identifier: Lee, Hyein  (2011) Game Stylistics: Playing with Lowbrow.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Game Stylistics: Playing with Lowbrow

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

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

abstract: Playing with Lowbrow is an art game development/creation project that explores the application of Lowbrow aesthetics to game graphics. The resulting creation, Twinkling Stars Above, is a single-player platform PC game prototype. This paper describes the shared and distinct context of two contemporary art movements important to the creation of Twinkling Stars Above: Japan‘s Superflat and North America‘s Lowbrow. I propose that, given Superflat‘s influence on Japan‘s video game graphics, Lowbrow style could also be applied to video games. Through the theoretical background of the Superflat and Lowbrow movements, and practice-based research, Playing with Lowbrow suggests an opportunity to apply the aesthetics of Lowbrow to contemporary digital games in order to blend aesthetics and push against the conventional definitions of high and low art.


identifier: MacLean, Sara  (2013) Quantities and Qualities: Embodied Encounters with Genetic Disorder.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract:
This research investigates the possibility of communicating human experience
from, through and to the body. While investigating the experience of my own genetic
disorder I will examine the dominant discourse on the subject and how it might be
subverted, shifted or avoided as required in order to grasp this ineffable phenomenon as a
patient. Methods of movement observation and embodied filmmaking will be used to
explore the clinical environment during the course of my own treatment. If we put aside
discussions of probability and risk, cause and effect, how can we characterize genetic
disorder? What is the nature of the experience and how does it relate to the body? How
can art, and specifically physical practices of film and movement, establish a fruitful
interdisciplinary exchange with medicine on the subject of patient experiences?


identifier: Magnussen, Humboldt  (2014) Constructing Inclusive Masculinities.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Constructing Inclusive Masculinities

abstract:
In an effort to counter orthodox masculinity, my work uses ornamentation
and the insertion of my own queer body into a hyper masculine context, which
will expand existing notions of masculinity, into more inclusive ones. I will discuss
issues of acceptance and visibility that affect queer athletes and the greater
implications. My thesis exhibition will be completed in two parts: a live
performance art piece and a gallery exhibition of sculpture and photography. The
artwork has an autobiographical point of departure informed by my own family's
personal mythology surrounding our Scandinavian heritage, while also reflecting
on my identity, as a queer, lower class person with a rural Saskatchewan
upbringing. I use artwork as a tool to create discussion and dialogue, which
forwards my own agenda of creating more inclusive versions of masculinity. This
is significant when looking at the social atmosphere facing queers in North
America.


identifier: Maltais, Genevieve  (2011) WALK THE LINE / UN PARKOUR VISUEL.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: WALK THE LINE / UN PARKOUR VISUEL

format: text video

abstract:
L’écran, quel qu’il soit, en mettant tout au premier plan, nous désensibilise
des événements. J’ai voulu me sortir de l’écran le temps d’un moment,
le temps d’apprécier la valeur du quotidien et des objets trouvés sur mon
passage. Je ne veux plus vivre par procuration les trouvailles des flâneurs
d’ailleurs. Les messages véhiculés par les images n’ont plus de portée.
L’instantanéité et la facilité avec lesquelles elles nous apparaissent sur Internet
et dans les médias tuent la découverte. Il me fallait trouver un moyen de
rafraîchir mon champ visuel, de générer mon propre contenu pour m’exprimer
à travers une démarche de travail personnel. WALK THE LINE, un parkour visuel
est l’aboutissement d’un désir de m’affranchir de l’écran, de travailler avec
mes mains et de poursuivre le développement de ma voix créative.


identifier: Martindale, Sean  (2010) curbed concepts.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: curbed concepts

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

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

abstract:
Outlined is a series of interventions created to activate public and semi-public spaces. This supporting document touches on the social and environmental impetus for these efforts. I present a sketch of the theory and methodology behind my project; I draw from relevant concepts such as Guy Debord’s theory of the spectacle and Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic politics, and explore the agency of public space. Over the course of my project, I have conceived of ways to re-envision materials, spaces and infrastructures otherwise neglected or misappropriated. The interventions that compose this project can be seen as open and ongoing experiments. These works present possibilities and
provisional alternatives.


identifier: Meredith, Diana  (2013) Age is Written on the Body.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Age is Written on the Body

abstract:
Age is Written on the Body investigates the different ways in which middle-aged
people experience and reconcile this time of their lives. By interviewing middle-aged
men and women in Toronto about their experiences of midlife and by subsequently
transforming their narrative responses into visual statements rendered in sculptural body
fragments and interpretative text, I highlight a part of peoples’ lives often overshadowed
by society’s privileging of youth. My investigation about aging and the body is framed by
theories in cultural studies and social science, as well as by art practices exploring
figurative representations. Drawing additionally on my personal experience, I argue that
the meaning of middle age in Euro-American society is not monolithic. Rather, as
evidenced in my figurative sculptures, people construct their identity as middle age in
multiple, fragmented, and intangible narratives that they continue to transform throughout
this midlife phase.


identifier: Morden, Josh  (2011) À tous les étages.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: À tous les étages

abstract:
The work of art, the gallery system, the history of art, and the social-cultural
mantle which encloses and validates it all have long been regarded as separate entities
which negotiate an ongoing collaborative relationship. However, this thesis contends
that all formerly accepted limitations and structures of art can be disassembled to be
repurposed as mutable and boundary-less raw materials of art practice. Simulating
the mature career retrospective catalogue of the respected visual artist, Josh Morden
problematizes these separate but correlating realms in order to pose the act of cultural
production as a process of creative self-consumption. Authoring his own fame, interviews
and mythology as a method to examine the psychological effect and intent surrounding
the discourse of art, he creates a recursive document presenting himself as the focus of his
research, examining the intent and accomplishments of his artistic practice from a fictive
third-party perspective. Utilizing cannibalization and appropriation as praxial methods of
artistic production, he explores the questions surrounding meaning, intent and the nature
of the endgame in the creation and theorization of art.


identifier: Moufti, Nermin  (2012) encoding resistance; Graphic Design and Media Control In The Syrian Uprising.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject:
Graphic design, Syrian uprising, media control, propaganda, press, resistance,
self-reflexivity, encoding, critical practice.

abstract:
Encoding Resistance; Graphic Design and Media Control in The Syrian Uprising reenvisioned
graphic design as a critical praxis to observe the misinformation and control of
media practices in the context of the Syrian uprising. The project used a reflexive design
methodology that integrated elements of graphic design and journalism as visual means of
resistance against media hegemony. The thesis aimed to form a space whereby graphic
design could provide critical commentary on social and political conditions in Syria.
Encoding Resistance explored visual and material tactics to communicate fragments of
a lived experience through the perspective of the control of public opinion. The visual
exploration was an attempt at enacting theory through studio practice to highlight the
author’s design discipline as one form of citizenship and resistance.


identifier: Nicol, Heather  (2013) Cordial.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Cordial

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

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

abstract:
Cordial
is
an
invitation
to
encounter
contemporary
artworks
created
from
materials
rooted
in
Euro-‐American
homes
of
the
last
century.
Decorative
components
(wallpaper,
frames,
cabinets)
and
functional
items
(vases,
stemware,
platters)
are
stacked,
fractured,
layered
and
otherwise
arranged
for
display
in
a
site-‐
specific
installation
comprised
of
suites
of
individual
works.
Cordial
explores
transitions
in
the
value
and
use
of
objects
through
the
passage
of
time
and
contexts.
Associated
with
home
display,
these
materials
have
been
identified
with
modes
of
female
subjugation
or
reified
by
feminist
aesthetic
reclamation.
They
also
echo
the
Victorian
passion
for
scientific
collecting,
classification
and
display.
Grounded
in
discovery-‐based
processes
of
creation,
the
theoretical
framework
draws
from
discourses
within
feminism,
deconstruction,
performance,
material
culture,
and
the
ontology
of
the
object.
Through
a
series
of
projects
and
culminating
installation,
this
thesis
investigates
ways
in
which
subjectivities
are
constructed
and
enacted
through
relationships
with
aesthetic,
material
things.


identifier: Procyk, Sean  (2010) Cymatic Bricolage: Visualizing everyday aural experience.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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

abstract:
Historically, the sound of an object or material was rarely considered by its maker unless
it was intended to be acoustic by design. As a result, the contemporary environment is made up
of unintentional aural byproducts. Cymatic Bricolage is an interdisciplinary method that
investigates this notion of unplanned aural experience by re-contextualizing discarded objects as
soniferous. In the exhibition of this work sounds are visualized to create an immersive
audiovisual experience reflecting my experience of being exposed to an environment that
periodically produces physical waste and is characterized by unintentional acoustic spaces. It
builds upon the traditional Cymatic Method, developed by Hans Jenny between 1965 and 1975,
by using physical and aural cultural byproducts to establish a relationship between sight and
sound.


identifier: Surlin, Stephen  (2014) ...And Hear The Coffee: The Brewcast Project as Diegetic Prototype for a Post-smartphone Design Fiction.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
I have designed the Brewcast project, a communication interface that attempts to combine
coffee drinking, social networking technology and telecommunication interface design. By
making a functioning prototype, I attempt to problematize current design conventions and
motivations, placing value on the narrative of the design, a design fiction. The design fiction I
create in my work takes place in a near-future where post smartphone culture, ubiquitous
computing and wide spread internet or network access has replaced the need for individualized
smart-phones and social networking apps. Through this widespread access to wi-fi hotspots that
provide city-wide internet access people may be less inclined to carry around a personal
communication device because of access to internet based connection almost anywhere. Social
networking may revert back to traditional social collective interaction styles with the obsolescing
of individualized mobile communication technologies. Durational interactions, like coffee
drinking, could become a model for these social interaction technologies.


