program

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Friday June 3, 2011

Self-guided visits to local museums and galleries  as desired – see exhibition listings and information.

4-5 pm  Louise Lemieux-Bérubé: Galerie [sas] : 372, Sainte-Catherine West, suite #416, Montreal. Louise will be present for informal artist conversation.

6-8 pm: Reception (at Concordia University, EV Building, second floor atrium, corner of Ste Catherine Street West, and MacKay St ).  Drinks and Hors D’Oeuvres.

Saturday June 4, 2011 

Meet in Hexagram Seminar room, EV building, 11th floor

Please come to the 11th floor of the EV building (1515 Ste Catherine W), using the the MacKay street elevators.

9:30am: Opening remarks and coffee

10-12: Division into groups and group discussions
Discussion Question 1
New technologies have profoundly affected the making, circulation, study and use of textiles. This might be at the level of manufacturing, in the ways people use the Internet to connect (ie knitting chat rooms), in what kinds of art can be made – to mention only a few applications. Using this session as a chance to introduce your own work, discuss how technology has affected your practice (academic, research-creation, studio, curatorial or other).

The two readings consider very different kinds and uses of technology, and address their audiences using very different kinds of language. How might the issues and examples brought up in the readings be applied or (possibly) resisted in our own lives and careers?

Reading: Julia Bryan-Wilson, Being Human

12-1: lunch

1-2:30: Discussion group 2 (new groups will be handed out at lunch)
Discussion Question 2
In the project outline, we draw on Glenn Adamson, who argues that bringing craft up in the art/craft hierarchy is an insufficient goal. Additionally, we suggest that a lack of collaboration between the study and use of textiles creates barriers that hinder potential innovative projects. Many of the participants invited to this workshop work hard to break down or unsettle those barriers and in this session we ask participants to consider new directions for the study and practice of textiles.

Drawing on the two readings, participants might also discuss questions of deskilling and reskilling and potentials for collaboration.

Reading: Helen Molesworth, Claire Bishop

2:30-3: Coffee break

3-4:30: Discussion group 3
Discussion Question 3
In the last 90 minutes of the afternoon, we will ask participants to begin discussing and generating potential collaborative initiatives that may emerge from Cut on the Bias. Participants will be divided into groups of 4, composed of individuals from a variety of backgrounds, and will be given the task of brainstorming and generating ideas that draw on the discussions held earlier in the day. Potential projects will be presented in the first session of Day 2. There is no limit on what these projects may be, rather we are hoping that participants will be as creative as possible – thinking up potential curatorial projects, classroom assignments, community-based undertakings, art works, research topics, activist collaborations, combinations of the above and (hopefully) things that could not possibly have occurred to the organizers.

4:30 – 6 : informal gathering/pecha kucha with snacks

Sunday June 5, 2011

Meet in Hexagram Seminar room, EV building, 11th floor

Please come to the 11th floor of the EV building (1515 Ste Catherine W), using the the MacKay street elevators.

9:30-10:00 Welcome and Coffee

10:00-12:00: Groups formed in the final session of Day 1 will spend 30 minutes continuing the discussion on collaboration. In the final 90 minutes of the session ideas will be presented to the group as a whole.

12-1: lunch

1:00-3:00: Participants will be divided into groups in order to discuss how the collaborative potential raised in the previous day might be translated into pedagogical initiatives and exchange between students and faculty. In this two-hour session, participants will discuss their own teaching practices, outlining successes and challenges of teaching in the field. Teaching will here include participatory community projects, graduate supervision, undergraduate teaching in studio and art history (and other) settings. Participants might discuss gender divides in textile programs, classes and participatory projects, the reception of craft and textile work, the combination of practice and theory in and out the classroom, and the potential of new technologies to aid in teaching practice. Here, participants may want to address Ranciere’s theories on “reverse pedagogy” or the emancipated spectator.

As a way of generating discussion, we include the following provocations:

Expertise: How does one consider skill or expertise in teaching? Arguably, material practices, that is, the handling of material, are being increasingly outsourced by artists, and textile practices are often thought of in more digital or visual manners. What do these changes mean for teachers, students, curators and others?
Discipline: Disciplinary boundaries within universities, art schools and the larger world have often kept the making of textile work separate from its study. What might happen if these boundaries were broken down? How do students negotiate interdisciplinarity as they work across their degrees?
Community: When speaking of pedagogy, how might we consider the importance of community (quilting bees, rug hooking, knitting circles) alongside growing micro-capitalism and self-teaching that have entered the world of craft and textiles. Sites such as Etsy.com provide places to sell work, while YouTube has resulted in a phenomenon of self-teaching. What do these mean for pedagogical practice?
Reading: Jacques Rancière

3:00-4:30 Coffee and extended discussion
In an informal setting, participants will continue the discussion of pedagogy and the exchange of ideas with the whole group.

Summary of the workshop and discussion of material outcomes.