McGill Conference

Media@McGill presents

Radical Affordances:

Emerging Scholarship, Art, and Activism
at the Intersection of Media and Disability Studies

A free public panel and virtual gallery during McGill’s 2015 Disabilities Awareness Week
www.radicalaffordances.ca

Monday, March 23, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. in Leacock 232 [click here for access map]

The event is followed by a reception.


To what extent do media technologies and practices shape our abilities to act and circulate in the world? In what ways might critical disability studies invite us to rethink our understandings of media and their affordances? Inspired by McGill postdoctoral researcher Arseli Dokumaci’s current work on disabilities and affordances, this panel explores the potentials of “radical affordances” in relation to mobility, everyday performance, as well as artistic and activist practices. Featuring six Montreal-based emerging scholars and practitioners, the presentations include projects and case studies that offer new tools to expand the affordances of existing technologies, as well as creative approaches that reveal unsuspected possibilities in familiar devices and media.

Misfires that Matter: Disabled Ways of Affording the Everyday
Dr. Arseli Dokumaci, postdoctoral researcher, McGill University

Wheeling New York City
Laurence Parent, PhD candidate, Concordia University

Art and Design in the Context of Assistive Technologies: Two Projects
Dr. Florian Grond, postdoctoral researcher, Concordia University

Singing Beyond Hearing
Jessica Holmes, PhD candidate, McGill University

Narrative Creations in Sign Languages: The Promises of Image Technologies
Dr. Julie Châteauvert, independent artist and scholar

The Underwater City Project
Aimee Louw, journalist and activist

This event is supported by McGill University’s Office for Students with Disabilities and Concordia University’s Critical Disability Studies Working Group.

For more information, visit www.media.mcgill.ca

Glenn Greenwald Free Conference @ McGill

Glenn Greenwald to present Media@McGill’s 2014 Beaverbrook Annual Lecture

For its flagship event, the 2014 Beaverbrook Annual Lecture, Media@McGill is excited to announce the speaker as Glenn Greenwald, journalist, constitutional lawyer, commentator, and bestselling author. Mr. Greenwald, who recently broke the NSA surveillance story, joins an impressive roster of speakers who have taken part in this event, which includes luminaries such as Al Gore, Angela Davis, Seymour Hersh, and Peter W. Singer, among others.

The Lecture will take place on Thursday, October 23, 2014, at 6 p.m. at Pollack Hall, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec. As always, the Lecture is free and open to the public.

Seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets or preregistration will be done.

In addition, the Lecture will be livestreamed.

Glenn Greenwald is best known for his 2013 National Security Agency reporting during which he was a columnist for the Guardian US (the latter is the 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner along with the Washington Post). For his reporting he received the George Polk award for national security reporting; the Gannett Foundation award for investigative journalism and the Gannett Foundation watchdog journalism award; the Esso Premio for Excellence in Investigative Reporting in Brazil (the first non-Brazilian to win); and the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award. Along with Laura Poitras, he was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 100 Global Thinkers for 2013. His fifth book, No Place to Hide, is about the US surveillance state and his experiences reporting on the Snowden documents around the world. His book will be released in May 2014. He has recently developed, along with Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill and others, a new media venture funded by Pierre Omidyar called First Look Media.

Media@McGill is a hub of research, scholarship and public outreach on issues and controversies in media, technology and culture, based in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University, Montréal, Canada. It was created and has been sustained by generous funding from the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation.

mcgill.ca

Next Wave Festival of New Musicals

September 25-28

CETM (The Centre for Education and Theatre in Montreal) presents the 7th annual Next Wave Festival of New Musicals, a unique showcase for new musicals in development from Montreal and around the globe.The Festival includes six outstanding shows and events over four days, including free performances. At Centre Calixa-Lavallée (in Parc Lafontaine) and the Lion d’Or. www.cetm.ca

http://montreal157.blogspot.ca/2014/09/7e-festival-nouvelle-vague-next-wave-du.html

Unrelated

October 4-5

Dancer/choreographer Daina Ashbee presents the world premiere of her new show, Unrelated. Interpreted by two dancers, Unrelated expresses the struggle of Aboriginal women through a reconstruction of their identities. At the MAI. dainaashbee.wix.com/daina-ashbee

Kafka’s Ape

October 17-30

Infinithéâtre presents the Montreal area tour of Kafka’s Ape. Guy Sprung’s riveting adaptation of Franz Kafka's Report to an Academy will have audiences questioning how ‘humane’ we have become while exploring themes of assimilation, freedom, and civilization. Starring Howard Rosenstein. The tour includes: Forest and Stream Club, Dorval, Oct. 14-15; Theatre Wakefield, Oct. 17-18, Saint-Lambert, Oct. 23-25; Maison de la Culture du Plateau Mont-Royal, Oct. 30; Hudson Village Theatre, Oct. 31-Nov. 1. www.infinitheatre.com

Too Close to the Sun

November 4-8

Too Close to the Sun (Australia/Montreal) presents Of the Causes of Wonderful Things by Talya Rubin and Nick James. Immersed in a noir and atmospheric world, Of the Causes of Wonderful Things weaves dark comedy with tones of Faulkner and the Southern Gothic. This otherworldly, deeply human, visionary piece examines the redemptive power of confronting darkness. At Theatre La Chapelle. www.tooclosetothesun.tumblr.com

The Pipeline

December 4-7

Infinithéâtre presents The Pipeline, their annual series of free public readings featuring the top-rated scripts from their Write-On-Q! playwriting competition. At the Rialto Theatre. www.infinitheatre.com