identifier: Shinkaruk, Savaya  (2019) AI Stylist: What Do I Wear? Mobile Application.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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abstract: This thesis is an exploration of the process of getting dressed, and how it is incredibly complex. This paper identifies the multiple variables that go into the decisions and motives people have when styling a complete outfit. These variables will be explored through my expertise of being a personal stylist and shopper, and with expert consultations in different technology fields. The purpose of the What Do I Wear? mobile application is to assist people getting dressed by recommending an outfit that suits the users body shape, activity, represents their personal style, and is suitable for the weather. The final product is a mobile application that functions as a personal stylist, utilizing an artificial intelligence agent trained on using identified variables when styling an outfit.


identifier: Snowball, Ellen  (2019) Louise Snowball, Room #237.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Louise Snowball, Room #237

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

subject: #dementia #alzheimersdisease #installationart #ellensnowball #embodiment #theabject #foucault #themedicalgaze #Kristeva #MerleauPonty #Clement #Kontos #McGilton #Connell #Russell #interactiveart #torontoartist #multisensoryart #roomart #therekaicentres

abstract: Louise Snowball, Room #237, is an interactive, multi-sensory installation that draws upon my personal experiences of observing my mother’s decline from dementia. In 2012 my mother, Louise Snowball, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and subsequently admitted to a long-term care facility until her death. During this time, I documented my mother’s experiences through photography to express the emotional impact it had on me. Using auto-ethnographic and research creation methodologies, I began to explore how a three-dimensional practice could build upon this work. My research into The Medical Gaze (Foucault) discusses how the gaze can position the viewer within the installation space. The theory of The Abject (Kristeva) is used to describe how medical environments can cause abjection, and writing on Embodiment (Merleau-Ponty) and research into interactivity in game design and mechanics (Clement) will illustrate how a viewer’s physical interaction with an installation space has the potential to unlock new knowledge.


identifier: Shao, Yiyi  (2019) RABBOT - Exploring Shared Awareness in Virtual Reality.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: : Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Wearable Technology, Digital Fabrication, Internet of Things, Wireless Communications, Asymmetric Gameplay, Research Through Design.

abstract: This thesis explores the possibilities of generating shared awareness in virtual reality (VR) experience between a head-mounted display (HMD) wearer and other observers in the same physical space by merging wearable technology, augmented reality, asymmetric game design and wireless communications in the internet of things (IoT). By employing the methodology of Research Through Design (RTD), this thesis project develops a series of prototypes to inform the outcome RABBOT -- featuring a modified VR head-mounted display and asymmetric mobile game experiences with an embedded communication system to create opportunities for shared awareness amongst players. Overall this thesis argues that an engaging VR experience need not focus exclusively on the HMD wearer but also include other audiences in the same physical space.


identifier: Sparks, Philip  (2019) Missed Fit.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Missed Fit

abstract: This thesis examines how the technical fit of a garment can affect an individual’s ability to fit in. It challenges the tool box used by practitioners working with anthropometric data (the surface measurements of the human body) and has produced new methods that are less reliant on published averages. Some of the thesis questions are: how does anthropometric data and the study of human anatomy influence notions of an ideal body? In what ways do anthropometric data and patternmaking principles include or exclude diverse body types? What tools can be developed to assist designing for diverse bodies? It takes a multi-method and multi-theory approach to the research and investigates concepts of fit through phenomenology, semiotics and anatomy. By exploring experimental methods in cut, it challenges the meaning of a key example of conservatism and uniformity in tailoring, the grey flannel suit.


identifier: Matheuszik, Adrienne  (2019) Ambiguous Origins: Mixed Race and Mixed Reality.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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abstract: This thesis draws connections among new media art practices, science fiction, and mixed-race identity to compare the boundaries between physical and digital space and the experience of unrecognized layers of identity. Referencing the writing of N. Katherine Hayles and Amanda Starling Gould, I investigate the perceived border between physical and digital and how the liminality of the boundary can be compared to that of white-presenting mixed-race identity. This thesis uses science fiction tropes and imagery to communicate the contingency and liminality of identity. The writing of Frederic Jameson and Ytasha Womack is discussed, regarding the critical potential of science fiction to address the presumed correlation between mixed-race identities and the future. This thesis challenges the idea of mixed-race identities as inherently objective, a potential solution to racial oppression, or something from the future. This thesis instead focuses on mixed-race positioning as embedded and contingent within social and historical contexts.


identifier: Clark Espinal, Panya  (2019) Between Stories: The Agency of Story and Living Ways.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis is an exploration of the agency of stories, focusing on the question of living story. It employs Walter Benjamin’s 1936 essay, The Storyteller, as a primary lens of European origin, also looking at the role of story in Turtle Island Indigenous and Icelandic scholarship. The main outcome was a collaborative artist’s bookwork titled On Whaleroads and Boatmaking, which collects and curates stories by Elín Agla and myself; the project consisted of several additional components, including trips to Iceland, hosting people in my home in Toronto and an invitational feast. A reflection on contemporary societal conditions, Between Stories: The Agency of Story and Living Ways as a thesis provides a framework for considering paradigm shifts that affect the perception and relation to Story and stories.


identifier: Harkin, Sean  (2019) Devices for Hyper-Polluted Futures.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Devices for Hyper-Polluted Futures

subject: Speculative Design, Air Pollution, Global Warming, Wearables, Critical Design, Anthropocene, Climate Change

abstract: This research explores what types of devices humanity might build in order to breathe ambient air in hyper-polluted futures. One such device is the PERA - Personal Ecosystem Respirator Apparatus: a backpack-style wearable which contains the user’s personal-ecosystem to provide them with clean air through a respirator mask. Using the approach of speculative design, the intention is to highlight the consequences of our actions and inactions on climate change and show a world in which we have failed to address the issues of air pollution and global warming. Following a hybrid methodology created from a mixed methods approach, the research was conducted through an iterative process. Throughout the research, there was an increasing focus on the symbiotic relationship between the user and their ecosystem, and how one protects and provides for the other. The result of the work is a speculative wearable device which relies on James Auger’s theory of perceptual bridges in order to help build a believable and relatable future for the viewer.


identifier: Luginbuhl, Chris  (2019) Future Renaissance.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Future Renaissance

abstract:
Name: Chris Luginbuhl
University Name: OCAD University
Thesis Title: Future Renaissance
Degree Title: MFA
Program Title: Digital Futures
Year of Defence: 2019

This document explores image making in collaboration with neural networks, particularly Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). Research creation is used to develop a collaborative relationship with artificial intelligence (AI) which moves beyond the use of the computer as a simple tool in the image-making process. As a way of deepening this reflection, the images are developed using speculative fiction to imagine what intelligent machines’ creation myths might look like in the distant future, and this helps suggest how we might form AI in the present. GANs are found to help express visual ideas by providing a wealth of imagery and textural detail which can be modified with the selection of training data and transfer learning. The difficulty of training GANs can be mitigated by using other machine learning techniques such as object detection to gather training data, and by working with low-resolution imagery that reduces computational demands, increasing accessibility.


identifier: Jackson, Vanessa  (2019) Wild Things.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Wild Things

abstract:
Vanessa Jackson
OCAD University
WILD THINGS
Master of Design
Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media, and Design
2019

ABSTRACT :

	Wild Things is a collection of domestic designs that follow the principles of biophilic design, anti-design and post-disciplinary craft processes. Designed in the spirit of experimentation and imagination, this work taps into the phantasmagorical properties that our everyday furniture and objects can hold, if thought of outside the constraints of modernism and mass production. Using visuals borrowed from the natural world, Wild Things examines the outcome when biophilic design is executed by hand using craft-based techniques.

Keywords: Biophilic design, anti-design, post-disciplinary craft, furniture design, object design, handmade process, craft.


identifier: Revah Sinai, Dikla  (2019) Moving Toward Agency. How Technology of the Self can Liberate Humans from the Social Constraints of Biological Sex.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
Gendered norms limit human potential. Defined by their biological sex, people tend to adhere to social and cultural norms established by the patriarchal institution, which defines their abilities and attributes unequally.

Using speculative design, foresight methodologies and the feminist framework for game design, my research speculates, through a feminist lens, on the question, “What if our lives could be conducted as if they were free of gender limitations?"

Historically, technology has challenged the definitions of biological sex and gender, through the use of body modifications, and chemical and hormonal modification. Therefore, the use of technologies has potential to offer agency to individuals by transfiguring gender definitions and social limitations.

