upcoming talks
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:45
- Written by editor
Dear Friends of SJS,
Please check out the exciting upcoming talks:
The City Talks
Fall 2015: Street Art and the Politics of Urban Place-Making
Sponsored by the UVic
Committee for Urban Studies
Title:
Pop Culture, Place, and Politics: Graffiti and Street Art in Montreal
Anna Waclawek
Department of Art History, Concordia University
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Legacy Art Gallery, 630 Yates Street
Doors Open at 7:00pm
Lecture Begins at 7:30pm
Abstract
In her presentation, Anna Waclawek traces the history of Montreal’s signature graffiti writing culture, which emerged in the early 1990s when a couple of French tourists introduced the city to tagging. A few years later, the "second wave"... of the Montreal scene, characterized by painting in makeshift spaces physically and ideologically removed from the cityscape’s visual culture, was in full effect. Abandoned warehouses and factories, as well as highways and train yards were among the breeding grounds of local hand styles and letterforms. These sites became emblematic of what it meant to write graffiti in Montreal during this period; far removed from the city center, a subculture was brewing. These developments eventually led not only to the creation of “Under Pressure,” the largest international graffiti festival in North America, but also to the creation of numerous impressive commission, permission, and legal walls. As the subculture blossomed within the downtown core and in various other neighborhoods, participation grew and the city began enforcing stricter penalties for graffiti writing. At the same time, street artists, whose practices are universally more tolerated and enjoyed by the general public than by municipal authorities, were transforming the local scene both visually and politically as Montreal residents began opening up the age-old debate of art vs. crime. In this talk, the specificities of urban painting in Montreal are explored with regard to local politics, visual culture, and socio-cultural particularities as formative factors in the city’s distinct graffiti/street art scenes.
Anna Waclawek currently works in the Department of Art History at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She received her PhD from Concordia’s Interuniversity Doctoral Program in Art History (2009). She holds a BA in Sociology and Art History from McGill University (2001) and an MA in Modern Art Curatorship from the University of Sydney, Australia (2003). Waclawek’s book Graffiti and Street Art (2011, Thames and Hudson, World of Art series), is a result of research conducted throughout Canada, the USA, Japan, China, Poland, Germany, the UK, France and Spain. The book analyses the various functions of graffiti and street art in the urban environment and their increasingly important role in visual culture.
This is a free public event at the Legacy Art Gallery ~ 630 Yates Street
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Run by the Committee for Urban Studies at the University of Victoria, The City Talks is a free public lecture series featuring distinguished scholars drawn from the University of Victoria, across Canada, and beyond. The theme for the Fall 2015 series is Street Art and the Politics of Urban Place-Making. A copy of the schedule of talks for the Fall series is attached to this email.
The lectures last an hour and a half, including a question and answer session with the speaker.
For more information, please visit www.TheCityTalks.ca
Monday, October 26:
After the Sands: Energy and Ecological Security for Canadians
gordon laxer book launch next Monday
Next Monday, October 26, Gordon Laxer will launch his new book, After the Sands: Energy and Ecological Security for Canadians. Hailed by Ralph Nader as “a myth-destroying blockbuster book”, After the Sands outlines a vision and road map to transition Canada to a low- carbon society: a plan lacking within all of Canada’s major political parties. (see attached poster)
1-2 pm in Cornett A120
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Margo MatwychukDirector
Social Justice Studies ProgramUniversity of Victoriaweb.uvic.ca/socialjustice/@UVicSJS on TwitterUVicSJS on FacebookUVicSJS on YouTube
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