identifier: Sweetman, Nicholas  (2014) Digital Adaptations: Plausibility in Representation Beyond the Frame.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
The research outlined in this document explores an aesthetic philosophical  problem – the making and reception of visual representations  – via   an
interdisciplinary methodology based in material-‐based studio art practice. The studio
work took the form of a representative exercise in which a photograph’s pictorial space is extended
outwards into a larger handmade picture that continues the image’s structural logic through new
materials. Various material methods were tested and selected based on their effectiveness in
continuing the picture beyond the boundaries of the photograph. This document questions the means
by which  an intentional  visual  representation,  inherently  requiring  of the artist creative
stylistic choices, is constructed and evaluated as successful. It was determined that plausibility
in representation beyond the frame requires a certain adherence to the referent which is achieved
through careful observation and reflection upon relationships between visual elements at every
scale, as well as a delicate balancing of invention with repetition.


identifier: Tremonte, Mary  (2014) Camoutopia: Dazzle, Dance, Disrupt.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Camoutopia: Dazzle, Dance, Disrupt

abstract:
Camoutopia examines the ways in which silkscreen printing and social
engagement mutually inform one another to create complex experiences and enact
social change. Camouflage functions as a visual metaphor for social intersections I
am facilitating, through shared interests in queer aesthetics, collective experience,
and embodied exchange. In its failure at representing nature, camouflage calls into
question what we consider natural, and in the tension between passing and
dazzling, acts as a queer aesthetic. The silkscreen printing process, overlapping
layers of color, creates areas of pronounced intensity, a lens and framework
through which to view things differently. This phenomenon extends to social
dynamics; the unanticipated and intense happens in the intersection, what Manning
terms engendering, a process of becoming rather than being. I apply a pedagogical
approach to print production and social events, after Helguera and Bishop, and
draw from Muñoz’s theoretical framework of world making and futurity, giving
form to Federici’s feminist reconstruction of the commons.


identifier: Tsonis, Frank  (2013) Out of Sync: Slowing down the rate of High Frequency Trading.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject:
Algorithm
Ask Price
Bid Price
Bid-Ask Spread
Electronic Communications Network (ECN)
High Frequency Trading (HFT)
Liquidity
Mini Flash Crash
Quote Stuffing
Stock
Stock Exchange

abstract:
Out of Sync is an interdisciplinary art project that examines how High Frequency
Trading (HFT) has accelerated trading on financial markets. This thesis makes visible
how the speed increases inherent within HFT are out of sync with the pace of human
perception. The body of work consists of three projects that each discuss a specific topic
within HFT including the data mining techniques used by HFT algorithms, the history of
HFT, and the loss of space brought about by electronic trading. I use the method of
deceleration to illustrate these differences in speed and represent HFT algorithms using
text, video game design and sound synthesis. Finally, I analyze HFT through the theories
of Paul Virilio and I demonstrate how the speed at which HFT occurs contributes to the
loss of physical space as well as the potential for global accidents.


identifier: Vella, Alexei  (2011) It Lacks A Human Corpse.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: It Lacks A Human Corpse

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

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

abstract:
The body, as well as nature, is subjected to regenerative or degenerative
transformations. When the body undergoes a transformation, there is a reminder
of the final transformation; the final transformation into a corpse is marked with
the utmost abjection. These transformations are potentially traumatic, abject and
destructive. Transformation can also be associated with being monstrous,
horrific, liminal and abhuman. These transformations influence people’s
perceptions and interpretations toward the body, be it through their own
construction or that of society and culture. My intuitive process is rooted in my
own personal experience of transformation and the symbolic and archetypal
forms that stem from these experiences. My experiences are augmented by
cultural representations of transformation; these images are saturated with
things of an uncanny, formless, grotesque and monstrous nature. They are
embodied in the form of fragmented bodies, hybrids of humans, machines,
animals and unfamiliar beings.


identifier: Verstappen, Marjan  (2014) Pollinate/Illuminate.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Pollinate/Illuminate

abstract:
Pollinate/Illuminate is a written paper and exhibition investigating the counterpoint of human, bee and plant
sensory perception. Actuated by Karen Barad’s and Donna Haraway’s diffractive methodologies I argue that
traditions of botanical illustration and taxonomy limit the possibilities by which humans imagine ecologically meshed
relationships with bees. The artwork questions problematic values of control inherent in modern agricultural practices,
especially monocultures. After initial experiments in immersive installation I make a series of ‘deviant’ botanical
illustrations, critical of the Linnaean method of taxonomy to explore difference from within an epistemological system
that negates it. These illustrations show a proliferation of different possibilities for ultraviolet vision, which is how
bees see flowers. Bathed in UV light, the exhibition demonstrates the counterpoint of how plants, bees and humans
respond differently to colour and light. By studying needs and desires across species Pollinate/Illuminate makes an
argument for biodiversity that hums with possibility.


identifier: Visser, Lisa  (2011) Animals in the Room.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Animals in the Room

abstract:
Animals in the Room is a thesis project consisting of written scholarship and a series of performances that investigate communication between human and animal species while
expanding upon concepts of performance art.  In Animals in the Room, I discuss human-‐animal
relationships in the context of contemporary performance art practice, focusing on potential
frameworks, methodologies, and mythologies
contained therein. Animals in the Room explores the ways in which humans and animals collectively
cultivate self-‐knowledge and connection across the barriers of our species.  It is an inquiry
into the removal of these barriers and the absence of division. It explores
the human-‐animal relationship through research-‐led performative practice.


identifier: Walker, Christine  (2012) Fenestration: Bird-building Collisions An Installation of Painting and Collage.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text audio

abstract:
The city of Toronto is located on a flight path used by millions of migratory
birds. It is estimated that, “1 to 10 birds will hit each building, each year, in North
America alone. In Toronto, that amounts to between 1 to 10 million migrating birds lost
every year.”1 Although these collisions account for more bird deaths every year than
anything else, this knowledge is not widespread or collectively seen as a need for
concern. The overall objective of this interdisciplinary project is to expose this issue
through collage. The project aims to increase people’s awareness of bird-building
collisions and avian perception, and to lead to new questions for future interdisciplinary
research.


identifier: Wihak, Marian  (2014) DEEP CIRCULARITY.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: DEEP CIRCULARITY

abstract:
Within the lexicon of our daily lives, chaos suggests a state of temporal disarray
(undesirable) and the sublime suggests exquisite beauty or pleasure (desirable); however,
both concepts are more layered and entwined than colloquial usage would suggest.
The focus of my thesis inquiry is the overlap between chaos and the sublime
within the arc of duration, with my thesis project situated in the context of an immersive,
phenomenological experience. I posit that a constant yet rhythmically fluctuating pulse
encompasses a process of both hold and release, one that is at the core of this substantive
chaos/sublime/duration relationship. Deep Circularity draws upon an array of crossdisciplinary
discussions that promote more expansive and also reflective considerations
of chaos and the sublime, and, further, responds to the modes that, in tandem, engage us
in constant flow, flux, vibration, and emergence as part of the ongoing process of
existence.


identifier: Wray, Britt  (2012) Changes at the lab bench: interdisciplinary art and life’s new design.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text text text

abstract:
In this thesis I examine contemporary interdisciplinary theory and practice in art,
design, citizen science and synthetic biology. I explain the differences between three main
knowledge distinctions of synthetic biology, and identify prominent artists, designers, and
citizen scientists who are creating new modes of labour therein. I locate this research in
Isabelle Stengers’ notion of the Ecology of Practices, which I connect to my own art practice
as a DIY textile crafter. In the DIY Body Project installation, which took place at the Ontario
Science Centre and online at diybody.org, a space is created for the public to generate its own
evolving narrative of what a synthetic body can mean, look like and function as. The
exhibition does this without promoting a specific rhetoric of the body as human, the synthetic
as machine, or the biological as computable as is often seen in biotechnology discourse.


identifier: Zealley, Andrew  (2013) Disco Hospital.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Disco Hospital

abstract:
I say a scientist cannot be a therapist. Treatment is the work of artists and
poets. If you are not that, you cannot cure (Jodorowsky 240).
Disco Hospital is an investigation of sound and non-Western healing practices. This
investigation emphasizes experiential and healing processes, not just outcomes. Themes
are viewed through the lens of queer theory, rhetoric, and perspectives. In this paper, I
argue that HIV/AIDS and immune disorders can be understood as metaphors for the
collapse of identity. More than an investigation of healing, Disco Hospital is a healing act
in and of itself. This act signifies the current chapter of healing in my life and is marked
by HIV disclosure. This marker offers deeply personalized insights to the investigation’s
HIV/AIDS metaphor. Disco Hospital investigates evidence specific to male homosexual
shamans in diverse regional, historical, and cultural settings—and contemporary
representations of healing and queer identities in the arts and HIV/AIDS community—
and thereby suggests that indigenous shamanic healing may be less dependent on
geographical identity and embedded more in the ontological specificities of queer seeing
and being.
You are reading Disco Hospital: Manual. Please proceed to Admissions.