My practice focuses on creating a personal game - Neutrois: an interactive novel which features original artwork, with a playable experiential future scenario. The game helps players envision a postgender world and engages to think critically about current and future social constraints.


identifier: Brito, Emma  (2019) Who We Are/Quienes Somos.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Who We Are/Quienes Somos

format: image text

abstract: This thesis explores how distinct cultures shift into Latin American Canadian identities beyond the first generation through one-on-one interviews. It seeks to uncover what the central characteristics of Latin American Canadian identities are, what is gained and lost of the foundational national identities through the shift into these broader panethnicities, and how they are shaped by the small yet diverse Toronto population in which the research is conducted. This thesis then employs concepts and cultural studies methods used throughout the research to create a multimedia storytelling interface which is methodologically and conceptually aligned in medium and experience.


identifier: Mason, Emilia  (2019) The Amaya AR Project: An Augmented Reality Documentary of the 2018 Nicaraguan Resistance.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text video

subject: Nicaragua, Augmented Reality, Documentary, Toronto, impromptu citizen journalism, low-resolution images, Amaya Coppens, Hito Steyerl, viral images, civic uprising, civic resistance, diaspora.

abstract: The Amaya AR Project is an Augmented Reality documentary; through my own personal experience from within the Nicaraguan diaspora, I bring to Toronto the story of Amaya Coppens, a Belgian-Nicaraguan political prisoner incarcerated in 2018 and still in jail as of March 21, 2019. The documentary is experienced in the physical space of Lisgar Park in Toronto through a hand-held mobile device and headphones. In this thesis document, I argue that different communities and sectors in Nicaragua are part of what Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri define as the commons, which network to form the multitude leading the April 2018 civic Uprising in Nicaragua. I have compiled a media archive of viral photos and sounds from Nicaragua since April 2018, drawing from impromptu citizen journalism including viral images and sounds circulated on social media, television, newspapers, magazines and radio as events unfolded. Through a research-creation methodology, I experiment with this source material in Augmented Reality (AR). The approach to editing material in the archive is informed by Hito Steyerl’s essay “In Defense of the Poor Image,” leaning into the glitchiness, blurriness and low-quality of the viral content to express the affects of the situation in Nicaragua. The installation of the Amaya Project in Lisgar Park in downtown Toronto supports an embodied experience and solidarity between locations through the medium of AR. By evoking two spaces and realities at the same time, AR is used to creatively bring radically different worlds together, evoking my contemporary experience in the Nicaraguan diaspora.


identifier: Ting, Tommy  (2019) CRUISING GAME SPACE: Game Level Design, Gay Cruising and the Queer Gothic in The Rawlings.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis explores the emerging paradigm shift in game studies called queer game studies. Through research creation, this project explores cruising in Stanley Park, Vancouver as an empirical and conceptual starting point to prototype a surreal horror game called The Rawlings. Synthesizing queer game studies with theoretical engagement represented by queer Gothic studies, this thesis proposes that if cruising can be understood a form of play with unique dynamic spatial qualities, it might have implications for the discipline of level design in video game development. It is concluded that queer Gothic studies may provide inroads to our understanding of both the sexuality of space and the spatiality of sexuality in queer spaces. Particularly, this thesis investigates how cruising illuminates space with qualities that exhibit markers of deviancy and monstrosity. This project demonstrates the implications of space as monstrous body with its own identity, motivation and desires for queering level design.


identifier: Shepko-Hamilton, Roxolyana  (2019) My Sister in Data: Visualizing an online relationship.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
This thesis proposes the exploration and visualization of social media data as a way of understanding human relationships in the age of the internet. The research includes the process of creating visualizations from a dataset composed of archival messages sent between my sister and I on Facebook Messenger between 2010 and 2018.
	I employ autoethnographic methods to reflect on my exploration of the data, and use research through design methods in order to create interactive data visualizations. This exploration and creation process is  guided by the following research questions:
1.	In what ways can a visualization of my Facebook message data show how social media is used to maintain a relationship with my sister across changing distances and time?
2.	How can data visualization help me learn more about the online connection between my sister and I?


identifier: Chen, carlina  (2019) ...just a moment.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: ...just a moment

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abstract: …just a moment considers how mundane, everyday materials and objects measure and materialize time. Borrowing Henri Lefebvre’s lens of everyday life, Tim Edensor’s argument of everyday life performance, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s and Elizabeth Chin’s analysis of objects, this exhibition and treatise explore how one perceives and experiences time through things. Each object and material in the exhibition, whether natural or man-made, indicates contemplation through its physical changes, transformations, existence and interaction in time with humans. Everyone passes time with pastimes.


identifier: Yuan, Feng  (2019) Data Humanism: Examining how the British newspaper, The Guardian, depicted the British Mad Cow Disease Crisis from 1986–1996.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: data visualization, thick data, data humanism, digital storytelling, quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, mad cow disease, the Guardian, British newspaper

abstract: This research examines the use of data visualization not only to inform audiences about a particular event but mainly to humanize data and uncover the missing content and hidden stories. This research uses digital storytelling as an engaging tool to represent how the British newspaper, The Guardian, depicted the British Mad Cow Disease Crisis from 1986 to 1996. By incorporating a set of recent theories, such as thick data, local data and feminist data visualization, this research emphasizes the need to contextualize data so that these theories can help to fill the context-loss gap generated in standard data analysis. Employing the mixed methodologies of practice-based research, mapping as research, and research through design, this thesis comprises: 1) a written document stating the research process; 2) a series of iterations leading to an interactive web-based data story. The final storytelling aims to answer the questions of how we might represent the British Mad Cow Disease Crisis from 1986 to 1996 using a digital technique to approach different understandings of this historical event and how digital technologies and media benefit users and evoke their emotions.


identifier: Henry, Roxanne  (2019) Designing a Taxonomy for Evaluating Virtual 3D Interfaces and Experiences.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: HCI, meta, framework, conceptual space, encumbrance, hardware, virtuality, interaction, activity, taxonomy, conceptual tool

abstract: As virtual reality climbs out of the Trough of Disillusionment, now is the time to be developing design methods and tools. In the effort to make VR as immersive as possible, lots of new hardware technologies have been developed, and design methods are being explored to make better use of them. However, the effect of wearing all this hardware hasn’t yet been explored in detail. Is more hardware required for experiences to be more immersive? Does wearing so much hardware ever get overwhelming? This thesis attempts to discover the relationships between virtuality, interaction and hardware encumberment, and offers a new comparative tool which can help designers make more informed decisions about the use of hardware in their experiences.


identifier: Shanehchiyan, Lida  (2019) Depression Behind the Agreeable Silence: Women, Migration and Self-Censorship.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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subject: immigration, migration, self-censorship, depression, silent, silence, women, feminism, visual art, textual artwork

abstract:
Fear of not integrating into the new society causes many immigrant women to conceal important aspects of their selves. Silence is one of the most common practices of self-censorship among these women; they remain silent in order to protect themselves from any risk of social harm and to avoid being misunderstood by others. This form of self-censorship paradoxically enables these individuals to integrate or to remain integrated into the adopted society.
I wrote this paper in parallel to my text-based sculptural works showcased in my MFA thesis exhibition Agreeable Silence to reflect my personal experience, as well as my theoretical and visual investigation. I argue that while multilayered intrapsychological issues that immigrant women face when they practice self-censorship may seem a mundane and a harmless means of adaptation, it can cause lingering psychological effects such as depression on them. I believe that receiving country's sociocultural norm can play an important role in the aggravation of this phenomenon, so through this visual and textual project my aim is to encourage my audience to think about the issue of immigrant women’s self-censorship and its relationship to depression.


identifier: Braithwaite, Finlay  (2019) 2020 Sound.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: 2020 Sound

abstract:
Finlay Braithwaite, OCAD University, 2020 Sound, Master of Design (MDes), Digital Futures, 2019

2020 Sound is a positional-tracking microphone and DSP time-of-arrival alignment system. In production, an ultrasonic beacon emits a temporal positional reference that is captured by standard audio recording devices. This reference gives purchase to align multiple microphone perspectives of a source, correcting for their initial offset as well their movement throughout the recording. In capturing a sound source with multiple microphones, misaligned and drifting time-of-arrival of the source at each microphone greatly impacts the cohesion, focus, and impact of their summation in the mixing process. The common boom and lavaliere microphone scenario implemented in film and television production suffers from this misalignment and, as a result, time-intensive and inaccurate manual editorial processes are employed to align microphones before their summation. This system could remedy a fundamental issue encountered in audio production with the ultimate aim of improving the clarity and quality of productions that make use of 2020 Sound.


identifier: vanderheyden, dori diana adriana  (2019) Embodied Colour: Material Moves.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Embodied Colour: Material Moves

type: Thesis PeerReviewed

format: text text image

abstract: My sense of what it means to be a human in the universe at this time, an artist working with materials is most closely aligned with theories from Post-humanism and New Materialism. Borrowing freely and mostly from scholars Karen Barad, Elizabeth Grosz, and Rosi Braidotti, because they were influenced by the work of Deleuze and Guattari, and know so much more about what I did not know I knew as an artist. This paper is an expression of how events, that included many people, materials and machines coalesced to become new art objects with embedded and embodied meanings. Without abandoning the enduring themes of sexuality, the body and colour in my work, I studied the events of making new work in a new material with a new methodology in a new context with new experiences and new knowledge. Difference was made and mattered.


identifier: Boyce, Kristy  (2019) The White People Problem: Experiments in The Reverse Gaze.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: video video image image text image image image

subject: Indigenous, settler, white privilege, Thunder Bay, racism, colonialism, art, augmented reality, sculpture, installation, John A MacDonald, Ontario, Northern Ontario, food security, access to clean water, inequity.

abstract:
The White People Problem is a series of experimental works that seek to engage white settlers on issues of colonialism, inequity, and privilege in Canada.

Grounded in Boyce’s personal experiences, this work is her response to conversations within her family and social in-groups in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Using an interdisciplinary approach, Boyce combines everyday objects, statistical data, and comparison via self-location, to create an “inverse” white gaze. Viewers of the work are asked to consider the ways in which they benefit from a colonial system in a country whose policies continue to perpetuate a legacy of harm against Indigenous Peoples.

