Facilitator: Michael Beauvais

Illustrious Liaison: Miriam Dreiblatt

                  The group convenes every other Sunday night at Ye Olde Orchard (20 Prince Arthur Street) at 21H00 (next session is February 5^th) and the meetings generally last about 1.5 hours.  Space is limited to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak, so please get in contact asap if you would like to participate.

To register, please email marxy@subvertising.org

Facilitators: Ariel Appel and Anna Pringle

Course Vision:

An archive functions as a material catalogue of passing time, documenting the evolution of ideas through collected objects. Archived objects can range from written documents to photographs to interviews to gum wrappers to receipts, to notes, to found objects on the street. The ‘archive’ simply becomes a method of collecting, choosing, and ordering. Inherent in this process is an effort to preserve –and in the act of doing so one also creates new ideas through the patterns that emerge between what has been collected. Archives can become valuable public resources as mechanisms for sharing ideas and inspiring new ones. In this vein, we are proposing a ‘course’ on archiving that will be not so much a ‘course’ as a collective creative effort to explore various methods of archiving the Alternative University Project itself. Depending on the interests of those involved, ‘archiving’ the project could entail creating a monthly zine with contributions from all of the courses, compiling short films, creating small installations, and so on to the infinity of our imaginations! While each course will presumably be archiving their own work in some shape or form, to be decided by each course and their processes of learning, the projects undertaken by ‘The Archivists” will be a way to bring together the materials of all of the courses into one “space.”

The organization of this course will be largely decided by those interested in partaking, however there will be a monthly collaborative project, utilizing a variety of mediums to capture the ongoings of the courses and the ideas that are emerging from them. There is the option of also exploring what social and cultural roles ‘the archive’ has played in various political, artistic and social movements through readings and outings to museums, libraries, parks, and so on.

The class will meet roughly once a week and can have rotating teams of people coordinating projects. There is no ‘ideal’ size of this course, the more the merrier as multiple projects can be going on at once. Working on one project does not entail necessarily working on all projects, however there should be cohesion within the group so that a sizeable number of people are contributing to any one project at a time.

Meetings: 3:30pm to 5pm on Saturdays at 5246 Esplanade —- popcorn will be served and coffee and tea
For more information, email archivingaup@gmail.com

Hey everyone!

Most classes are now getting started, and so far, things seem to be going well!  If you’re still interested and haven’t registered yet, please email course.proposal.inbox@gmail.com with the title of the class you’re interested in taking in the subject line (even if you were on the doodle).  Also, feel free to go check out any classes you’re curious about (times, dates, and locations are listed below) or to contact the facilitator directly with any questions you may have. 

If you have another class idea and want to facilitate it, contact us about posting it on here by emailing course.proposal.inbox@gmail.com and a time/date you’d like us to post for the first meeting so people can find you.  We’re here to help in this, and super excited about all the enthusiasm already building up!

Thanks all :)

SEND QUESTIONS TO course.proposal.inbox@gmail.com

TIMES AND LOCATIONS OF CLASSES!! (as well as emails for classes if they exist, which you can use to get in touch with facilitators directly)

The Greenhaus: Experimenting with Sustainability in the City: Saturdays, Noon (12), The Plant, 185 Van Horne greenhaus.class@gmail.com

Programming and Web Design Study Group: montreal.programming.class@gmail.com Meetings are Sundays at 2pm at Galen’s place, 3654 Coloniale

RAFT 438: New Materials Writing Workshop and Discussion: **FOR THE WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY 4th/5th THE MEETING WILL BE ON SUNDAY AT 3837 Coloniale INSTEAD OF SATURDAY**** Tuesdays, 7pm and Saturdays 3pm, Concordia Graduate Students Association Building (2030 MacKay, very near Guy-Concordia Metro Station) newmaterialsworkshop@gmail.com

Exploring the Mind in Buddhism, Phenomenology, and Cognitive Science: Thursday, 6-8pm, Leacock 927 on McGill Campus, first class: January 26, buddhism.cogsci@gmail.com

What is a University?: TBA

Knitting: Mondays, 5-6.30pm, 570 Milton, Apt 25 (map here), feel free to bring treats and/or tea!! stettinette@sprynet.com

Radical Political Ideologies and the Plastic Arts: Sundays, 1:00 - 2:30, 5328 St. Urbaine, contact me for further directions. radicalpolitics.plasticarts@gmail.com

Archiving Course: Saturdays 3.30pm-5pm, 5246 Esplanade, archivingaup@gmail.com

Non-western Critical Thought Seminar: Thursdays, 11am, February 9th is the first class.  Please email tomas.retorno@gmail.com

