, Slabs & Slices is an exhibition of sculptural, ceramic-based assemblages that capture moments of transformation in progress. A raw material is made precious, a lump of solid clay is smooshed, a slab is in motion. Each object is fabricated in a bricolage manner of a collection of unlikely material actants, and transformed through digital and hand made processes. At a foundational level, these objects tell a story about physical forces exerted on materials, the results of which reference a range of geologically and culturally-entangled contexts around ideas of displacement, transformation, permanence and fragility. This practice-based research was created through a diffractive methodology which encourages method to emerge from meaning and vice versa.


identifier: Lander, Max  (2019) PowerGaming: Queer BDSM and Weird Little Games.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: BDSM, Game Design, Game Studies, Queer Studies, Queer Game Studies, Embodiment, Virtual Reality, Kink, Brink Games, Sexuality

abstract: Powergaming is a series of game sketches exploring the ways Queer BDSM (Bondage/Discipline, Dominance/Submission, Sadism/Masochism) can inform the development of critically engaged  games. More specifically, it is an investigation into the ways the considerations of Queer BDSM, such as the redefinition of pleasure, can be harnessed to create play that promotes queer subjectivities and challenges hetero/cisnormative play. Through designing specifically for the body as a site of brink/edge space, Powergaming uses the methods of feminist pornography to encourage the cross-pollination of meaning across these boundaries, with the ultimate goal of engendering queerly subversive play.


identifier: Wu, Lingxiang  (2019) Red Millennial Apple: The Rough and The Smooth Image.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: image image image image image image video video video text video

subject: animation, experimental video, contemporary art, visual art, the aesthetic of the smooth, poor image, punctum, tangible illusion, resemblance, Hito Steyerl, Byung-Chul Han, Lev Manovich, Jacqure Ranciere

abstract: Red Millennial Apple: The Rough and The Smooth Image explores the impact digital space has on our everyday lives and the reasons behind our desire to consume smooth visual content. The aesthetic of the smooth seeks to eradicate any resistance between images and viewers. Within contemporary capitalist production, poor images are no longer blurred due to low resolution; they are smooth from the rational elimination of excess information — looking becomes consuming. If smoothness is post–produced, then this thesis explores the possibility of reversing that process, roughening the communication between the sayable and the visible through post–production, disrupting the algorithmic automation in Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects. Smooth images are progressively roughened to generate collages, objects, rotoscoped video, and stop–motion animation, keeping viewers at a distance but inviting them to linger, contemplating what they see.


identifier: Poole-Adler, Kristi  (2019) Nostalgia is (not) Productive.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Nostalgia is (not) Productive

abstract:
Nostalgia is (not) Productive, explores the concept of grief and loss through text and textiles. Referencing Pauline Boss’ theory of Ambiguous Loss, as well as her personal grief of experiencing a loved one’s struggle with mental illness, Kristi Poole-Adler questions what it means to grieve someone who is still living.
This work investigates whether nostalgia is an effective coping mechanism for grief, or if it re-inscribes trauma through rumination. By using time consuming methods, such as stitching and weaving, her actions facilitate a reflective and contemplative space to mourn. With her thesis project, Kristi Poole-Adler aims to create critical dialogue on how mental illness affects familial relationships.


identifier: Caraway, Kylie  (2019) Mother of the Forest: Contemplating Species Entanglements in a Sequoia Ecosystem.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: speculative fabulation, symbiosis, ecology, interactive narrative, immersive experience, virtual reality, speculative design, multispecies storytelling

abstract: Mother of the Forest: Contemplating Species Entanglements in a Sequoia Ecosystem is an immersive experience that explores the significance of symbiotic relationships in a sequoia tree’s ecosystem through embodied perspectives of various species. Through this research project, Mother of the Forest inquires: in what ways can immersive experiences represent a sequoia tree’s ecosystem, in order to communicate to users various perceptions of time and space, symbiosis, climate change, and environmental changes over time? Pairing scientific information with speculative design methods, Mother of the Forest applies a speculative fabulation methodology to exhibit theoretical concepts such as “kinship”, “becoming-with”, and “entanglements” in order to have users consider their own role in intertwined ecologies impacted by human activity, resulting in biodiversity decline and climate change.