Specific technologies and methods used include photogrammetry, 3D printing, metal casting, sculpture, augmented reality, autoethnography, mould making, and screen-printing.


identifier: Tompkins, Katrina  (2019) Finding Folk: Contemporary Craft Regionalism.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text image

subject: Craft, Design, Furniture, Critical Regionalism, Place, Community

abstract:
This thesis considers place and belonging and explores craft as a method of discovering community. I recently moved my furniture practice from Toronto to Prince Edward County, an agricultural region in rural Ontario. This relocation inspired my research; Prince Edward County was the setting of this work and the community in which I attempted to form connections through my practice. The principles of architectural theory Critical Regionalism were applied as a framework for the design of new regional furniture.
The concept of becoming through making is explored throughout this research and refers to both a maker’s acquisition of embodied and material knowledge, and to becoming part of a community. The paper documents the process of developing a body of work informed by Critical Regionalism, taking the form of wooden seats, and an engagement with community members through various craft-based projects, ranging from bending a metal basket to knitting furniture.


identifier: Kupfer, Shannon Lee  (2019) Multisensory Mold: An Interdisciplinary Investigation of Ubiquitous Indoor Fungi.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: At any given time, we are surrounded by microscopic fungi. Our cohabitation with these invisible molds and yeasts is quite normal, regardless of where we live or how clean we keep our spaces. This research project aims to exemplify this reality by making the invisible visible and presenting a variety of fungi sampled from homes around the world. The visual component of the exhibition, fungal cultures within glass terrariums, is accompanied by sonic and tactile interpretations of the cultures as well. By means of a multisensory approach, this research project not only intends to demonstrate our entanglement with microscopic fungi, but also to counter unwarranted apprehensions and misconceptions. The mixed media tactile pieces and cross-modal sonifications invite the public to engage with and think about fungi in entirely new and non-threatening ways. This accessible, multisensory unveiling of our fungal roommates conveys just one microscopic example of the many interspecies entanglements that humans take part in.


identifier: Foster, David  (2019) Exploring the Human Visual Perception Process to Foster Mindful Seeing (Finding the Angels and Devils in the Details).  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
Using the principles of Iterative and Human Centred Design as methodologies, gaze-tracking equipment and techniques and analysis of writings in such areas as medical, neurological and psychological studies in the visual perception process, the principles of mindfulness and mindful meditation, Trompe L’oeil painting and camouflage, this project will observe the saccade/fixation patterns of study participants viewing  multiple different photographic images in an attempt to build a database of saccade/fixation patterns.
The use of gaze tracking and high definition display may demonstrate that there is a common eye movement pattern and perhaps that the viewer’s personal visual perception system may hide or omit much of the detail in any scene.  If present, a common eye track has implications in multiple areas including urban and industrial design, visual arts, police/criminal witness investigations and social/cultural attitudes.


identifier: Caprariu, Ramona  (2019) Statescapes: An Expanded Cinema Exploration into Memory, Looping Patterns, and Simultaneous Temporalities.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: expanded cinema, installation design, Bergsonism, affect theory, personal reflection

abstract:
Statescapes is a practice-based project that draws upon Henri Bergson, experimental film, installation art, and affect theory. I investigate the flow of an artwork that harnesses the potentials of reflective research into memory and thought processes, through a personal lens of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy coping skills. In bringing the work to an installation context, I make further claim into a collapsing and questioning of temporalities. While experimental film has made considerable strides in challenging cinematic conventions, I offer a new media perspective on the tradition by using 3D software and morphing functions to subvert the edit and the timeline.
The anchoring question that bridges the personal with the theoretical is: How can timelines be explored in expanded cinema in a way that comments on individual perceptions of time and memory?


identifier: Braniss, Tal Sofia  (2019) I Am So Afraid Of Words: An Investigative Exploration into the Physicality of the Photograph.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: At the unique intersection between photography, graphic design and text, the physical aspects of photography and typography are investigated for their capacity to embody ethereal thought. Through multi-faceted research methods engaged over the course of a summer in Berlin and a winter in Toronto, the investigation employs a collection of early 20th century postcards belonging to the author’s great-grandmother and namesake—Sophie Rosenbaum. As much of the theoretical discussion on photography can be limited to vision, touch is introduced as a vital element in photography using the writings of Erin Manning. The result of this exploration of vision and touch is a printed object consisting of original texts and photographs.


identifier: Bascunan, Orlando  (2019) Designing a neuroatypical weather-based planning tool.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Data visualization, informative art, planning tool, autism, asperger's syndrome, autoethnography, research through design

abstract: People with Asperger’s Syndrome have been reported to perform significantly below average a composite measure of executive functioning. Particularly, the syndrome has been characterized by difficulties with flexible switching of attention and planning. The methods and tools designed to aid these matters have been traditionally shaped after the medical model of Asperger’s Syndrome, which has been restricted to impairment-based theories and generalizations. This thesis project uses Research through Design and Autoethnography as methodologies to find representative ways in which digital artifacts can be designed to aid planning for people with Asperger’s Syndrome. The resulting prototype of this project is a personal weather-based planning tool, which explores my relationship as a person with Asperger’s Syndrome to hyper-systematization types, hyper-sensibility to weather, and planning.


identifier: Hart, Keiko  (2019) in(Living)between: Performing the Hyphen.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: identity, in-between, hyphen, boundary, performance, paradox, hybridity, self, ethnicity, race, ambiguity, context collapse, criticism, writing, live-stream

abstract: The multiracial individual lives in the in(-)between—a space of generative potential for progressive resistance. It’s neither here nor there, not strictly self or the other, but both: the hyphen. in(Living)between examines hyphenated identity through experiences of (mis)perceptions, (mis)interpretations and (mis)identifications. Attempting to define hyphenation within the limitations of language is contrary to its constant state of becoming. It cannot be placed because it’s not fixed to a singular identity, cannot be explained or neatly contained within histories. Its fluid movement shouldn’t be mistaken for indecisiveness; it exists in a paradox—perforating the boundary built up by past (mis)understandings, infiltrating the space thought to be inaccessible. Invoking it in ambiguous writing is a self-reflexive protest on the delimiting functions of specificity. The hyphen complicates context by reconfiguring time and space, interrupting the performance of the present to activate discursive inventions that contend with the question: how do we locate identity?


identifier: Treviranus, Jutta  (2018) The three dimensions of inclusive design: A design framework for a digitally transformed and complexly connected society.  PhD thesis, University College Dublin.

type:
Thesis (external)
NonPeerReviewed

abstract:
This thesis attempts to answer the following meta-design challenge: In this digitally transformed and increasingly connected society, how can we design in such a way that we include the full range of human diversity? How can we use design to both circumvent the new barriers that escalate exclusion and leverage the new affordances of emerging sociotechnical systems to reduce disparity?

This thesis documents the formulation, application and testing of a guiding framework for Inclusive Design, suitable for a digitally transformed and increasingly connected context. During the course of my doctoral studies I have iteratively formalised and refined this framework. As a doctoral student, Founder/Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre of Canada (1993–), and co-Director of the sister European lab, the Inclusive Design Research Centre of Ireland (2008–), I have implemented the inclusive   design framework in applied research with colleagues. I have also taught the framework in the graduate programme that I launched at OCAD University in Toronto in 2011. These framework applications have helped to develop tools and design methods that support the framework. The thesis conveys the formulation, implementation, and communication of the framework to several application domains.

The fields of knowledge are diverse and post-disciplinary. If a primary field must be chosen, then it would be the field of Design, not only in terms of Design Engineering but also in the broader scope of Design for Society: both are explored and developed in tandem. But the impact of the  work in the ‘real world’ and within the industry sector that can support community change, is the most important aim and contribution of this research. The evolving framework is already being applied by a global collaborating community and has formed the basis of the corporate transformation of companies such as Microsoft. The applied research has delved into many cognate fields, including Systems Thinking, Deeper Learning, Economics, Machine Learning, Human Computer Interfaces, and Critical Disability Studies.

The thesis makes an original and substantial contribution to knowledge, articulating a guiding framework for Inclusive Design in a digitally transformed and complexly connected global society. The framework applies Systems Thinking to the area of digital inclusion for people experiencing disabilities and adds the consideration of the  design process to inclusive or accessible Design. Examples taken from years of intensive practice that support the thesis are provided as use cases, to support future research and implementation.