Studies in Post-Capitalist Futures: Thursdays, 6pm, Concordia Hall building room H-1125.12, The Hall Building is located on the north side of De Maisonneuve between Bishop and MacKay (Guy-Concordia metro exit)

Sustainable Architecture: Sundays, 8-9pm, 1812 Baile

The Perfect Union: Marx and Harvey: Second Sundays (next is February 5th), 9-10.30pm, Ye Olde Orchard (20 Prince Arthur Street), marxy@subvertising.org

Facilitator: Bracha Stettin

Course Vision:

Knitting is taking a single string and knotting it into endless variety of pattern. As exciting and important as exploring the abstract and philosophical is, learning a tangible skill like knitting leads to instant satisfaction (well almost instant.. ) and you can actually see your progress. It is easy to learn and easy to get better and better. In a world where most of our (Canadian, American, European) clothing is made by machines, often in distant countries, the skill needed to fulfill the basic necessity of clothing is fast being lost. Learning to knit allows you to be more self-sufficient, and making your own clothes (hats, scarves, gloves, sweaters) puts you in the designers seat- your aesthetic sensibilities can now be reflected in your items (it’s really fun, choosing colors and patterns and such). You can make your friends things, you can sell the items you make, and you can feel really good when people comment on how awesome your hat is.

Unfortunately I can’t provide needles and yarn, but I think it is a good idea for everyone to buy their own anyway, so you can work on your project out of session and use your needles for other, later projects too.

It is easier to learn with bigger needles, but any size will do. Bigger needles=bigger stiches=faster work=more air flow through your piece. Your choice. Around 6 mm may be a good place to start. They’ll probably cost a bit less than $10

As far as buying yarn goes, wool and acrylic will be warmest.

There’s an awesome knit shop on Rachel and St Hubert called A La Tricoteuse http://www.yelp.ca/biz/a-la-tricoteuse-montreal ; they have so many kinds and colors of yarn it’s incredible. They are a bit pricier, but so beautiful.

You can also go to the art store DeSerres (there’s one in the mall at 1500 McGill college), or check Salvation Army (mixed results, though I’ve found needles there).

As far as “class” goes, I’m thinking Monday nights from 5 to 6:30; in the first class I’ll teach how to start (casting on), and a basic stitch with which you can create scarves, hats. I suggest doing some practice lines/ squares first, till you get the hang of it, so you don’t have to feel shitty about unravelling a piece. We’ll go from there, the next week I can teach something more advanced, and we can get into patterns later and stuff. It can also be a time to just come and knit if you haven’t had time otherwise. (I really like knitting in class/ workshops/ anywhere sitting down for a long time). If you can’t come consistently that’s also cool, I think newcomers should be welcome each week; I can teach the basics again and again.

If you’re interested, check out the registration page!

Facilitation: Adrian Turcato

This is a topic I am interested in, but do not have in depth knowledge about, therefore I think my role as facilitator would be to encouragement and sustain the individual research of those others who are participating, as well as to lend any additional knowledge I have acquired through my Art History major.

Course Title:  Radical Political Ideologies and the Plastic Arts – 19th & 21st c. Europe
(This is a working title and by no means is particularly representative of what we are going to talk about!)

Course Description:

During the first flourishing’s of what could be considered a “fully developed“ modernity (think late 1800’s) artistic expression in the plastic arts gained new roles in relation to private and public life.

Henri de Saint-Simon first used the term the avant-garde (~1820’s) to define those individuals – scientists, engineers, and artists – that he saw as the driving forces behind the realization of newly conceived possibilities for society. Avant-gardism is only one conception for the development of art in the 20th c. (along with modernism and anti-modernism), however in this time period radical aesthetic explorations were also often associated with radical conceptions of society.

In this course I hope to explore the politics of artists, as well as the extent of their involvement in politics. As well we will explore how their art work sought to produce discursive spaces where alternate conceptions of reality could be developed, and finally how their art work was used to define group identity (including policing of the boundaries of ideology within the group).

- When I say alternate conceptions of reality, think different conceptions of what behavior is acceptable or possible given the circumstances. -

Hopefully this course will include the extremes of both Anarchists and Fascists. As well as how each interacts with the state and other groups, i.e. each other.

Unfortunately this is a nearly impossible task.

Facilitation:

This is a topic I am interested in, but do not have in depth knowledge about, therefore I think my role as facilitator would be to encouragement and sustain the individual research of those others who are participating, as well as to lend any additional knowledge I have acquired through my Art History major.