identifier: Lomtatidze, Rusiko  (2014) Spectacular Castration: Labiaplasty as Body Negation in the Age of Globalization.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis explores labiaplasty as a point of inquiry in order to understand how representations of the female body have changed with the transition to global capitalism.  Through the analysis of contemporary, mainstream media representations within “body genres”,  including pornography and horror films, this thesis explores notions of affect and the production of subjectivities as central modes in  contemporary capitalism that signal a new and unique form of biopower whereby representation works  to affect subjectivities from which new cultural practices – such as labiaplasty – may emerge. To  argue this point, this thesis conducts a discourse analysis from the personal stories told by women  seeking labiaplasty on the Internet, in order to examine how representation may influence subjectivities of women to the point of seeking labiaplasty.


identifier: Bouthillier, Rose Irene Ellen  (2011) To Be Real: The Authentic Subject and Contemporary Representation.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis consists of a curatorial essay and contemporary art exhibition entitled To Be Real, with works by Althea Thauberger, Helen Reed and Lars Laumann. These artists  have approached subjects removed from the everyday (respectively, remote Italian villagers, Twin  Peaks fans and an objectùm-sexual woman). Through indexical media, documented research, interviews  and amateur techniques, the works present a realist aesthetic, showing the subjects as seen and  encountered first hand. My research investigated different theoretical approaches to realism in  contemporary art and ethnography, particularly in relation to lens- based representation. The  curatorial essay considers the parallels between these artistic practices and ethnographic realism,  identifying a contradiction between the artists’ factual approaches and the inconsistent and illusive realities they represent. I put  forth the term incoherent real to express the tenuous balance these works hold between indexicality  and theatricality, and the use of video to highlight the gaps between perception and experience.


identifier: Dennis, Katherine Erin  (2012) NOW: A Collaborative Project with Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text text text text text

abstract: This thesis consists of a contemporary art exhibition and accompanying curatorial essay featuring Toronto-based artists Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette. Martindale and Paquette  collaborated for the first time to create a site-specific installation for the Toronto Now series  at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Combining graffiti writing, street art and activist interventions  with contemporary painting and design Martindale and Paquette created new work for the exhibition.  To develop the installation the artists and curator worked closely with the AGO including the FRANK  restaurant, the gift shop, the Weston Family Learning Centre and curatorial department to construct an integrated project that playfully works with and responds to established museum systems.


identifier: Gill, Caitlin Elizabeth  (2014) PROXIMITY TO ANIMALS.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: PROXIMITY TO ANIMALS

abstract: The thesis exhibition Proximity to Animals critically explored the varying and complex proximity animals share with humans. The exhibition served as a platform by which to investigate the dynamic bond people have to the natural world elaborating on natural history museums, taxidermy, John Berger’s disappearing animal, posthumanism and social and cultural frames. Within natural history museums and zoos, the meanings of objects, more specifically animal bodies, are not inherent but rather socially and theoretically constructed. The artists exhibited in Proximity to Animals: Nader Hasan, Rob MacInnis, Amy Swartz and Janice Wright Cheney engaged with the visibility and multiple contradictions related to the denaturalized animal, embracing what the natural history museum and the zoo often conceal: themes of dominance, consumption hierarchy, and human narrative.


identifier: Goodden, Sky  (2010) Arcades as Intérieur: The Production of Distance in Sophie Calle and Janet Cardiff.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: The work of French artist Sophie Calle and the Canadian artist partnership Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller localize this art critical consideration. My lens is Walter  Benjamin’s writings on memory, trace, and narrative. Calle parlays her exercises in memorial  site-reconstruction, and arbitrary assignments in tracking and detection through the deceptively  descriptive media of photography and text. Her dubious construction of narrative, and the demands  she makes on trust, result in a practice that requires both our romantic supplication and our  skepticism. Cardiff and Miller similarly position their viewer/participants at the interstices of  desire and doubt. Their work solicits memorial and sensorial vulnerability, such that we must give ourselves over in order to ‘complete’ the work.  In the case of both Calle and Cardiff/Miller, histories are created in the here and now. Linking  the distinctions Benjamin made between distance and trace and their intersection’s possibility for  aura, I explore the auratic function of artwork that stresses process, produces distance and trace, and brings absence to experience.


identifier: Hajdin, Nives Katarina  (2014) Survoyeurism: Reconsidering Surveillance.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This curatorial project examines the notion of survoyeurism, my neologism for the intersection of surveillance and voyeurism in contemporary society. Survoyeurism: Reconsidering  Surveillance explores two trends in the current information age: the growing ubiquity and  invasiveness of surveillance against public will, and people’s willingness to provide their  information to whomever requests it. By bringing together various iterations of surveillance and  voyeurism through works of installation, monoprint and video, this exhibition demonstrates how acts  of oversharing contribute to a spectacle of surveillance. The ubiquity of surveillance in  technology and contemporary society has brought forth a dual response in the general public: those  who vehemently battle the rising invasiveness and seek to maintain privacy, and those who actively  give over their private information for others' consumption and use. Survoyeurism addresses the social implications of surveillance practices to investigate how contemporary artists have addressed this dichotomy, and what they propose as a response.


identifier: Orri Hancherow, Stefan  (2013) Brand New Aura.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Brand New Aura

abstract: Brand New Aura is curatorial a intervention of the art database program, Google Art Project (GAP). In April of 2012, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) became the first museum in Canada  to participate in GAP. For this exhibition Montréal-based artist Jon Rafman produced a suite of new  artworks that have been uploaded to the GAP website and presented alongside artworks from the AGO’s  permanent collection. Rafman appropriates images from the aforementioned collection; cropping,  repeating, stretching, modifying, and then grafting them onto the surface of an intricate, virtual  three- dimensional setting. Rafman’s series, Brand New Paint Job, the collection of artworks at the centre of the exhibition, straddle the line between artistic sacrilege and homage; they are  an ironic mash-up of high and low culture, the past and present. Rafman utilizes a viewer’s  knowledge of art history to produce something eerily familiar, a brand new artwork distinct from what it imitates.


identifier: Haynes, Ebony  (2011) From Politics to Post, and Other Idioms in Contemporary Black Art: A Look at Postrace.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: The term “postrace” has emerged in recent years as both a theoretical and sociological construct, but as yet has been little discussed in relation to cultural production, specifically visual art. This thesis reviews the terminology, theory and issues that  shaped the production and reception of Black art in the past century as it leads to the current  discourse of postrace in the Obama era.  My research investigates how art, discourse and politics  interrelate to form the context for Black artists' production. Through the case studies of  watershed exhibitions such as the 1993 Whitney Biennial (1993), Freestyle (2001) Documenta 11  (2002), and Afro-Modern (2010), I analyze the implications of terms such as “identity politics,”  “post-‐black,” “creolization” and, most importantly, “postrace” in relation to recent and  contemporary  Black art.


identifier: Keeley, Angela  (2013) ART CON GUELPH: Developing Alternative Artistic Practices through Fan Culture and Fan Convention Models.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: At a convention you see the efforts of hundreds to thousands of people who re-create characters from a wide variety of fan culture with a cultish approach to imitation and detail.  These efforts display a wide range of artistic skills that are not necessarily accredited as such.  ART CON GUELPH (ACG) is an investigation of how the participatory model of fan conventions and  their creative interactions can be pushed beyond the boundaries of fandom and be used as a site of  interaction, original expression and artistic practices. The goal of ACG is to see how this  potential model can be employed to encourage youth to initiate their own artistic practices through  original self expression. This essay focuses on the discussion of integrating both the theoretical and practical foundations of ACG in order to build a new framework of art practice which focuses on the public as the fulcrum of the work.


identifier: MacDonald, Mary Florence  (2012) W(here) Festival, Pictou County, Nova Scotia: curating within rural communities.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis consists of a curatorial essay and project entitled the W(here)Festival, a five day contemporary art festival in Pictou County, Nova Scotia with works by Marlene  Creates, Sheilah Wilson, Site Media Inc. (Katherine Knight and David Craig), Susan Sellers, Raina  McDonald, Sharon Nowlan, Linda Little and Sheree Fitch. Exploring ideas of place, art and  community, makers from a variety of disciplines and experiences led residents in specially designed  field trips, projects, presentations as well as discussion, story and song. This festival was a  hands-on experience that moved beyond gallery walls exploring new ideas of rural contemporary curatorial and artistic practices through collaboration, place and  place-based artwork, as well as definitions of rural identity and community. This essay considers  the project’s development, the challenges and opportunities of curating “here”, and the lasting  impact of this project within curatorial practices and the local communities of Pictou County.


identifier: MacInnis, Jordan  (2011) In and Out of Fashion: Fashion Photography and the Museum.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: The past two decades have witnessed an increase in exhibitions of fashion photography in major international museums. This indicates not only the museum’s burgeoning interest in other  cultural forms but the acceptance of fashion photography into specific art contexts. This thesis  examines two recent exhibitions of contemporary fashion photography: “Fashioning Fiction in  Photography Since 1990” at the Museum of Modern Art (April 16- June 28, 2004), the first exhibition  of fashion photography at a major North American museum of art, and “Weird Beauty: Fashion  Photography Now” at the International Center of Photography (January 16, 2009-May 3, 2009). These exhibitions sought to either confirm  fashion photography’s status as art or to illustrate its stylistic virtuosity. This thesis analyses  both of these exhibitions in relation to the curatorial methods employed by each museum. It also  considers how fashion photography’s affective qualities and commercial origins highlight the problematic nature of a modernist approach to photography as well as its contemporary manifestations.