The thesis also attempts to provide a bridge between scholarly study and community action, in part by using clear language to prevent or overcome any conceptual divide between scholars and the diverse individuals who must participate in co-designing a more inclusive society. The thesis includes translations of the concepts inherent in the proposed framework, expressed clearly and succinctly, for a variety of co-designers. The thesis posits that Diversity is Strength: a concept that can be applied in many cognate fields as well.


identifier: Handley-Derry, Elizabeth  (2019) DANCE IN THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO 1977 AND 2017.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: While the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is renowned as a pre-eminent visual arts museum in Canada, it has also featured dance performances since the late 1970s. Historically, a first wave of dance in art museums took place in the 1920s when choreographers, in dialogue with artists, formulated a new vision for dance that broke from the standards of classical ballet. A second wave occurred in the 1960s–70s when sweeping and radical changes in society propelled experimental dance into alternative venues such as museums. A third wave, beginning in the 1990s, brought dance into museum spaces and stemmed from the perspective of institutional critique. This thesis examines two dance performances held at the AGO, exemplifying the second and third waves: Missing Associates’ Solo Improvisation (1977) and Tanya Lukin Linklater’s Sun Force (2017). I will draw on the literature and files at the AGO to analyze the institutional philosophies and exhibitionary practices that led to incorporating dance in these time periods. My core research shows how dance in museums evolved beyond an entertainment function of enhancing the visitor experience to playing a key role in an ongoing critique of the museum. Dance in the museum also expands curatorial practice beyond the visual sense; the movements of bodies transgresses the implicit hierarchies that have restricted both the display of objects and the activities of subjects. I argue that dance creates a more liberated museum experience and a deeper understanding of the visitor’s relationship to art and society. Incorporating dance offers an opportunity to reshape the institutional structure from within and provides a means for the art museum to re-vitalize its connection to the community it represents and serves.


identifier: Feiler, Thomas  (2019) Advertising Will Save the World* (*results may vary).  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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

subject: advertising, anthropocene, climate change, plastics, single-use, objects, advertising strategies, photographs, videos, environment

abstract: This thesis focuses on methodologies and strategies used in advertising to bring comprehension to our understanding of the Anthropocene. ADVERTISING WILL SAVE THE WORLD* builds on Timothy Morton’s concern of lack of temporal and spatial recognition of “Hyperobjects”  by focusing on photographs and videos of everyday household single-use plastic objects coupled with ubiquitous, albeit, “bent”  advertising disclaimers. The thesis incorporates advertising directed narrative approach to messaging in pursuit of answering the growing call for artistic responses that can effectively break down the complexity of the current environmental crisis. Does the embracing of advertising seem counter-intuitive when seeking a solution to the growing amount of plastic in the world? ADVERTISING WILL SAVE THE WORLD* asks us to consider the possibilities while declaring that *results may vary.


identifier: Cristobal, Erica  (2020) Room for Taking Care.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Room for Taking Care

abstract: This thesis examines how care manifests relationally. It questions how we relate and respond to what and who needs to be cared for. The performance series and exhibition Room for Taking Care presented the works of Toronto-based artists Amy Wong (with her toddler Rudi), Nedda Baba, and Ayumi Goto. Their creative engagements with care both invited and unsettled the viewer. Each of the artists performed in the Graduate Gallery at OCAD University on separate days to expand the dialogue on care in the gallery. The Wongs altered the physical appearance of the gallery space with paintings and drawings, Baba introduced familial traditions using pomegranates, and Goto demonstrated the ephemerality of caring practices through collective remembrance. Care ultimately manifested in the presence and actions of the viewers and the participatory engagements of the audience.


identifier: Moll, Tyson  (2020) Multimodalities in Metadata: Gaia Gate.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Multimodalities in Metadata: Gaia Gate

format: text video archive text

abstract: Metadata is information about objects. Existing metadata standards seldom describe details concerning an object’s context within an environment; this thesis proposes a new concept, external contextual metadata (ECM), examining metadata, digital photography, and mobile interface theory as context for a proposed multimodal framework of media that expresses the internal and external qualities of the digital object and how they might be employed in various use cases. The framework is binded to a digital image as a singular object. Information contained in these ‘images’ can then be processed by a renderer application to reinterpret the context that the image was captured, including non-visually. Two prototypes are developed through the process of designing a renderer for the new multimodal data framework: a proof-of-concept application and a demonstration of ‘figurative’ execution (titled ‘Gaia Gate’), followed by a critical design analysis of the resulting products.


identifier: johnson, cayden n  (2020) avant-garde echo chamber.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: avant-garde echo chamber

format: text image image video

subject: contemporary avant-garde, avant-garde, avant-garde poetry, experimental poetry, anti-production, neoliberalism, subjectivity, postanarchy

abstract: Avant-garde poetry looks dynamically at the world through anarchic approaches to language. With the knowledge that implicit linguistic structures shape ontology and epistemology, the contemporary avant-garde experiment inherently concerns itself with the political. My own poetry investigates various avant-garde methods of challenging the status quo. Such crimes against poetry allow us to rethink and recalculate our relationship to language’s organizing principles and its rippling impact within aesthetic and socio-political spheres. Where the avant-garde project once saw strong collective-based organization, locating these poetry groups today poses a challenge. This research explores the loss of collective presence in a decentralized avant-garde, the movement’s relationship to today’s crisis of subjectivity, as well as the viability of a contemporary avant-garde in consideration of neoliberalism’s impact on the individual as creator.


identifier: Yee, Florence  (2020) A Labour of Labour: Work and Other Ugly Feelings in the Queer Cantonese Diaspora.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: From the nineteenth century onwards, the conditions of economic and political survival for Cantonese migrants were tied to their labour. Their citizenship was conditional upon assimilationist respectability politics of patriotism, “hard work,” and normative white middle-class femininity, masculinity and sexuality. Hence, queerness and failure (or queerness as failure) in the Cantonese diaspora inherently threaten hegemonic power structures. My arts-informed research project uses textile installation to question the stoicism of assimilationist imperatives, by holding space for personal & intergenerational failure and cultural loss. As an expansion upon (and critique of) liberal multiculturalism, it seeks to deromanticize Cantonese diasporic experiences and destabilize linear narratives of the self through an autotheoretical approach. By negotiating a refusal of legibility and acknowledging what Sianne Ngai calls ugly feelings, it problematizes labour as the longing for—and futility of—work within Cantonese diaspora, impacted by tradition, family, and queerness.


identifier: Ettehadi, Omid / OE  (2020) Documented: Embedding and Retrieving Information from 3D Printed Objects.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: design process, documentation, data embedding, digital fabrication, self-refection, refective learning

abstract:
Documentation is an essential aspect of building interactive physical objects. For makers, documentation serves as a record that can be shared with others to demonstrate a project’s building (what and how) and decision-making (why) process. A documentation’s end-users (i.e., the makers themselves or people interested in rebuilding or learning about the project) can then self-refect on these records and take away their own lessons regarding the project. However, in the case of physical objects, we think that refecting on their documentation can be challenging since the documentation and the object are two separate artifacts. We explore this assumption in this thesis. Specifcally, we asked if embedding the documentation into the object being made will promote self-refection and whether this facilitates a deeper understanding of the object and its design process.
We took three main steps to address our questions: (1) we used artifact analysis to identify the strengths and limitations of current documentation styles (i.e., text, picture, and video-based documentations) that makers typically use; (2) we conducted interviews and brainstorming sessions with professional and hobbyist makers, and asked them to determine the strengths and weaknesses of their current documentation techniques, and the improvements they envision regarding the connection between their documentation and the built object; (3) informed by our artifact analysis and interview sessions, we proposed a prototype that provides a new method to interact with an object’s documentation, which allows people to embed and retrieve documentation-related data into and from the object, respectively.


identifier: Miller, Courtney  (2020) (re)mapping, grounding, remembering: A Curatorial Study of Way-finding and Relationships to Place in Contemporary Indigenous Art Practice.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Indigenous art, mapping, land, home

abstract:
(re)mapping, grounding, remembering explores how the concept of (re)mapping is communicated in Indigenous contemporary artwork to demonstrate place-making methods and maintain Indigenous presence on land/landscape. (Re)mapping indicates Indigenous perceptions of and connections to ancestral land/landscape through themes of responsibility, reciprocity, place-based language, and intergenerational knowledges. This thesis project involves an
exhibition featuring the artworks of Anishinaabe artist Bonnie Devine, Blackfoot/Cree artist Richelle Bear Hat, and Métis artist Katherine Boyer. Through literal, symbolic, and discursive gestures of mapping, the artists contribute to a conversation of re-writing histories, shared memories, complex and enduring relationships pertaining to homeland.


identifier: Kostjuk, Andrew  (2020) Tranquil[ized] Bodies: The [Post] Post-Mortem Condition.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Reflexivity, A/r/tography, Body, Embodiment, Being, Mortality, Sculpture, Installation, Metaphor, Pathology, Horror, Abject, Mouldmaking, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Ethics, Morals,

abstract: Tranquil[ized] Bodies: The [Post] Post-Mortem Condition is an examination of time, space, and place of being relating to the mindfulness of the body and mortality in the contemporary moment. The fully integrated human being is characterized by the ability to stand in the face of adversity and move towards the unknown, testing one’s will to live. This project is focused on highlighting a vital, metaphysical exercise of confrontation and contemplation with mortality through static, kinetic, interactive sculpture and installation, based within an industrial-organic aesthetic. Creating an immersive experience with mortality as a means to awaken the stagnant body and being, Tranquil[ized] Bodies investigates the human being’s disengagement with life, authenticity, and meaning through abject theory, embodiment and metaphor. In this document, I argue that the confrontation and contemplation with mortality is the essential pathway to the refinement of the self. The function of confrontation and contemplation mirrors my own experience as a person with a permanent illness, drawing upon my three brushes with death, to explore interaction with the unknown as a means to live mindfully.