identifier: McCallum, Kirstie  (2019) Inviting the Outside In.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Inviting the Outside In

format: image image image image image text

subject: process art, ecological art, land art, installation, assemblage, contemporary art, conceptual art, natural dyes, plant-based pigments, ephemeral sculpture, precarious structures, thinking through making, vital materialism, queer phenomenology, object oriented ontology, object oriented feminism, vibrant matter, queer theory, aesthetics, Arte Útil, Eva Hesse, Walter de Maria, Kath Fries, Agnes Dene, Mel Chin, aesthetic gesture, white cube, Brian O'Doherty,

abstract: My research investigates the conceptual relationships between humans and non-humans by examining material properties through sense-based artistic processes. Inviting the Outside In focuses the interactions between plant-based dyes and substrates of wood and plaster, within the context of a large installation. I explore what it means to allow an artwork to accumulate according to the inherent material tendencies of the assembled non-human elements, and I draw on Tim Ingold’s notion “itinerant material unfolding” to describe this methodology. This project’s theoretical framework includes Vital Materialism, Queer Phenomenology, Object Oriented Ontology, and Object Oriented Feminism. I look to Eva Hesse’s work as a model of experimental studio practice, and I contextualize my thematic interest in ecology by looking to site- specific artists like Walter de Maria, Mel Chin, Agnes Dene, and Kath Fries. I consider how sensibilities associated with large-scale work can be reflected in smaller, more intimate studio-based practices.


identifier: Carlson, Sarah  (2019) Gardens & Grottoes: An Interdisciplinary Investigation into Passages of Becoming.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text image image

subject: trans-corporeality, anthropocene, biophilia, more-than-human, becoming, movement, subjectivity, installation, sculpture, painting

abstract: Gardens & Grottoes speculates on messy entanglements between more-than-human agencies within the topos of the grotto, both as an architectural garden feature and vital subterranean ecosystem. By examining the aestheticization of plants, animals, rocks, soils, water and air through art and landscape architecture, this thesis argues for a refiguring of personhood beyond boundaries and into a more porous, interconnected conception of self. In our time of significant anthropogenic impact, where humans are often pictured as dominant, yet separate from ecologies, this investigation proposes an immersed and enmeshed conception of humanity. The artistic exploration diffractively reads through notions of biophilia, bodies and becoming within cavernous garden aesthetics in order to challenge human exceptionality and consider expanded subjectivities. Through movement, multi-sensory engagement and representational blurring of bodies, the exhibition invites intimate encounters and collaboration with the beings present.


identifier: Rockliff, Quinn  (2019) here:there An Autoethnographic Exploration of Virtual and Physical Embodiment.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: image image text

subject: sexual assault culture, installation art, feminism, posthuman theory, #metoo, social media, Instagram

abstract: here:there is an autoethnographic exploration of how I use social media as a tool for reclamation and self-representation as a survivor of sexual assault. It uses posthuman and feminist theory to unpack the expectations of survivors and the affordances of virtuality to explore new pathways to healing after trauma. This thesis document examines my process as a contemporary feminist artist, and aims to contribute to a growing body of work that moves towards expressionist autoethnography to create critical, transparent, and nuanced representations of the self.


identifier: Guzman, Coco  (2019) Las cosas que se quedan / The things that remain.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text image image image image image image image image

abstract:
This MFA exhibition thesis explores the relationships between borders, embodied memories, ghosts, and non-linear narratives through practice-based research that incorporates drawing, installation, and performance. The body of work utilizes the space as a site of memory and storytelling, where the viewer walks, remembers and stitches together fragments of a larger story. Using multiple drawing strategies and installation approaches, the exhibition raises questions about the representability of the haunting, the narrative strategies of impossible stories, and the absence-presence of the body from the art work. The frame of research that resulted in my exhibition focuses on the complex experiences of haunting on the Frontera Sur, the Spanish Mediterranean shore: from the ghosts of those killed by the Francoist dictatorial regime to the more recent ghosts of those killed by EU immigration policies, workers exploited in the fields, the policed bodies of women and queers. This borderscape, with its millions of sunbathing Spaniards and tourists is a site that contains iterative hauntings. Employing North American and Hispanic authors, this research considers the haunting as a resilient response emerging from systemic violence, as well as an insidious systemic leaking from previous oppressive regimes.