identifier: McKenzie, Heidi  (2014) Face Value: Exploring the Inter-subjectivity of Mixed-Race Identity Through the Works of Jordan Clarke, Erika DeFreitas and Olivia McGilchrist.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: The central premise of this thesis exhibition project addresses the notion of inter-subjectivity as it pertains to the self-portraiture of three mixed-race artists of  Afro-Caribbean and Euro-white heritage: Jordan Clarke, Erika DeFreitas and Olivia McGilchrist. The  project explores this inter-subjectivity by troubling the black/white race binary within the  specificities of the artists’ geographies and the curated work. It also assesses the  positionalities of the Toronto audience’s mixed reception of the work. The scope of the project  encompasses the exhibition Face Value; a self- published exhibition catalogue; a reflective  curatorial essay; an online community outreach resource; an artist panel produced in partnership  with The State of Blackness conference; an onsite curator’s talk; and an exhibition report that  details the process, methodology, and key learnings, contextualizes the work of the artists, and  incorporates a literature review of the primary theoretical concepts that inform the project.


identifier: Morrissette, Suzanne  (2011) Stories of Place, Location, and Knowledge Criticism Thesis.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis undertakes an interpretation of two exhibitions of Aboriginal art, Writing Home and RESERVE(d), both of which took place at Urban Shaman Gallery: Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Winnipeg during 2010. Writing Home, curated by Faye Heavyshield, is a solo exhibition of Bonnie Devine’s visual representations depicting conversations between people and place at Serpent River First Nation. I argue that Devine's works position the reserve as a place that is animated by personal narratives and inscribed by history and memory in the land. RESERVE(d) is a collaborative exhibition by Kevin Lee Burton and Caroline Monnet. Through the installation of large format photography, sculptural works on Plexiglas, video projections, and ambient audio, RESERVE(d) re-creates a physical place—the reserve—in the context of another physical place—the gallery. I argue that Burton and Monet's installation serves to collapse linear and cartographic conceptions of time and location into speculative sites for imagining the mechanisms of generational and place-based Indigenous knowledge.


identifier: Rose Myers, Lisa  (2011) Best Before: Recipes and Food in Contemporary Aboriginal Art.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis consists of a curatorial essay and contemporary art exhibition entitled Best Before featuring artwork by KC Adams, Keesic Douglas, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Peter Morin and Suzanne Morrissette. Through the investigation of a variety of topics including  Aboriginal curating, culinary exhibitions, food studies, food history, and the associations between  food, place, representation and identity, my research engaged texts pertinent to the complex issues  raised when analyzing artworks addressing cultural agency and the encoding of food from Aboriginal  perspectives. The curatorial essay continues these examinations by relating the acculturation of  so-called Aboriginal cuisine with artworks that unmask the lived experiences of a continuing  colonial legacy where food sources play a key role. In the exhibition, artists respond to recipes  of their choice by referencing food in their artworks. Together these artworks complicate notions of cultural  identity while signalling the links between colonization and the global food system.


identifier: Pearl, Zach  (2012) Net.cromancy: Methods for the revival of virtual exhibitions.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis focuses on critical issues in the curation and exhibition of networked art, and proposes a curatorial methodology (net.cromancy) for experimental, participatory  models in virtual exhibitions. Since 2005, a noticeable increase in hybrid (or alchemic) models of  virtual and physical display have added to the increasing institutionalization and commodification  of net art. These models contribute to connotations of net art exhibitions as embodied experiences,  in which the physical gallery serves as the primary site of interaction and value production. Therefore, alchemic exhibition models neglect the possibility for critical social engagement to be accomplished in uniquely  virtual terms. Using an interdisciplinary conceptual framework that incorporates aspects of  site-specificity, media theory, political agonism and software curation, the author outlines and  analyzes methods for creating an 'open', innovative and democratic virtual exhibition model through  the integration of users, and the liberating potential of virtual critique.


identifier: Rojas-Pick, Simone  (2014) STREET MUSEUM WITHOUT WALLS: A Curatorial Mediation on the Convergence of Street Art and Digital Culture.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
This study develops a conceptual framework for a street museum without walls that synthesizes the social spheres of the museum, the city, and the web in order to curate street art in-situ. When André Malraux developed his theory of a museum without walls, he imagined the endless discursive  possibilities of integrating photographic reproducibility within museological discourse.  Redeploying Malraux’s theory, this thesis examines the transformation of art and public culture via  networked digital technology, in order to map the spatial aesthetic operations of street art within  a curatorial discourse. This study engages with critical discussions surrounding the changing role  of the museum in the twenty-first century, the pervasiveness of the street art movement within contemporary culture, the question of how digital reproducibility  has allowed street art practices to occupy multiple sites within the public sphere, and, how  concepts of ‘site’ and ‘place’ are
mediated, extended and registered online.


identifier: Smart, Penelope Jane  (2013) Time To Start Over.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Time To Start Over

abstract:
Time To Start Over is a group exhibition that brought together artworks by

artists Lauren Hall, Jennifer Rose Sciarrino and Leisure (Meredith Carruthers and Susannah Wesley).
Scientists suggest that we are entering a new geological epoch, termed the Anthropocene, in which
the natural world bears the unmistakable mark
of the human hand. Using this speculative scenario as a figurative starting point, Time To Start
Over occasioned works of sculpture, mixed-media assemblage and video as immanent “findings” from
the evolving surface layer of history. Here, an archaeological approach, or attitude, regarding
exhibition making was taken up as a procedural and conceptual concern. In order to position the
works as “new” representations of nature, Time To Start Over explored various parallel critical
structures and dialogues of "new histories," characterized most notably through the notion of
“aftermaths” and “uncanny returns” in the realms of contemporary art
theory, art history, and aesthetic philosophy.


identifier: Walker, Ellyn  (2014) Pictures of Culture: Photographic Objects as Sites of National Identity.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This  thesis  paper  examines  specific  bodies  of  work  by  three  Ontario-based emerging artists, Meryl McMaster, Basil AlZeri and Kristie MacDonald, who explore questions  of   depicting  national  identity  in  a  culturally  diverse  country  like  Canada. Focusing on the  passport, the postcard and the ethnographic portrait as objects of cultural significance, the  artists and their works appropriate these sites of photography, and, in turn, their embedded  histories, as ways to renegotiate them. The specific representations taken up  by  McMaster,   AlZeri  and  MacDonald  portray  a  variety  of  culturally  specific perspectives and histories in  relation to Canada. The artists in “Pictures of Culture” trouble the ideological imperatives of  national identity by rethinking photographic representations as signifiers of inclusion,  recognition and participation that arise from their distinct subject positions as Indigenous  sovereign citizens or immigrants within national borders.


identifier: Bal, Harjot  (2013) Responsive Aesthetics for Yogic Meditation: An Innovative Design Theory for Holistic Health that supports Autonomy and Effective Training.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text video video video

subject:
wellbeing technology, yogic meditation, holistic health, mixed methods,
design theory.

abstract: In an effort to contribute a novel theory to the design of emergent wellbeing technology, this paper presents a creative process involving mixed methods taken by the author in producing a design work, referred to as the prototype. The theory formulated by the author concerns the innovation of holistic health practices, specifically a set of prescriptions that posit an effective simulation of yogic meditation experience through computer technology. The resulting theory is then exercised throughout the development of the thesis prototype—resulting in a design work that employs a relatively new interface that immerses the user in a digital simulation where embodied engagement and responsive aesthetics make up the core of the functionality, in what is intended to be a multimodal holistic wellbeing experience. Additionally, the prototype and its ongoing iterative development are documented.


identifier: Chang, Shuting  (2013) Explore using digital game and empathy as tools for self-expression An Art Exhibition of Digital Game.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject:
game  studies,  emotion, empathy, personal narrative, interaction, connection between
game and player, emotional experience, culture specificity, and memory

abstract: For this thesis, the researcher proposes a unique angle that uses digital games as a tool for self-expression. Empathy theory will be applied to the game making process to help players  understand the artist’s expression. This process suggests that there is a potential for game makers  to understand, model and instantiate more resources on affective address and embody those into game  content in a way that acknowledges and accommodates the player’s processes of emotional cognition. The practical project associated with the thesis is an experimental game that communicates to the  players the emotions and life experiences that the game artist is willing to express. The  anticipated result, the images, music, interaction and story are crafted in order to tell a single  story, but the game experience should remind players about their own memories, experiences and special stories outside the game.


identifier: Pin-Chun Chen, Cathy  (2013) Gītakāra: A radio and SMS-based system for collaborative composition and broadcasting.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text audio audio audio audio

subject:
Key Words: Development, ICT4D, appropriate technology, local practices, open source,

Indian youth, social media, constructivist learning, community radio station, M4D,
mobile technology, SMS

abstract: The idea of ICT4D, that technologies can be designed to encourage development of disadvantaged communities, is inherently tied to the contentious definition of“development.” Following Escobar (1995), this thesis aims to repurpose the idea of development to recognize,  encourage and support local subjectivities, goals and practices among rural Indian youth who cannot  attend school regularly and are thus isolated from peers. To provide opportunities for these youth  to engage with peers intellectually and creatively from a distance, this thesis describes a system  that uses the local technologies of community radio stations and SMS messaging to enable youth to  collaboratively author song lyrics. The project’s design process was guided by the methodology of  appropriate technology, and several user tests and questionnaires were conducted to evaluate the  system. Overall, study participants expressed that Gītakāra is a platform where they can have fun and creatively collaborate, think and compose with their peers.