identifier: Newman, Inbal  (2020) Soft Espionage (This Tape Will Self Destruct!): Parodic, Profane, and Private Designs for Curiosity and Communication.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
The purpose of this project is to examine and produce works
of “Soft Espionage” that slowly reveal hidden information to encourage
engagement and form connections between a creator and target audience. Through the inclusion of sensory detail, interactive elements, and the application of familiar outdated materials, I explore how to influence expectations of institutional spaces and narratives and gently provoke meaningful interaction with them. I argue that expansive approaches to publication and exhibition design prove to be extremely effective for disseminating secret communications. This document synthesizes Jacques Rancière’s theories on dissensus and the writings of Michel de Certeau and Walter Benjamin on quotidian and profane objects. I also examine contemporary creative practices that correspond to the criteria of “Soft Espionage” and secret art. Covert information gathering and sharing tactics borrowed from espionage tropes and declassified spy manuals inform methods of creative process. Final outcomes such as artist books, cassette tapes, garments, performance, and immersive installation endeavor to offer obscured information that reflects contemporary relationships to communication and information accessibility. These works highlight the current disparity between widespread access to information and communication versus quality of communication, and the resulting diminished shared experiences and emotional connections.


identifier: Zylak, Mattia  (2020) Uniforms for Utopia: Exploring Dress as an Embodied Practice Through the Expanded Archives of the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
This exhibition uses the materials of the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift as an entry point for considering methods of display of clothing that recognize dress as an embodied practice. A youth movement founded in 1920, the Kibbo Kift employed dress as part of their mission to design a new world. Understanding that the members of the Kibbo Kift saw their bodies as important sites for engaging in their utopian beliefs, the exhibition generates new interpretations of clothing display that minimizes the temporal and experiential distance between the historicized wearer and the contemporary visitor. Rather than present the archival materials of the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift in a way that further historicizes the group, Uniforms for Utopia proposes an
expansion of the Kibbo Kift’s archive by incorporating a contemporary response to their garments. These contemporary responses are achieved in two ways: by inviting participants in the exhibition to engage with the reconstructions of the garments, and by including reinterpretations of the garments made by two invited artists: nènè myriam konaté and Sonia Prancho.


identifier: Yeboah, Georgina  (2020) The User, The Space and Everything Else in Between: Designing Context-Driven Interactive Spaces through Direct-User Inputs.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: video text

subject: Context, Context-Aware Systems, Direct-User Inputs, Installations, Interaction design, Interactive, Smart-spaces, Visualized Displays.

abstract: In this thesis, I present my research project Air + Water. Air + Water is an interactive installation system that detects breath pressure and changes its visualization by detecting the number of users in its space. This project was developed within an exploratory-research design process. It aimed to establish clearer understanding of the user’s input within an interactive installation system through its overall design and visual feedback. The design process used a mixed-method approach, leveraging research through design and user-centered design methodologies along with interaction design methods presented in literature. Building upon related works and existing design frameworks, the idea of a contextualized interactive system came into formation. Through a usability study, Air + Water was evaluated, with and without its context-aware features. This was to see if it was capable of bridging its context-driven design choices to the user’s understanding of the system. The contributions from this research could provide designers in related HCI and interaction design fields to consider these types of design choices when working with direct-user inputs.


identifier: Chatterjee Adnani, Veda  (2020) COUNTING ON: Humanizing self-tracked data in a connected world.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Quantified Self, Personal Informatics, Lived Informatics, Self-tracking, Lifelogging, Data Visualization, Data Humanism, Ambient Design, Iterative Development

abstract: This thesis explores the evolving role of the Quantified Self and self-tracking culture within personalized healthcare. Health and fitness wearables are proliferating globally. However, wearable device abandonment rates are also surging. Wearables can sometimes be authoritative or punitive when presenting wearers with their biological data. In the past, some devices have even triggered adverse health-related conditions. This thesis proposes an approach to visualizing biological data from wearables, in ways that are coherent, contextual, and humane. It critiques normative data visualizations in commercial wearables and speculates alternate futures for self-tracking to empower individuals to manage their health and well-being autonomously. Through an iterative development process to prototype creation, the author gathers biological data using a consumer wearable device and uses it to propose an information architecture that categorizes the data coherently. The architecture is applied in hand-drawn, domestic, embedded visualization prototypes that present the author’s biological data. Lastly, user interviews are conducted to acquire responses to the prototypes and plan possibilities for future iterations. The purpose of this research is to advocate empathy and compassion in the emerging culture of living with data while considering the intricacies of everyday life, the imperfections of being human, and the need for autonomy in personal data management.


identifier: Lue Chee Kong, Joshua  (2020) Melting Pot: Casting a Caribbean Chinese Body.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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

subject: Creolization, Caribbean, Hakka, Chinese, Diaspora, Sculpture, Bronze, 3D Printing

abstract: In Melting Pot: Casting a Caribbean Chinese Body, I use the conceptual framework of creolization to interrogate the representation of becoming and being Trinidadian-Chinese-Hakka. This is a fluid identity that inhabits and flows within the hyphens between cultures, through the construction of my memories, fantasy, narrative and myth of family dinners, childhood memories behind the shop counter and the voices of my ancestors. As an artist, I explore these ideas of translation and transculturation through my art practice of bronze casting, mould-making, 3D printing. Melting Pot highlights the autobiographical qualities of wax, resin and bronze in expressing the entanglement of the Chinese body within the Caribbean.


identifier: Krause, Vanessa Eva Mae  (2020) Making & Mending.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Making & Mending

subject: Sloppy craft, craft, making, mending, women's work, sculpture, installation

abstract:
This thesis examines how feminist ways of making and mending can be applied through a material investigation into postdisciplinary craft practices. Through practice-led research, material investigation and a conscious break from craft methods, I am embracing failure as a methodological framework. Some research motivations were guided by my own experience with influential women in my family. Through research and material investigations, craft practices were applied through a DIY method and were supported by sloppy craft theory. By embracing deskilling and reskilling within my work, I am investigating mending practices as a place for communal sharing and connection.
By embracing interdisciplinary approaches, craft and private practices are melded with sculptural and industrial metalworking, culminating in the form of plaster and bronze hands and tools. These solid, sculptural pieces of work are designed to capture gestures, the human form and the tools that created both embroidery and crochet pieces in this art practice. The exhibition was meant to be set in a recreated, imagined domestic space - to reflect women’s work and the rise of feminist craft practices in contemporary art. This space was envisioned to break away from the white cube and invite the viewer to share their knowledge and memories through an interactive "mend-in" session.


identifier: Benitez, Gabriela  (2020) Bundled Dwelling/Equipajes Inhabitados.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Bundled Dwelling/Equipajes Inhabitados

format: text image image image

subject: migration, kitchen table, self territories, performance-base installation, making home

abstract: My research uses the intimacy of the kitchen table as a lens through which to explore relations between migration, dwelling and self identity. Bundled Dwelling/Equipajes Inhabitados brings objects of domestic life and thought on migration, home and self, together in assemblages derived from performance-based installations that seek to connect and re-connect elements within. In their making (bundling, entangling the kitchen table object/s) and materiality, these assemblages locate the process of making and re-making ‘home’ for me as a migrant, and thereby elicit and re-work personal and socio-cultural conceptions, assumptions and memories about my (and perhaps also other’s) home and self territories. The methodology that I use, which focuses on action around the kitchen table object/s, flows from Gloria Anzaldúa's descriptions of a mestiza’s knowing by kneading – “soy un amasamiento” – and the potential of ‘unfolding’ subject-object relations by means of objectivation within domestic spaces. I draw from decolonial theory and post-human inquiry, including Object Oriented Feminism and contemporary studies in migration and material culture. I also model this work after that of artists that engage with domestic life to un-do familiarity, distances or scales in articulating associations that exceed domesticity, like Doris Salcedo, Mona Hatoum and Julieanna Preston.


identifier: Chabayta, Mazin  (2020) Liberated Debris: Protest by Making.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Liberated Debris: Protest by Making

subject: Making, Maker Movement, Technology, Right-to-repair, Re-use, Repurpose.

abstract: Liberated Debris is a series of musical instruments made from discarded objects to explore our relationship with our devices. It’s a physical collage of components, materials and parts, put together to reveal new meanings. More specifically, it reveals and protests the decline of making among people, and the domination of manufacturers over all aspects of the technology production industry. This thesis challenges our reliance on manufacturers to fulfill all our technology needs, and aims to inspire the audience and engage them to become active makers. It argues that making can reclaim and redistribute knowledge for its own sake. Liberated Debris is an un-disciplined study that embraces all knowledge and all people, regardless of experience and education.


identifier: Ferrao, Frank  (2020) Break it! till you Make it!  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Break it! till you Make it!

format: text audio audio audio audio other

subject: digital making, low-cost makerspaces, workshop design, computational thinking, digital fabrication, interactive play.

abstract:
Break it till you Make it explores the democratization of digital project-based learning with children ages 7-11. Using elementary schools and community centers in Toronto as a case study, this project looks at how we can dramatically lower the cost of digital project-based learning when classes sizes of 30 are commonplace.

The research investigated the current trends in digital education, and how digital project-based education fosters the 4 Cs: creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration.

Finally, the research documented the process of building a low-cost mobile makerspace, cost-effective workshops and participant feedback. The result showed the dramatic reduction of cost per child for digital learning and the scalability of the workshops.