Keywords: haunting, drawing, ghost, Mediterranean, Franco, Spain, migration, cultural memory, borderscape, storytelling, state violence


identifier: Tallon, Jeff  (2019) Human Capital.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Human Capital

format: text image image image

subject: debt, film, freedom, interviews, monetary policy, painting, photography, urbanism, usury

abstract:
This body of work is the culmination of exploring multiple vantage points that peer into the interlaced phenomenon of political economy, which typically includes the economy, society and politics. The exhibition, Human Capital, is composed of painting, film, interviews, performance and photography. As someone who has lived and worked in Toronto’s downtown core for approximately a decade, I used myself in a short film called Liquidity Crisis. The film is centered around a character named “Jeff” who is a painter that explores the mechanisms behind property prices, labour, taxation and debt.

In addition to this short film are a series of interviews with academics, gallerists, and arts industry professionals who provide unique perspectives into space, creative production, urbanity and life. Distilling these varied discourses are a series of photographs that position our financial system at the core of these intertwined narratives. The photographs present a dichotomy, which the film teases out in a more animated, engaged and performative fashion.

Together this project not only explores the interrelated mechanics of market forces on the art industry and artists alike, but also questions the agency that individual citizens can, or should, have in influencing monetary policy, which has large socio-economic implications on urban environments and life alike.


identifier: Ikiriko, Liz  (2019) The Break, The Wake, The Hold, The Breath: A Curatorial Study of Subversive Transmissions in Contemporary African and Diasporic Art.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: The Break, The Wake, The Hold, The Breath explores the coded language of Black culture. Nigerian artist Abraham Oghobase, along with Canadian raised Trinidadian-Nigerian artist Jamilah Malika Abu-Bakare are in dialogue with archival records of Black subjectivity. Using photography, video, text and sound both artists use a fugitive language—verbal, visual and gestural—to express acts of refusal and exultation in relation to experiences of the Black diaspora to claim agency for the Black body. Their work highlights an inherent form of agency practiced within sites of control. The exhibition makes visible a lineage of refusal and a celebration of sovereignty over one’s body within the colonial state. The artists manifest corporeal knowledge held in tensed muscle, the hum of the voice, and the resonant qualities of image making that have travelled through generations, across oceans and by land, which are deeply felt within African and diasporic peoples.


identifier: Al Rabbaa, Jad  (2019) MRsive: an Augmented Reality Tool for Enhancing Wayfinding and Engagement With Art in Museums.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: video audio image image image image image text

subject: Indoor Wayfinding; Computer Vision; Human-Computer Interaction (HCI); Augmented Reality (AR); Mixed Reality (MR); Markerless AR; Multisensory; Immersive; User-Centered Design (UCD); Mobile-based AR; Head-Mounted Display (HMD).

abstract: Most museums use printed methods to support indoor navigation and visitor engagement. However, modern museum visitors’ needs are not always met using such static approaches. This thesis investigates how indoor wayfinding and visitor engagement in museums might be improved through augmented reality (AR). I design “MRsive”, a handheld AR tool using a user-centered design approach. The goal is twofold: simplifying the required cognitive effort in navigating the museum space, and boosting visitor engagement with artifacts through multisensory interactions. MRsive uses computer vision to detect visual features of the space and locate visitors indoors and recognize exhibits. To evaluate my design, I conduct user-testing at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) followed by semi-structured interviews. The participants’ responses showed a considerable improvement in the speed, accuracy and ease-of-use when completing wayfinding or engagement tasks. I hope the findings will contribute to the future development of other AR systems with similar goals.