identifier: Chintraruck, Pavika (Pui)  (2014) Traces Upon: An Interactive Public Installation in a Shopping Mall.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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

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

abstract: This thesis project investigates the possibility of generating a sense of connection in a shopping mall’s space and enhancing the experience of this “non-‐place”, a space  composed of transient activity and retaining no engagement as described by Mark Auge. An engaging  interactive public installation has been designed which allows participants to have a lasting  effect on the space by leaving a trace of their activities. The three core values in this project  that act as a foundation throughout the development process are accumulation, identification, and  meaningful outputs. The research is conducted with a horizon scan of the existing literature and  knowledge, as well as existing interactive projects in various fields. Critical design,  Reflection-‐in-‐Action, and user-‐centered design are the three main design  approach and method.


identifier: Coleman, Elizabeth Eva  (2013) [Bare] Witness How electronic literature can facilitate critical empathy, convey complex narratives and bring us closer through the poetics of interactivity.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject:
Transformational Witnessing | Trauma & Recovery | Critical Empathy | Multi-Sensorial
Reading Experiences | Digital Literacies | Sonic Art | Multimedia Storytelling | Tablet
Devices | Memory | Personal Narratives

abstract:
This paper contends that interactive eBooks designed for tablet devices promise new ways of reading, interpretation and imagination, which offer entryways to poetic and literary  insights by providing affordances that support and extend complex narratives in multi-sensorial  ways though engagements in witnessing and embodiment. I argue that storytelling needs to change in  order to accommodate new digital literacies and the complexity of human experience. I deconstruct  this claim by looking at supporting theories in digital storytelling, trauma and recovery,  witnessing, spiritual activism, sound, and polyphony of experience. As a method of investigation, I  examine the composition of [Bare] Witness, the multi sensorial eBook I authored that portrays my  personal trauma
narratives, as a proof of concept prototype.


identifier: De Pape, Marc  (2013) THE CHIME: POETICALLY TRANSLATING THE DISCRETE DIFFERENCE OF AGNSOTIC SENSORS INTO A SONIFICATION OF THE CITY.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: Inspired by Georg Simmel’s notion of the blasé and Mark Weiser’s vision for calm technology, this document detailing the application of critical concepts to the realization of a design  intention is a critical and creative exploration of computation and the everyday. While paying  particular attention to the conceptual underappreciation of acoustic space and place, I outline a  case for poetically translating data collected from inherently agnostic sensors through the design,  construction and use of an instrument for sensing environmental difference (comprised of 18 sensors measuring 27 data points) and exemplified through a musical sonification. A generative instrument,  such as The Chime, takes external impulses and translates them poetically into a form that naturally casts the attention back upon the initial gust. In the built environment such treatment  of discrete sensing could help engender what I call acoustic places; place that, even if for a  passing moment, might resonate harmonically and reciprocally with the inspiration for its emission.


identifier: Forbes, John Andrew  (2014) An Audience of One: Building an Interactive Narrative Experience for Mobile Devices.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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

subject:
Frame,  Screen, Audience,  Spectacle, Presence, Presentation, Time,  Presentation Format,
Cinematogra-
phy, Photography, Mobile  Technology, Film, Video, Media, Social Impact, Aﬀect, Semiotics, Cultural
Im-
plications.

abstract:
The purpose of this thesis was to explore the storytelling  possibilities  of cinema and mobile  interactive technologies. As cinema has undergone major technological and theoretical shifts over its history,  though particularly in the last three decades, the techniques  and theories  surrounding   the way  that a ﬁlmmaker can tell a story has laterally expanded. Similarly,  technological advancements,  particularly  with regard to mobile technologies, have created presentation platforms which,  until  less than ten years ago, existed only in the realm of the fantastic. Storytellers, ﬁlmmakers  and  technologists are now exploring narrative possi- bilities by combining these three disciplines, as  exempliﬁed by Lev Manovich’s  Soft Cinema, works by Peter Greenaway, interactive music videos,  movies and experimental projects. However, the move away from contextual representation of the  story is a dangerous one, as meaningful  interactions  which  were inherent in the linear  presentation format of cinema  seem to now be put aside in favour of interaction for interac- tion’s sake.
I propose, as a response to this,  an original  dramatic  work  which  is wholly  conceived and  developed
exclusively for iPad delivery which blends meaningful interactions and narrative themes into a  unique, complete, and personalized cinematic  experience. This  work combines traditional  cinema  theory and in- teractive practices  developed through  research  and exploration  of storytelling   modes and techniques  to generate a ﬁve-to-seven minute interactive movie for exclusive presentation on an iPad.


identifier: Ghaderi, Maziar  (2014) Playformance: The Virtual Ampliﬁcation of Spontaneous Hand Gestures in Performance Art.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
Playformance (an originally-coined term) oﬀers  the space for performance artists to rethink their art practice in new ways through the incorporation of  augmentative technology. In this line of research, spontaneous hand gestures (in addition  to other forms  of movement) serve as a  kinetic form of creative articulation, and are translated to aﬀect projected graphics rendered  live. By situating interactive technology as an extension of the artist’s expression, playformance  posits that this user-authored virtual output  has  the potential  to convey the user’s inner  thoughts and/
or motives through ludic performativity. In-depth contextual inquiry and user-experience-enhancing compliance design, inform the creative and technical process of ﬁve diverse, original and custom-made networked-performances: Dissolving Self, Blendism, Havabazi Tuno, Jadoo Bänoo, and Havabazi Avesta. Findings conclude that the director must design a visceral experience for the user, which, in turn subsequently felt and understood by the audience as well. With staged performances, come a divide between the passive audience and active performer. Inspired  from this, playformance also  includes the conceptual development and production of Mirada, an interactive installation, in which users collaboratively engage with sensor-embedded abstract instruments through playful haptic  exploration to serendipitously aﬀect both visual  and acoustic feedback in real-time.


identifier: Harvey, John  (2014) Embedded perspectives: Considerations for the design of a multi-centre research registry.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: The  denial of decision support and research tools using real-time communication between medical centres is an ongoing problem in Ontario. Through fieldwork, a  relationship was established with a neuroradiologist at a local area research hospital, and  permission was obtained to create a website based on study data of patients suffering cerebral  aneurysms as a step toward resolving this problem. One hundred case files from 2012-2013 were  assembled, anonymized and exported from the hospital’s patient records. Post-processing of  patient’s images was performed to secure a level of interactivity commensurate with users’  experience through their workplace software. Paper prototypes of interface designs were created for   both desktop and mobile platforms. These prototypes were presented to ‘lay’ users and then to  representative end users— neuroradiologists at two local area research hospitals. Interaction with  the prototype and the ensuing discussions led  to the creation of a second prototype, which in turn  was presented at each hospital. Observations and findings from these sessions provided a set of  design considerations. These considerations led to the formation of a design model which can serve as a basis for  ensuring user contribution and reward for participating in an online medical research registry.


identifier: Itani, Fayssal  (2013) Blogtivist: An Exploration of an Online Activist Game Inspired by the Arab Spring Revolution.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This paper is an exploration of the communicative potential of video games in facilitating the understanding of the experiences of online activists during the Arab Spring  protests. By pushing the boundaries of the gaming medium, activist games can embody real situations  that dissidents encounter bringing a more realistic experience to the player, which in turn can  communicate the dangers of blogging in the Middle East. Based on real events, Blogtivist is an  online game that turns the player into an activist blogger who contributes in helping topple the  dictatorship in power through his online activities. The game simulates activist actions and their  possible repercussions while underlining the fact that political change has been achieved through  organization and communication .The focus is on the experience that the player gets out of the gameplay as it aspires to raise awareness on the conditions of online dissidents in the region.


identifier: Leitch, Alex  (2014) Mechanism: An artist-led, feminist design process for open technology tools.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

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

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

abstract:
This thesis examines what it means for technology to open, and how that open technology may be applied in support of the arts. Drawing on H´el`ene Cixous’ ”Laugh of the Medusa”, the paper  proposes a feminist, inclusive design process that subverts imposter syndrome by involving  community engagement in the software development process, then uses that method to develop software  that powers narrative-focused FMV video games using Node.JS internet technologies. The design method addresses theoretical structures as well as pragmatic solutions, focusing on the  use of limited hardware to serve a captive portal and a web application to a limited geographic  space. Also examined is the concept of a “game jam” to develop content and test new software  systems. The paper then reviews the capital and scarcity implications of such applications for serving new media works in galleries and geographically remote or
challenging exhibit contexts.


identifier: Maksymic, Ryan  (2014) Using digital technology to enable new forms of audience participation during rock music performances.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: Technology has long been used to improve  the presentational aspects of a live  music performance, but it is less often employed to encourage participation from audience mem- bers. This  thesis investigates how digital technologies might be used to make rock concerts more  participatory.   An ethnographic study was first carried out, surveying concertgoers and musicians  to identify current attitudes towards audience participation and technology- enabled events.  Prototypes were developed and tested to assess new methods for facilitating audience involvement.  The final prototype was created in collaboration with a local band and implemented during a live  performance; both the audience and performers found the experience enjoyable. Upon analysis,  several characteristics for a successful participatory technology were identified. Limiting  constraints on user inputs and promoting true interac- tivity between audience and performer  yielded the best results. It was concluded that digital technology provides new opportunities for  audiences to participate in music performances.