The overarching methodology used was action-based and incorporated mixed methods to design the workshops. Staff and volunteers participated as facilitators and co-participants. Lastly, the project provides a new lens by which to look at digital making, by using accessible materials and crafting tools.


identifier: Alexander, Nicholas  (2020) Playtime for Punctum: Augmented Role-Play.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Augmented role-play, research-creation, augmented space, mixed reality, performance, interactivity, technology stack

abstract: Using a technology stack - stereoscopic camera, hand tracking, and VR - a combination of live video feed and virtual elements are integrated into a mixed reality experience featuring a player and a performer. The mix of live video with virtual augmentation allows access to expressive capabilities sharing affordances with games, performance, and role-playing. The production, called Playtime for Punctum, was realized by applying a research-creation methodology inspired by theatrical devising techniques, particularly improvisation, alongside conventional creative practices. The process was documented with an eye to the shifting roles required by the researcher, and the affordance of this augmented role-play format was explored, documented and analyzed in order to highlight insights that may be useful for future creators in related fields.


identifier: Dickson, Emily  (2020) The Fine Art of Bureaucracy: Interfaces with Bureaucracy in Contemporary Art.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: Despite that the histories of modern and contemporary art have in many spaces and moments coincided with bureaucracy in numerous ways and from different angles, with the exception of the flourish of scholarship on the “archival impulse”, bureaucracy—literally the dominion of that most functional piece of office furniture—has been excluded from the analysis of modern and contemporary art.  This project engages those practices that investigate, thematize or interface in some way with existent bureaucracies and their logics, with an interest to not take those artists who engage with bureaucracy (nor bureaucrats themselves) at their word, but rather to investigate how their works exist in practice, and within social space. By developing what I am here calling a bureaucratic aesthetics, this project, through three in-depth case analyses, seeks to investigate whether works of art that address bureaucracy have the potential to disrupt the institutions they critique, or whether they instead reproduce and reinforce bureaucratic logics—and bureaucratic claims to legitimacy—within their creative and artistic fields.


identifier: Amin, Shahrzad  (2020) Bridge Obscura: Connecting Cultures through Sculpture Installation.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text video video

subject: sculpture installation, bridge, sensory ethnography, architectural design, connectivity, cultural biography

abstract: 21st century Iran is often said to be a country in the grips of isolationism: imposed by both internal and external factors. On one hand, the sanctions applied by the US government isolate the country and restrict the living conditions and mobility of Iranian people, merchants, artists, and designers. On the other, international sanctions lead to political and cultural isolationism at the national level, making the country turn inward as a reactionary response and reinforcing the alienating cycle. Through the lenses of art practice, sensory ethnographic filmmaking, and architectural design, this paper examines the power and effectiveness of an art exhibition that features interdisciplinary sculpture installation, to express ideas about connectivity in such a climate of isolationism. The sculpture installation works in the exhibition highlight a social openness and necessity for global international connectivity, by applying the figure of the arch bridge (symbolic for Iran’s once important status as a connector between civilizations along the path of trade routes) as a metaphor for overcoming cultural distances. In the influential collected volume, The Social Life of Things, cultural anthropologists Arjun Appadurai and Igor Kopytoff argue that objects (including architectural ones) in a given culture can reveal biographical information about the society at large, when one focuses on how they have been put to use and culturally redefined over time. The cultural responses to the biographical details of objects cast light on the aesthetic, historical, and political judgments and values that shape our attitudes. My thesis and exhibition take the arch bridge as an architectural object and formal representation of cultural referents along these lines, approaching the figure of the arch bridge biographically in order to generate an alternative space that connects contemporary Iranian culture to the rest of the world despite/against boundaries.


identifier: Lopez, Elizabeth  (2020) Traces: Here/Not Here.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Traces: Here/Not Here

subject: participatory art, interconnectivity, time, mortality, play, traces, dynamic sculpture, spinning, tops, log, lost-pla

abstract:
Traces: Here/Not Here endeavors to put a positive spin on our mortality.  We are here, and at some point we will no longer be here: by virtue of living, we will die - but what do we do with this time we have?   This body of research creation is about life; about our time-limited lifetimes, our experience of it, and about the effects of our actions. It is about the affect of our interconnectivity with each other, human and non-human, animate and inanimate. By way of interactive artworks featuring playful and dynamic sculptures which must be activated by the physical effort of the artist, a collaborator or a visitor/participant, a durational performance is experienced leaving indexical marks, prompting mindful consideration of our inter-connectedness, and injecting optimism that we can use this opportunity to act for what matters most to each one of us.
Through a reflexive practice-led methodology, augmented by literature reviews of theorists, critical thinkers, artists, and art historians, the research investigates the themes of time, Posthuman interconnectedness, as well as investigating participatory and ludic art, which activates the body and the special knowledge creation centered there.


identifier: Dion-Van Royen, Zoe  (2020) ON SUNDAY WE WENT TO THE MUSEUM.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: ON SUNDAY WE WENT TO THE MUSEUM

abstract:
This thesis is an exploration of visitors’ experience of museums in the frame of the everyday. It employs the differentiation between place and space, as elaborated by philosopher Henri Lefebvre in The Production of Space, to investigate the environments in which individual reflexivity happens. It questions how places and spaces are assigned to specific purposes and by the same means condition the way individuals experience them. The main outcome of this research is a hand-printed curatorial essay to be launched in the context of a visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario and a home-cooked dinner that was to take place in the Criticism and Curatorial Practices lounge at 205 Richmond Street. The guests – my colleagues from the CCP program – were invited to experience what geographers Ellen Kohl and Priscilla McCutcheon call kitchen table reflexivity.

Keywords: Museum experience, Everyday, Reflexivity, Informality, Fluid identity, architecture, space, place.


identifier: Bhatti, Iman  (2020) (Re)presenting the Muslim diaspora: Adaptation. Hybridization. Resistance.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: representation, Muslim women, diaspora, identity and culture, Sumaira Tazeen, Soheila Esfahani, Mariam Magsi

abstract:
This thesis project investigates how contemporary artists articulate their experiences and
perspectives as diasporic Muslim women in Ontario. It questions the cultural, political and
affective dimensions of establishing oneself in a new, or multiple locations– in this case from
Pakistan and Iran to Canada. Featuring artworks by Sumaira Tazeen, Sheila Esfahani and
Mariam Magsi, the exhibition (Re)presenting the Muslim diaspora: Adaptation. Hybridization.
Resistance emphasizes the tension inherent in negotiating multiple cultural and individual
identities. By focusing solely on Pakistani and Irani Muslim women artists in Ontario who deal with issues of representation in their own diverse practices, the exhibition challenges the normalization of the realities associated with being a Muslim woman in western society.
In doing so, this thesis projects informs broader cultural understandings of both personal and universal dimensions of global migration and the Muslim diaspora.


identifier: Grier, Laura  (2020) The Story of Indigenous Spirit Printmaking and the Living Rock Spirit: Yǝ́dı́ı Kwǝ.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Indigenous Printmaking, Stone Lithography, Storytelling, MFA Thesis.

abstract: This (re)search is aimed at finding out how Dene Yǝ́dı́ı; a concept translated in English as “living beings” could be considered within my artistic practice of printmaking. Dene Yǝ́dı́ı acknowledges objects as alive with spirits of their own. As an urban Sahtu Dene artist I shadow the stories and teachings of Sahtúgot’ı̨nę spirituality that have been carried forward through the lived experiences of Denendah Elders and leaders such as George Blondin, Tatti Fibbie, and Johnny Neyelle, who tell these stories for new generations of Dene to take hold of. I explore my relationships to non-human Yǝ́dı́ı that are interwoven within my spiritual/artistic practice of stone-printing (Lithography) and the ways of Indigenous Spirit Printmaking, and how they expand ideas of reciprocity, ceremony, and realities of urban Indigeneity. Through this process I use methods of creative narrative writing and storying to tell these ideas of relationality, rather than coercing to western and institutional research thesis frameworks that still need decolonizing. For my thesis, I tell the story of my deep connection and relationship to Kwǝ [rock], our journey towards the creation of prints that express my lived experiences through adoption, connections to Indigenous Dene spirit, connections to land, and honouring embodied realities for urban Sahtu Dene in the Edırı Nę́nę́ [now world].


identifier: McLeod, Laurel  (2020) Earthly Delights: Thinking Through Drawing.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Earth, Anthropocene, biophilia, enlivenment, becoming, care, drawing

abstract: Earthly Delights: Thinking Through Drawing encourages human individuals to explore natural environments in a new light by transforming the spaces in which we encounter them, namely by bringing the exterior world of nature into interior spaces. In doing so, I work to encourage a reworking of our current understanding of what it means to experience nature and what it means for something to be natural. Beginning with an initial understanding of the natural environment as that which operates within the context of the outdoors, this text and accompanying artwork work to make sense of the different ways through which people remain part of rather than separate from the natural world, one that often goes overlooked. Natural processes, including flow, growth, erosion, and decay of plants and other organic matter, are taken into consideration in this process. Considering our presence in the time of the Anthropocene, I propose an imaginable call to action through the method of care. The resulting created speculative experience invites participants to come to their understanding about personal relationships with, and feelings towards, nature-based ecologies. Traditional methods of drawing are engaged in this body of work to speculate on a contemporary conceptualization of nature and how it might exist to human and more-than-human eyes. The works of art explore a delight in seeking connections to nature. Acknowledging such relationships strives to challenge thoughts about our place as humans existing as part of environmental spaces, demonstrating the potential for nature and people to exist as equals.