Course Work:

It would be nice for the entire course to be structured such that each individual writes a research paper; primarily as a chance to fully articulate ideas and thoughts developed through out the course.

I’m thinking about having some fun with my format, maybe choosing a more aphoristic style.

Reading List/Syllabus:

The reading list will be comprised of the documents uncovered through out the length of the class. As facilitator I will make sure there is something to read for each class one week before hand.

As this is the case the syllabus will likely be some what scattered.

Cultural figures and movements that may come-up, depending on whether my first impressions of their politics turn out to be relevant or simply interesting :

The Historical Avant-Garde :

Dadaism
Futurism
Custructivists
Surrealists

More recent art movements :

Viennese Actionism
Gutai
FLUXUS

I have come up with a tentative syllabus, instead of dates we will just work on each topic until we decide it is exhausted (I’m not doing anything much this summer/next year, are you?) :

Avant-Garde
- Johanne Lamoureux, “Avant-Garde: A Histiography of a Critical Concept”
+ Peter Bürger, Theory of The Avant-Garde

Avant-Gardism as Group Identity
-Manifestos

Abjection and Divides
- Linda Nead, “Theorizing the Femal Nude”
- Donna Harroway, “The Cyborg Manifesto” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women
+ Christine Poggi, “Dreams of Metallized Flesh: Futurism and the Masculine Body”
-Derrida, “Parergon”

Challenging Art
-Dadaism
-Viennese Actionism
-Gutai
-FLUXUS

The Spectacle/World-picture
-Situationists
-Us: the spectacle, identity and information technology

Perception, Design, and Utopia
- Alva Noë, Action in Perception
+ Stan Brackhage, Metaphors on Vision
-Russian Constructivism
-Bauhaus
- Der Stijl

(ambitious right?)

If you’re interested, check out the registration page! The facilitator can be reached at radicalpolitics,plasticarts@gmail.com. We have decided to meet on sundays at 1:00.

Facilitator: Guillermo Martinez de Velasco

Course Vision: Academia, as we experience it, in its structure and processes, is an inherently western institution. Eurocentrism, the legacy of a system of Christian values, and patriarchal discourses, continue to play a substantial part in the creation of academia and western thought. This course will explore the notion of the west and what it means to be ‘non-western’. How do we work around this oppositional gaze to better represent ideas that emerge outside the confines of traditional academia? To what extent can we say that the concept of a ‘theorist’ or ‘thinker’ is a western construct? Can we come to know of theories and concepts that emerge from those considered to be ‘marginal’ with regards to traditional western academia? By analysing the works of a selection of post-colonial, gender, critical, post-positivist and subaltern theorists; this seminar will attempt to expose us to ways of thinking that challenge traditional forms of knowledge and knowledge creation. By no means will this be a comprehensive course. Rather, it is a platform from which participants may go on to further studies of their interest. The course will be restricted to a very limited look at a selection of authors that would otherwise be ignored in all but the most specialised of courses in a university, it does not attempt to be more than an introduction. Most, if not all of the works covered in this course are available either online or in the city’s various libraries. Given the limited time and scope of the course, readings will be kept short. This means that if ever someone has trouble finding a particular reading, photocopies can be provided.

Potential Texts:
Class 1 - The ‘Non-West’
Reading: Robbie Shilliam “The Perilous but unavoidable terrain of the non-west”

Class 2 - Racism and interpreting the non-west
Reading: Chinua Achebe “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”

Class 3 - Négritude
Readings: Franz Fannon “The Wretched of the Earth”, Aimée Césaire selected poems

Class 4 - Race and Power Dynamics
Reading; Gayatri Spivak “Can the Subaltern Speak?”

Class 5: The legacy of Western Liberalism
Wendy Brown, Talal Assad “Is Critique Secular?”

Class 6: Postcolonialism and academia
Edward Said “Orientalism”
Amin Alhassan “Postcolonialism in Communication Studies”

Class 7: Consciousness and indentity
Kitaro Nishida’s concept of Nothingness
Renato Constantino: “Neocolonial Identity and counter-consciousness: essays on cultural decolonization”

Class 8: A critical view of Europe as a concept
reading: Dipesh Chakrabarty “Provincializing Europe”

Class: 9 Concluding Discussion

Note: this class would start sometime in late February.

If you’re interested, check out the registration page!

Facilitator: Claire Adamson

(here’s a bit about Claire, in her own words: Bachelor of Architecture 1975 from University of Montreal, 3 years architectural experience in Toronto plus 35 years in Montreal. I attended most McGill Architecture lectures. LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,  Accredited Professional.  Also I am a Quaker and am active in Council of Canadians.)

Course Vision