identifier: Martinez, Mitzi  (2014) Augmented Reality Narratives: Homunculus: A Story at the Threshold Between Physical and Virtual Worlds.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text image image image image image

abstract: This thesis investigates the creation of site-specific augmented reality (AR)narratives. AR is a complex medium comprised of both physical and virtual worlds, employing a  screen space where the two are synthesized. As a nascent technology, the methods and language for  the creation of AR content are still developing. This paper analyzes elements that come into play  when creating an AR narrative, including learned behaviours within specific architectural zones. I  consider architecture as a medium and frame for AR narrative, as architecture engages with the  mobile device and screen where the story unfolds. My research is informed by different disciplines  and theories, including the concept of the architectural fold introduced by Bernard Cache and  Elizabeth Grosz. Through the fold, virtual architecture interrupts physical space by annexing it  into a new form. My research also applies cinematic language as a means to articulate the on-screen  story, and to apply the concept of montage to physical space in real time. All of these elements and concepts inform Homunculus, an AR Narrative in the Gladstone Hotel.


identifier: McConnell, Jackson  (2014) SPOOKY ACTION AT A DISTANCE: FRAGMENTS OF PRESENCE IN REMOTE OBJECTS.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
This research  project  explores the relationship between poetic design and emotional affect. In it I document the creation of four prototypes that  each illustrate  a different way of physical- ly animating an object with the presence  of a remote person. In my reflection on these designs I discuss the concepts that informed their creation, including  Ambient Media Displays, Tangible User Interfaces, and Poetic Design. I also reflect on user tests  conducted to discern the potential for each design
to be emotionally affective, and the qualities of the design that facilitate this. I conclude that   experiencing a small fragment of a person’s presence  through the behavior  of an object has sig-  nificant potential to be emotionally affective. I assert that  the poetic  significance of  fragments is one of the conceptual mech- anisms responsible for this affect.


identifier: Pridham, Hudson  (2014) iVR Control: An immersive VR Simulation for Rover Navigation and Control.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
Tackling issues endemic to traditional remote rover control systems, such as cognitive workload arising from unfamiliarity with the robot, its  characteristics, and its context, this thesis explores the use of a VR headset and immersive  simulation to enable robot operators to view the robot being operated in its context. Needs,  insights, and solutions were gathered through a study of relevant literature, rover operator  interviews and job shadows, and three prototype development and testing sprints. These provide  evidence that gestural controls coupled with immersive VR interfaces can improve rover operator’s  abilities to establish situational awareness and complete traditionally complex tasks, such as  robot arm
repositioning and task switching. This thesis concludes
with six key insights concerning the creation of VR control systems for rover operation: aﬀordance,  consistency, communicability, feedback loop, spatial memory, and simulation sickness.


identifier: SHAIK, YIFAT  (2014) STALEMATE: TRANSLATING SOCIAL DILEMMA TO COMPUTER GAME.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: Originating from the desire to explore concepts relating to social interaction in play mechanics, this thesis evolved into a computer game that is based on translating economic  and social dilemmas into play mechanics. Specific empha- sis is put on the Prisoner Dilemma, an  analysis that predicts the likelihood that individuals will cooperate or compete against each other  in a given situation. Due to the separation from reality and the elimination of social norms in the  environment of computer games, the Prisoner Dilemma manifests itself differently than it would in a  real-life situation. The resulting prototype is a two-player competitive computer game. Players must collect orbs while  running on a revolving sphere; at the same time, however, they must be sure not to lose the game by  depleting a “sun” sphere that is affected by the speed of the competition. This gives them the  choice between competing, cooperating, or alternating between the two.


identifier: Stevens, Anne  (2013) New Uses for Old Phones: Upcycling the Rotary Dial Phone in the Age of the Smartphone.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
Inspired, during a three month stay in India in the summer of 2012, by the ubiquity of the mobile phone in that country and its long and complex life span in contrast to the  increasingly short life span of the mobile phone in the west, my research addresses questions of  obsolescence, mobility, communications networks and innovation.
Initially grounded in the real-world conditions of rapid mobile phone obsolescence, my research  subsequently adopted critical design and performance methods and culminated in two projects,  stereoPHONEic and textDIAL that demonstrate ways to repurpose so-called obsolete rotary dial  telephone hardware, combining it with other available technologies, and even human beings at times,  to recreate smartphone functionality.  Together with a literature review (addressing the mobile  phone in India, ubiquitous computing, persistence versus obsolescence and actor-network-theory) and  a survey of relevant art, design and performance work, this thesis describes the process and outcomes of my research.


identifier: Talaie, Borzu  (2014) From Data to Decision: Non-map-based Visualization of Geospatial Data Sets.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: The most common means of visualizing data sets with geospatial data is by employing map-based visualization models such as graduated symbol and choropleth. I argue that these models  are in fact not the most efficient and effective visualization models for processing geospatial  data, especially when the data set holds a notable quantity of location data. To support my  argument I designed and developed two alternate models, one that did not use a map, and one that used an abstract version of one: a scatterplot model with geographic  references, and a hexagon model. User tests were then performed to evaluate these models. This  thesis describes the process, outcomes and future directions of my research. It also provides a  literature review that addresses the definition and attributes of data visualization, a taxonomy of  data visualization models, and a description of the mechanics of the visual cognition and colour theory employed.


identifier: Tanyag, Ruzette  (2014) Touching Objects : Objects as Force-Feedback Devices.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This study proposes the use of  actuated  physical objects to investigate force-feedback sensations to explore a 3D environment. In this study, touch triggers and feedback  methods, such as haptic icons, were incorporated to the physical objects to engage the person‟s  attention and interest towards the virtual objects.  Rhythmical  patterns  were  produced  to   indicate  that  the  user  is  in proximity to the virtual objects. Afterwards, these virtual  objects inside the 3D environment were modeled and analyzed based from the story, The Necklace by  Guy de Maupassant. The Necklace, as a story, encloses visual details about the story‟s environment.  Also, the necklace, as a physical object, is a representation of the main character‟s mishaps.  Observations from the study indicate that users perceive the sensations as unique to that specific  virtual object. Further observations reveal that it takes time to build mental associations between  the actuated object and the 3D environment.


identifier: Wang, Yuxi  (2014) When Deconstructivism Meets Photovoltaic In Fashion.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: In this paper I show 'how deconstructivisim in fashion can enhance the esthetics and functional design of the photovolatic integrated garment'(PV garment). I also demonstratehow integrated lighting can be powered by solar technology.


identifier: Wilkins, Lindy  (2014) Urban Integration of Plants and Technology.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract: This thesis investigates the process of integrating plants seamlessly into our modern urban code/space(Kitchin & Dodge, 2007). Firstly, I explore how humans interact with our  own physical space and how this correlates to our digital space. These factors set the groundwork  for an exploration of the possibilities of integrating additional entities currently perceived as external to our urban  landscape, such as plants, into the posthuman future imagined by Katherine Hayles(1999) and Donna  Haraway (1991). By viewing plant intelligence as data, we can begin to draw parallels between the behaviour of our existing  technology and plant behaviour. The examination of plant consciousness as vastly different from our  own outlines the difficulties in this data exchange. However, by analyzing the similarities that  already exist between plants and current technology, we can see how an exchange is already  occurring in our code/space. Our coevolutionary past helps contextualize this integration, and  facilitates the exploration of past human/plant information transfer. My exhibit explores the  mimesis (Adorno, 1997) of technology to plants’ reactive intelligence. This illustrates humanity’s influence on plants, and the unused space in our urban  environment they could inhabit. This paper and accompanying exhibit proposes a future where plants  and technology coexist, where our coevolutionary pattern continues as an integral part of a  propose posthuman future.


identifier: Yan, Che  (2013) Assimilation, Dissimilation: An inclusive, participant based installation to express Toronto's collective memory.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: image text image text video

subject:
public space installation, user experience, interactive installation, collective memory,
collective experience, multiculturalism, culture integration, Toronto immigration history

abstract:
This thesis paper documents the process from ideation to materialization of making this inclusive, and participatory interactive installation at Union Station. This new social  media installation intends to encourage participants to reflect and discuss collective memory of  this multicultural nation by asking immigrants and/or their descendants “what has changed in you,  living in Toronto?” Union Station, as a gateway and starting point for many immigrants arriving  here, could entice them to reflect on their transition of moving form their home country to coming  to this new environment. People from different
cultural backgrounds could express their experiences on being an insider or outsider of the  mainstream society, by which people could raise self-awareness, understand each other and get connected.


identifier: Zhou, Pei  (2014) Gali’s Prize: A Treasure Hunt Game for the Textile Museum of Canada.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

abstract:
Gali’s Prize is an experimental treasure-hunting  game that integrates tangible and multi-screen  interactions.  The game has been designed for the Textile Museum of Canada (TMC) to  replace the old quiz-style scavenger hunt with paper and pen. Its goal is to provide an  entertaining,  educational experience for children on school trips. The learning journey begins  with an initial engagement at the starting spot and continues by approaching and connecting with a  couple of specific artifacts in the exhibition space. The whole  experience  blends self- directed  curation with an augmented reality (AR) treasure-hunting  experience. During their participation,  children will learn the stories behind the artifacts they encounter and gain lasting memories of  their visit.
The investigation stands at the intersection of museum business, children’s  learning experience,  and digital technology, and explores the opportunities and challenges involved in using mixed  technologies in museums and galleries during the near future. At the same time, this examination  studies the engagements and interactions  of visitors on site. These explorations can potentially   create benefits for both museums and visitors. The prototype of Gali’s Prize was inspired by  theoretical conclusions in existing literature,  personal experiences in museums and galleries, and  some studies of particular cases. It helps a specialized museum, the TMC, to experiment with a new  solution  that may solve their current  issues. This paper explains the relevant critical thinking, documents the development  process of Gali’s Prize, and provides discussion and reflection about the work.