identifier: Tarnawsky, Angus  (2020) Uncommon Sounds in Common Spaces.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Uncommon Sounds in Common Spaces

abstract: Discovering uncommon sounds in common spaces provides a mechanism for breaking patterns of predictable listening. Unexpected sonic events draw listeners’ attention and further sustain interest when nurtured with sensitive intentionality. I contend that through subtle yet powerful shifts of everyday behavior it is possible to facilitate diverse and meaningful shared aural experiences. My research investigates what perspectives and relationships might be forged through such an expansion of listening inside of entrance foyers, corridors and staircases in urban multi-storey buildings. I explore this dynamic using microphones, loudspeakers and radio transmission across a series of site-responsive sound installations. These sonic and spatial interventions encourage varied modalities of listening and participation. In this context, my intention is not so much to create new sounds; rather, it is to amplify what is occurring in the environment.


identifier: Connell-Whitney, Lauren  (2020) Telling Stories in the Dark: A Feminist Thinks With Virtual Reality.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Virtual Reality, Feminism, Storytelling, Generativity, Personal Narrative, Rhizomatic Learning, Auto-Ethnography, Research-Creation, Feminist Entrepreneurship.

abstract: This work explores how women can share knowledge through storytelling in the virtual space using a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, to understand how spaces of quiet and being alone, like one might experience in a virtual reality headset can allow for reflective and generative knowledge sharing. Here and in a VR space I created, I share my own stories of how feminism has shaped my life, using storytelling to examine why we might place importance on personal reflection as a form of cultural growth. The VR space, Aspasias, functions as a pilot project to bring these stories into the virtual space to share them with others. Aspasias uses a rhizomatic structure as a cue to navigate through the complexity and multiplicity of knowledge that makes its way into the shape of a story. My hypothesis is that the qualities of presence and immersion in VR can enhance the telling of a story and that the use of a headset as a form of sensory concentration (or some might say, deprivation) can allow for the user to reflect on the story differently than one might in a non-virtual space. The findings of this research contribute to how we might think of VR as a space for reflective (un)learning through personal narrative and how story can make its way into the virtual commons.


identifier: Yala, Maria  (2020) The Big Disease with the Little Name: Retelling the Story of HIV & AIDS in an Evolving New Media Landscape.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: electronic literature, interactive fiction, storytelling, HIV, AIDS, hypertext fiction, digital storytelling, narrative, critical design, research through design, activism, social impact, net-art, graffiti, transmedia storytelling

abstract: Stories shape our social reality. This research explores new ways of storytelling around the topic of HIV and AIDS by using augmented reality (AR) and electronic literature to experiment with the meaning, structure, and form that a story can take. Employing a mixed methodological approach that combines Research through Design, Transmedia Storytelling and Critical Design methodologies, this thesis unpacks the potential of digital technologies in retelling and revisioning the story of HIV and AIDS as a way to give voice to stories that are often left unheard. AR Disclosures is an interactive documentary installation that tells stories about HIV in the form of augmented reality latrinalia. Once Upon A Virus is an interactive dystopian fantasy that subverts fairy-tale motifs in order to explore themes of inequality in relation to the AIDS epidemic. These two exploratory prototypes aim to propose new ways in which storytellers might leverage evolving new media technologies and experimental storytelling techniques to tell the story of HIV and AIDS to a new audience, while contributing to a developing definition of what the practice of storytelling is and looks like today.


identifier: Prasad, Sheetal  (2020) [Re]Archive: South Asian Narratives in Canadian History.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text text

subject:
Canadian History, South Asian Narratives, Education Policy, Archival Research,
A/R/Tography, Installation, Video/Multimedia

abstract: This thesis paper documents the process and research into South Asian history through the arts-informed research concept of “A/R/Tography”. It focuses on themes of memory, haunting, and the curriculum by using a collection of digital and analogue artworks exhibited in a virtual catalogue that will serve as an open-source file for Ontario’s high school teachers and students. Furthermore, this thesis raises questions about historical and minority representations within the Canadian context by questioning Canada’s reputation as being a multicultural mosaic. To this end, this exhibition and thesis paper focus on the South Asian perspective within Canadian history and more specifically on Ontario’s Peel District School Board’s vital need to reform its high school history curriculum to include minority and marginalized voices.


identifier: Prior, Olivia  (2020) Very Good Benches.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Very Good Benches

format: text image image image image video video video video

subject: Public Space, Smart Infrastructure, Interactive, Emotional Design, Urban Infrastructure, Physical Computing, E-Textiles, Ubiquitous Computing, Interaction Design, Speculative Design, Research Through Design

abstract:
As cities strive to become more sustainable and highly optimized, they have begun to embrace the current trend of “smartness” in ubiquitous computing. This is seen in the implementation of “smart” infrastructure throughout neighborhoods. Objects which typically do not sense or respond to users, like benches, can now offer Wi-Fi, charging outlets and weather reports. “Very Good Benches” explores alternative networking strategies and interactions, using Research through Design, Speculative Design, and Prototyping methodologies, to create a series of smart benches that re-imagine smart infrastructure through the lens of social interaction and the optimization of public engagement.

The goal of each bench is to become a “very good bench” by attracting as many user interactions as possible from the public in order to develop an internal dataset that determines how and when the bench attracts users. Each bench senses occupancy and vacancy through the use of e-textile sensors and attracts interactions through audio and visual outputs by combining solenoids and LED lights. Wheels are incorporated in the design so users are able to arrange the set of benches in ways that best suit them. Through these interactions, a dataset is developed and used to create a ranking system amongst the networked benches which drives each one to compete to be the bench with the most frequent interactions.

By putting more emphasis on the benches and occupants themselves and less attention on larger ideas of optimization, more playful interactions are able to be developed through the object’s perceived personalities. These benches are then able to imagine new possibilities for smart technologies in the public realm as a result of reinterpreting the optimization and efficiency of urban infrastructure through this specific case study.


identifier: Welsh, Daniel Douglas  (2020) Rebirthday: Self-presentation, Suppression and Externally Excessive Expression.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: gender, identity, performance, performative, in-betweenness, queerness, self-reflexivity

abstract:
Rebirthday Self-presentation, Suppression and Externally Excessive Expression (hereafter referred to as “Rebirthday”) shines a light on the glamourous side of queer resistance. This thesis project seeks to complicate notions of marginality by exploring the long tradition of self-fashioned glamour as a survival tactic and form of world-making for non-normative people. Rebirthday investigates the evolution of my shifting identity by using self-fashioning and costuming as ways to manipulate the expression of my gender and identity.

Rebirthday materializes the personal interconnectedness between my artwork and my lived experiences. I re-imagine my social identity by combining sculptural installations with live performance and wearable objects. Through the customization and assemblage of found objects, my sculptures and performances engage with ideas of masking, mutation and self-making.

Rebirthday uses self- reflexivity as a methodology for asserting and acknowledging my positioning within this thesis project. As a methodology, self-reflexivity enables me to consciously and actively reference the artificiality of my identity through performance. Within this document, the differentiation between self-reflexivity and reflectivity is rooted in the idea that my reflexive positioning is embodied. I locate myself within the scope of my research via a reflective process.

Rebirthday is informed by Sara Ahmed’s writings on queer phenomenology concerning the relationship between bodies and objects, Dan Graham’s performance entitled Performer / Audience / Mirror (1975) involving his reflection on our perceptions of identity and Judith Butler’s feminist theories that reveal how our bodies perform and enact gender and identity. The primary point of my investigation is my own gendered identity and expression. My conceptual process is extremely anecdotal and autobiographical. I use my selfhood to explore the in-betweenness of my gender, my queerness and my shifting identity.