identifier: Aguirre Gomez, Paula  (2015) A World of Images.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: A World of Images

subject: Disorder Therapy, Children, Augmented Reality, Autism

abstract: This thesis aims to improve autistic spectrum disorder therapy for children through the use of augmented reality. Specific points of reference are: signs and symptoms, actual learning processes and technology for their treatment. Interaction between children with autism and their parents or others can be difficult.  However autistic children can have a natural talent and enjoyment for interaction with new technological devices. Gaining insight into how autistic children may prefer technology interaction over interaction with people, has led me towards the development of a new interactive AR (augmented reality) based tool for enhancing the relationship between therapists/parents and the child. AR provides the possibility of having 3D modelling, sounds, images and much more at the same time for customised modes of engagement and interest. Undertaken with user testing and evaluation, the research provides insights into how technology opens new doors in improving the quality of life for children with ASD.


identifier: Amanullah, Muhammad  (2015) #STOPISLAMOPHOBIA: The Politics of Representation, Disidentification and Resistance.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Islamophobia, Stereotypes, News Media, Media Convergence, Resistance, Disidentification

abstract: This thesis investigates the interpellation of a conflicted Muslim identity by Islamophobic content propagated and mediated on social networking sites impressing the normative idea that Islam is terror. In context of media convergence and the attention economy, complex flows of Islamophobic ideology originating from old and new media are explored by analyzing videos, news stories, blogs and opinion pieces retrieved from my Facebook timeline, in addition to stories of resistance to Islamophobia occurring on various sites such as spoken word performances, blogs and theatrical performances. This analysis informs Disidentity, an interactive recorded-video installation project in which as a Muslim subject I enact a disidentificatory performance that provides the observer of this installation an opportunity to resist the impressed discourse.


identifier: Amaral, Rui  (2015) The Author-Curator as Autoethnographer.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: The Author-Curator as Autoethnographer

subject: Curator, Exhibition as personal Expression, Author, autobiographical, autoethnography, introspective

abstract: Curators, like artists, have developed a signature that distinguishes their practices. Facilitating this phenomenon is the curator’s exercise of self-reflexivity, which renders the exhibition as a form of personal expression, and the curator as an author. This thesis locates two particular author-curators, Harald Szeemann and Ydessa Hendeles, who have extended self-reflexive curating to new levels by incorporating personal items, documents, and artifacts into their exhibitions, thus investing the work with an autobiographical quality. Acknowledging that the individual is constituted by culture, this thesis seeks to draw out the cultural significance of these undertakings. To demonstrate this, exhibitions by Szeemann and Hendeles will be viewed through the lens of autoethnography—a form of research and writing that combines personal and collective experience. This thesis proposes a new way of addressing introspective exhibitions, identifying them as a form of cultural analysis, and aligning the practices of their producers with those of autoethnographers.


identifier: Badrin, Omar  (2015) Sea Change: Artworks from the Perspective of a Transracial Adoptee.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Transracial Adoption, Newfoundland, Identity, Otherness

abstract:
The intention of this thesis is to answer two questions: a) how does the experience of transracial adoption influence the formation of one’s personal and cultural identity? And (b) how can craft traditions, media and techniques be used to create objects that act as visual metaphors for working-through problems of identity?

The technique of crochet I employed allowed me to investigate, construct and represent cultural identity from the point of view of a transracial adoptee who was navigating a position in Newfoundland culture. The assimilating of the local medium is, for me, a way of finding inclusion; however, it is an inclusion that is uncomfortable and never fully established.

These works acknowledge both Newfoundland culture, and the idea of “Otherness”. Through this exploration of materials and the appropriation of local methods, I presented a visual form to the difficult position of transracial adoptees, where a “visual voice” was absent.


identifier: Burton, Carole  (2015) Making New Meaning through Art, Body and Metaphor.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Art-Based Research, Practice Based Research, Embodiment, Contemporary Art, Figurative Art, Performance Art, Metaphor, Body Knowledge

abstract: The thesis paper documents the role of metaphors in generating meaning through connection with the body, examined through the lens of my art practice. My research is informed by writing around body-based meaning-making (Lakoff, Johnson, Orbach et al.) and recent theory on the metaphoric and emotional nature of reasoning (Lakoff, Jackson). My examination is informed by a literature review including texts from cognitive science, linguistic philosophy, and neuroscience. I consider the deployment of my body within my art making in a study of how meaning is acquired in a whole-body process. Using a heuristic working method I relate these theories to the artworks produced including sculpture, video of performance, and photography. The thesis documents the process of making of artworks, and considerations of the body-based meanings that emerge. These reflections and artworks comprise a site of prospective new meaning-making for the viewer through my autobiographical and figurative art practice.


identifier: Cibola, Marco  (2015) Play | Record | Repeat.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Play | Record | Repeat

format: text image audio audio audio

subject: Visual Art, Sound, Remix, Gestalt, Grid, Play, Record, System

abstract: My practice formulates a modular system that generates visual compositions, which act as sketches for the execution of new visual and sound work. My project examines the intersection of remix theory, common to sound practices, and gestalt theory, common to visual practices, revealing a shared focus on the relationship between the   parts and the whole. The parts are the elements that make up a visual or aural  composition, and the whole is the total and complete work. Despite the commonalties between music and visual art that are revealed through my thesis research, there are fundamental differences — both spatial and temporal — in how we perceive artworks from each discipline. These differences in perception, I argue, make gestalt theory a  useful tool for initiating translations of parts of visual art to sound, whereas translating   the essence of the whole visual composition to a whole sound work is better achieved through intuitive processes.


identifier: Clough, Vicki  (2015) Polymers in Action: Socially Engaged Art and the Environment.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Social Engagement, Environment, Eco-Art, Collaborative, Craft Theories, Participation, Project Vortex, Workshops

abstract: Polymers in Action: Socially Engaged Art and the Environment examines eco-art pedagogies that are emerging in response to the serious issue of plastic waste pollution. Using a combination of collaborative, environmental, junk art and craft theories, this research shows how a reconnection to the environment through active participation and art making can foster environmental literacy and the formation of communities of practice. Four artists associated with the website Project Vortex are presented as case studies and analyzed for their critical engagement with waste plastics, environmental clean-up and community building initiatives and the dissemination of these projects to wide audiences via online platforms. Polymers in Action extends these case studies into a local curatorial and educational practice that encourages sustained critical engagement with the environmental implications of current recycling and waste disposal methods in Toronto. This is achieved through ongoing art-making workshops and regular updates to the website www.polymersinaction.ca.


identifier: Cote, Philip  (2015) Tecumseh, A Portrait: Dismantling the Myth, as an Agent of Change.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: History, European Representation, Visual, Indigenous, Tecumseh, Colonialism, Consequences, Vine Deloria, Marie Baptiste, James Youngblood Henderson, Indigenous Identity, Sovereignty, British Portraiture

abstract: This research project offers insights into the history of European visual representations of Indigenous peoples, Tecumseh in particular, and the larger issues of colonialism and bias with its cross generational and damaging consequences. The investigation examines how visual representations of Tecumseh came into being and remained in circulation across time and to what degree were recorded archival depictions of the leader still raise questions of veracity and intent. Indigenous theorists, Vine Deloria, Jr., Marie Baptiste, James (Sake) Youngblood Henderson provided insights into Indigenous identity, sovereignty and decolonization theories; Stephanie Pratt’s examinations offered analysis of the representation of Indigenous leaders through British portraiture; Elders Edward Benton Benai and Floyd Looks For Buffalo Hand, are drawn on for their cultural knowledge.


identifier: del Pilar Fernandez Davila, Maria  (2015) Remember you will [not] die: Mortality versus immortality in a world of patterns and randomness.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Death, Perception, Mortality, Mourning Processes, Rituals, Online World, Media, Katherine Hayles, Future

abstract:
This project seeks to explore our perception of death, mortality, mourning processes and death-related rituals within the online world. I specifically look at the Social Network site Facebook as a case study. I argue that new media - such as digital technology like the Internet - is transforming the way we see ourselves and the world, affecting our perception of death and death-related aspects, yet not replacing offline practices. My exploration takes Katherine Hayles’ notion of pattern/randomness as the key theoretical axis and lens of my research.

I strengthen my argument by creating a fictional future scenario situated ten years from now in a Western developed cultural context (i.e. Toronto), where trends of online practices are exaggerated. My studio work, in this scenario, are mourning pieces. It takes the form of wearable technology products that convey Facebook data of a deceased user, and are meant to be used by the bereaved. However, I have created these products from a  critical design perspective, wherein products work as commentary, provocation to the public and a way to open up discussion on the topic.

This thesis project is interdisciplinary in content and form, looking at and exploring fields such as critical theory, philosophy, social science, critical design, various design practices and advertising.


identifier: Elshami, Linda  (2015) There Is No Map: Virtual Walks in a Vanishing Landscape.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Israeli Occupation, West Bank, Optic, Haptic, Representation, Geopolitical, Cartography, Architecture, Landscape, Google Earth

abstract:
There Is No Map is a body of work that contributes to an ongoing investigation of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The work is manifested in optic and haptic modes of representation; it embodies a geopolitical struggle using critical and methodological graphic design praxis and an interdisciplinary approach that integrates cartography and architecture.

The production of occupation hinges on the  Israeli  spatial  practices  that  continuously shift, construct, deconstruct, segregate, and shuffle the landscape of the West Bank. These practices are present in the continuous building of settlements, gates, checkpoints, and separation barriers; pouring concrete becomes an act of casting political ideologies and a condition for the expansion of Israel. The exhibition examines these spatial practices close up and at a distance. As such, the work examines the landscapes, both geographical and political, of the West Bank as a (site) through performing virtual tours (sight) using Google Earth.


identifier: Holton, Lindsay  (2015) Navigating Uncertainty.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Navigating Uncertainty

subject: Uncertainty, Anxiety, Worry, Relational Aesthetics

abstract: Uncertainty can be considered one of the defining features of modern life. This thesis explores uncertainty through the development of studio work. There is a connection between uncertainty and the anxiety I feel as a person living in the contemporary world. Uncertainty and anxiety are both the subjects of this thesis as well as the fuel for my creativity. However, it is the positioning of the viewer in relation to the work that is central to its completion. In this thesis, there will be a focus on the ways in which the subjective experience of the artist leads to the creation of highly personal artworks which can be objectively experienced by a viewer. In order to explore this connection between artist and viewer, this thesis exhibition will include an installation, Performance Anxiety, which will engage viewers in an interactive artwork that incorporates the principles of relational aesthetics.


identifier: Jofre, Ana  (2015) Anthropomorphic Objects.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Anthropomorphic Objects

subject: Figurative Sculpture, Puppets, Automatons, Robots, Androids, Uncanny, Camp, Pragmatist Aethetics

abstract: This thesis exhibition is the culmination of an exploration of the uncanny through sculptures that evoke the sensation of a living presence. Each sculpture is also intended to convey some character or personality, and to this end, my work is influenced by puppetry. Though the works are human sized, they function as puppets in that they are posable and can be used for performance, but they are also robotic in that they have some autonomous motion and some reactive motion. My sculptures are based on the human form because the human form is at once most uncanny and also most relatable. Relatability is an important aspect of my work, as I use my humanoid sculptures to create playful interactive experiences for viewers, experiences that hinge on the uncanny and the illusion of presence.


identifier: Kovler, Anna  (2015) Animal Promises.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Animal Promises

subject: Relationship, Humans, Animals, Binary Opposition, Philosophical History, Rene Descartes, Categorical Blurring, Relation, Painting, Tangled

abstract: The central focus of this paper is the relationship between humans and animals and the way in which it is governed by a system of binary opposition. The idea that humans are fundamentally different from and superior to animals has a philosophical history dating back to René Descartes and the Judeo-Christian Bible. As an alternative to binary opposition a new way of thinking can be called “categorical blurring”, which involves removing the focus on overarching categories to emphasize that identity is created in relation to other creatures and not in opposition to them. I utilize categorical blurring as a methodological approach for creating paintings as a way to express that humans are tangled up with animals in a relation that is mutual and co-constitutive. Animal body parts spill over into human body parts in these paintings, signaling that there is no human without the animal, no animal without the human.


identifier: Kyba, Matthew  (2015) Nebularity: The Continuing Proliferation of the Abject in Contemporary Art.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Abject Art, Non-Traditional, Julia Kristeva, Georges Bataille, Jean Paul Sartre, Contemporary Art Practice, Otherness, Sculpture

abstract: This thesis investigates abject art why it has proliferated since gaining notoriety in the late 1980s/early 1990s. The exhibition, Nebularity, brings together non-traditional abject artworks in order to broaden develop abject theory for the 21st century. By employing Julia Kristeva’s theory on the abject in conjunction with Georges Bataille’s formlessness and Jean Paul Sartre’s interpretation of the hole, Nebularity argues that abject art remains current in contemporary practice because of ability to unsettle the self through the encroachment of the other. Three contemporary artists – Louis Fortier, Jesika Joy, and Kim Stanford – utilize multiple mediums to demonstrate how varied and abstract artworks can have the same type of perturbing and unsettling potential as traditionally defined abject art. By confusing boundaries, imposing intimacy, and deteriorating conventional forms, Nebularity asserts that the abject is not just another genre of art but a means to continually challenge structures of subjectivity and knowledge.


identifier: L'Hirondelle, Cheryl  (2015) Why the Caged Bird Sings: Radical Inclusivity, Sonic Survivance and the Collective Ownership of Freedom Songs.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Indigenous, Incarcerated, Detained, Women, Male Youth, Collective, Songwriting, Identities

abstract: This thesis, by way of deep reflection and truthful recounting, pays homage to six different groups of predominately Indigenous incarcerated women and detained   male youth, who engaged with me in an active process of collective songwriting and recording between 2008 and 2015. This inclusive creative process was designed to enable participants— who are at risk of having their voices, histories and identities erased—to participate in a life-‐affirming demonstration of their own self-‐expression by co-‐creating a song together. Indigenous Inquiry or Critical Indigenous Pedagogy (CIP) was the methodology utilized, in order to examine my motivations for wanting to discover and share what constitutes a ‘freedom song’. In doing so, this thesis shares specific knowledge I gained as a result of my lifelong dedication to furthering the dissemination of nêhiyawin (Cree Worldview), through my favourite mode of creative expression: song-‐ writing. In addition to this written thesis, the original songs are included.


identifier: Langen, Kirsti  (2015) Bringing the Outside In: Creating Artificial Lighting to Improve People’s Psychological Wellbeing by Evoking Biophilic Response Through Aesthetics and the Sun’s Biological Benefits.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Circadian Rhythm, Biomimicry, Biophilia, Medical Lighting, Light Therapy, Nature Design, Sleep Technology, Electroluminescent, LED, Head and Wellness

abstract: More than 50% of the world is now living in an urban environment and 90% of those people’s time is spent indoors with artificial surroundings. There are many ways these artificial surroundings can be manipulated to mimic the countless beneficial qualities of earth’s natural environments through technology and aesthetics. This document explores how earth’s organic forms can be merged into artificial lighting that simulates the sun and moon. Each prototype was created through biomimetic implementation of  the sun and moon’s colour temperature to biologically keep a person’s circadian rhythm in sync while representing the presence of a psychological biophilic response through aesthetics.


identifier: McNaughton, Roberta  (2015) Everything In Slow Motion.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

title: Everything In Slow Motion

format: text image image image image image image

subject: Repetition, Mourning, Endurance, Haptic, Interiority

abstract:
Photography and film have the power to communicate the haptic experience of mourning through the simple observation of objects, portraits and everyday routines.  Everything In Slow Motion is a body of work that investigates my vantage point as caregiver to a life maturing – my son at age eleven – and to a life in retrogenesis – my mother at age eighty and in late stage Alzheimer’s. I photograph and film the minutiae of the everyday in an attempt to convey the simple but profound emotions of the life of three generations living in tandem.
How does one communicate endurance, and how does one convey a narrative of touch visually? In the video and photographic installation of my thesis there are a multiplicity of narratives within the year of a life in mourning.


identifier: Meyer, Katie  (2015) Continuities and Difference in the Reading Habits of Digital Natives.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

subject: Internet, Digital Natives, Literature, Novel, Reading, Young Readers

abstract:
The 2010s has seen an explosion of scholarship eulogizing the novel, as if the medium has been freshly murdered by the Internet and a generation of digital natives who refuse to read. The final pages of Maryanne Wolf’s Proust and the Squid: Science and the Reading Brain turn to panic as she wonders whether the vast benefits of reading will be extinguished, and the tone of Michael Schmidt’s The Novel: A Biography is nostalgic and mournful, capping sections on the evolution of the novel decades before the present day. In an increasingly complex media ecology, how can the novel survive as a leisure activity for a new generation, and a theoretical concept flexible enough to bridge old and new media?
This thesis aims to illuminate the continuities between the disparate outgrowths of the traditional print book and study the media consumption of young readers. The sum of this research shows that digital marauders have not, in fact, snuffed out novel reading. Reframing the novel through research and prototype iteration not as a static medium defined by form, content, or an imagined common origin point, but instead as a site of experience that engenders a unique co-creative relationship between reader and text, demonstrates how novel reading can endure.


identifier: Mohr-Blakeney, Victoria  (2015) No Context: Curatorial Writing & Contemporary Dance.  Masters thesis, OCAD University.

format: text text

subject: Contemporary Dance, Embodied Practice, Textual Discourse, Writing, Nomadic Curatorial Collective, Performance, Catalogue

abstract: This research explored the function of curatorial writing in the context of contemporary dance and examines the complex relationship between embodied practice and textual discourse. In this research I used a post-structural lens to identify some of the core elements at play in the interaction between writing, embodied practice, and the archive, drawing on the work of dance scholars, performance theorists, and post-structural theorists to expose this complex interaction. I then applied these theoretical considerations to the creation and production of a dance exhibition catalogue. Curated by the Nomadic Curatorial Collective (Erin McCurdy, Victoria Mohr-Blakeney and Cara Spooner) No Context a performance and accompanying catalogue re-imagined the form of the dance catalogue and the relationship between curatorial writing and dance. This publication served as a case study, which explored the ways in which the dance exhibition catalogue can support embodied practice.