For me, rebirthday is every day.
I am performing at all times; my life alive, is a live performance.


identifier: Garcia, Thom Jeffrey  (2020) HWILSDON: An Experimental Preservation Practice Visualizing Data as Code, Object, and Architecture.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Experimental Preservation, Data Visualization, Digital Fabrication, Digital Modelling, Relic, Reliquary, Reliquarium

abstract: HWILSDON is a practice-led research project intent on communicating “a life.” The original owner of a USB flash storage drive titled “HWILSDON” who left it at a Rapid Prototyping Facility. The longevity of data is increasingly compromised by what several data scientists and researchers describe as an informational black hole and an era of unrestrained permanent data deletion designated the “digital Dark Age.” Consensus amongst data preservation experts is to copy our digital content into as many different media formats as possible and hope that some survive. As a tripartite project, HWILSDON experiments with speculative preservation practices. This includes translating data into the Relic – a bespoke code, the Reliquary - data visualization materialized as a fabricated object, and the Reliquarium – an architectural typology for commemorating data.


identifier: Mahmoud, Randa Reda  (2020) Barbed Utopia.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Barbed Utopia

format: text archive

subject: Installation Art, Performance Art, Diaspora, Patriarchal systems, Hybrid cultural identity, Social injustice

abstract: I create performative spaces with narratives implicitly inspired by my experiences in a repressive cultural context, and visually influenced by concepts of performance aesthetics, affect, emotions, expressiveness, rhythm and movement. My thesis research has been an amalgam of autoethnography, abstract installation and a critical, self-reflexive performance art practice. I use my expertise in architecture to create unconventional body-centric environments that explore the relationship of body, space and place to contemporary site-related art, scenography, performance and personal history. I use and investigate innovative methodologies of gesture, interiority and live art with a focus on my body as a site for creation, reinvention, memory and activism. My thesis artwork aims to critically scrutinize and challenge patriarchal and colonial systems. I incorporate feminist concepts through narratives that have connection to cultural identity, the gendered social gaze, cultural prejudices, home, nostalgia and diaspora.


identifier: Rodmore, Craig  (2020) Title TK.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Title TK

abstract:
Resisting style and autographic presence and working in a way that is frequently not central but rather in between, behind, or to the side, this thesis combines two related endeavours: (1) the attempt to develop, through an open-ended series of artifacts and exhibitions, an approach to working, employing (often collaborative) strategies of invisibility and the “super normal,” quotation and mimicry, tinkering, and “radical editing”; and (2) a practical investigation of the essential role of documentation—in particular photography, writing and language, and typography as they coalesce in printed ephemera—in art and design practices that are inconspicuous, ephemeral, or immaterial: how documentation reveals and preserves work that by its nature may not be evident or durable; how an art/design practice can occupy this role, contributing to the organization, presentation, and distribution of material while being inconspicuous or invisible itself; and how, in turn, this practice is made visible, if at all. These concerns have converged across a series of (often interrelated) projects, exhibitions, and publications in an ongoing process which the thesis exhibition continues, excerpts from, and documents.

The thesis privileges acts of observation, selection, organization (or disorganization or reorganization), clarification (or obfuscation), preservation, restoration, and alteration over acts of “creation,” and at the same time it embraces the fingerprints that accumulate through these procedures, multiplying across iterations which become variations which incrementally become new things: these fingerprints are the marks of continuous work.

The final exhibition was to include a bronze plaque, a statuette, and printed matter, including several “appendices” disconnected from a main text: a book documenting a series of fifteen exhibitions over the past eleven months, two volumes of photographs of refuse taken over the course of the fall and winter terms, and others. The work would also have extended to collaborative projects presented in the two simultaneous thesis exhibitions—Aisha Ali’s and Atanas Bozdarov’s—with which this one would have been interspersed, continuing the spirit of blurred and multiple authorship that has produced much of the work of the past year and a half or so. The exhibitions would have shared three rooms and the circulation space between them; this document includes a preliminary scheme for the exhibition as it might have looked.


identifier: O'Neil, bekky  (2020) What Does a Garden Know? Permaculture explorations in the field and studio.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text video

subject: Permaculture, Animated Documentary, Sustainable Agriculture, Art Farm, Traditional Animation, Under Camera Animation, Rotoscoping, Plant-Based Inks, No-Till Farming, Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, Eco Feminism, Post Humanism

abstract:
What Does a Garden Know? examines the process of creating a sustainable permaculture farm through the lens and medium of animated documentary.

Looking from the very big - our human impact on the environment, all the way down to the very small microbes living in the soil, this film and paper are specifically interested in consciousness and the barriers we see between different types of life (plants, animals, microorganisms) and whether the complexity of their relationships can be replicated in an artificial setting.

Drawing inspiration from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, I am creating a frame by frame animated film in a mixed media style.  The film makes use of different animation methods to tell a story through a collection of moments: spanning from the stop motion, under camera manipulation of objects and puppets, to hand drawn traditional 2D animation, rotoscoping video onto paper making use of inks from materials that have been cultivated from the landscape, and finally documentary video of the farm in development.

In choosing to use animation instead of more traditional documentary filmmaking techniques I am able to take advantage of the abstraction of images to translate an environmental political message into the poetic realm, making a message more universally accessible. The works are contextualized through the lenses of permaculture and sustainable agriculture, ecofeminism and post humanism, and animated documentary film criticism. The resulting work is a personal film about my own relationship to nature, and feeding a community.


identifier: Zhao, Peiheng  (2020) Blue-and-White: Exploring Mixed Reality Technology for Representing and Facilitating Intercultural Dialogue in Museums.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Museum, Intercultural Dialogue, Blue-and-White Pottery, Cross-cultural Links, Smart Device

abstract: Since the 1980s, museums have been viewed as being able to promote conversations between communities in multicultural societies. The shift from the idea of a museum-going public to museum-going publics has contributed to efforts on the part of institutions to aid in addressing the diversity of experiences and interests that mark the postmodern world. The development of digital technology, mixed reality (MR), for example, has transformed the shared understanding of communication and the perception of information. This thesis presents an argument that MR can be effectively utilized to create a platform in which cross-cultural links between artefacts can be represented dynamically and interactively, to formulate a more diverse narrative about the history and material life, for museum audiences. By augmenting the narrative, the museum space can become a powerful platform to help audiences raise awareness of intercultural dialogue. A mobile-based augmented reality (AR) prototype that uses the story of what is commonly known as “Blue-and-White pottery” [青花; pinyin: qīng-huā or blue patterns and flowers] as a case study was developed to demonstrate the argument. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the potential for emerging technologies to solve contemporary problems in museums.


identifier: Antariksa, Carisa Putri  (2020) Trends Towards Piety: Situating Muslimah Identity through Discursive Artifacts.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text image image image image image video video video

subject: hijab, muslim women, hijabers, muslimah, digital games, discursive design, instagram influencers, religious influencers, personal games, AR zine, augmented reality zine, streetwalker theorizing

abstract: This thesis investigates the phenomena of the ‘Hijabers’, a group of young, urban Indonesian religious influencers, who reinforce an idealized image of a modern Indonesian Muslimah (Muslim woman) within the space they occupy on Instagram. This research outlines the layers of Islamic morals of virtue in pious commodity that these influencers assert through a curated performance of middle-class lifestyle. These images have thus contributed in establishing a dominant perception of hijab-wearing Muslim women within Indonesian popular culture. From this knowledge, the observations are synthesized in proposing alternative media forms to situate identity representations of Indonesian Muslimah. The thesis employs discursive design as a methodology to prompt more nuanced sensemaking of identity in theorizing with Maria Lugones’ la callejera (the Streetwalker). This leads to the creation of discursive artifacts that follow an artifact-scenario alliance, presented in the form of augmented reality zines and a personal digital game. The reimagining of a subjective Muslimah identity through these prototypes also introduces other forms of creative representational practice away from the confines of Instagram. These explorations present various techniques to elaborate on the notion of a multiple self, through use of democratized new media technology in the landscape of 21st century, post-Islamist Indonesia.


identifier: Fisher, Tabitha  (2020) What's Most Fun: A Framework To Protect Creativity in the Age of Instagram.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Online Performativity, Women in Animation, Agency, Participatory Methods, Instagram, Creative Trajectories, Becomings, Art Education

abstract: The online world offers the tantalizing promise of exposure for a new generation of artists, with animators flocking to Instagram to form the latest virtual art sharing space. For women, like me, working in commercial animation, Instagram offers a venue to be seen in an industry with chauvinist and industrial roots. By empowering new creators to surmount the studio monolith, social media platforms present an opportunity to forge a personal creative identity online. There are complexities with this new visibility, as sharing platforms encourage sameness by reinforcing linear trajectories that commodify the creative self. Online sharing culture affects creative practice in numerous ways; with a focus on the experience of women in animation, this thesis examines a particular subset of the Instagram phenomenon. Through the creation and facilitation of a participatory workshop, this paper presents a framework to address the developmental needs of the new generation of artists raised on social media. In the workshop, participants are asked to put aside their devices and reflect through a series of drawing activities that raise questions about social media performativity in order to reignite the lost creative self. Further, they investigate ways to maintain a creatively sustainable art practice online. As part of a feminist discourse this project favours a participatory approach to workshop facilitation that uses play as a way for participants to imagine and design their art practice for the digital future.


identifier: Frappier, Valérie  (2020) Performative Strategies in the Extractive Periphery: Resisting Colonial-Capitalist Logics of Dissolution in the Anthropocene.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: extractivism, land-based performance, performance strategies, Indigenous knowledges, colonial-capitalist critique

abstract: Situated at the intersections of performance, decolonial and ecological theory, this thesis posits embodied performance strategies as a catalyst for subverting the colonial-capitalist logics of extractivism. Through close readings of the work of contemporary artists Tsēmā Igharas (Tahltan), Otobong Nkanga (Nigerian-born, Antwerp-based), Warren Cariou (Métis and European ancestry), Carolina Caycedo (Colombian mestizx, Los Angeles-based) and Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe), this thesis argues that the performing body translates extractive politics into the immediacy of the senses through the micro and intimate aesthetics of the corporeal to engage in a form of critical public pedagogy. Drawing on the work of scholars Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Macarena Gómez-Barris, Laura Levin and Wanda Nanibush, this study queries what submerged perspectives are voiced and made visible in the extractive zone, and frames these perspectives within the current discourse of the Anthropocene. The artists’ land-based praxes, foregrounding Indigenous knowledges, are examined as a type of field research of specific regions’ geopolitics and temporalities—praxes which conceptualize alternative ways of representing and thinking about land through the performance of place-based relationality.