March 23rd
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Alice Ming Wai Jim
When Care Becomes a Discourse
Alice Ming Wai Jim is Professor of Contemporary Art in the Department of Art History at Concordia University. She is Concordia University Research Chair in Ethnocultural Art Histories and founding co-editor of the journal Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas. An art historian and curator, her research on diasporic art in Canada and contemporary Asian art has generated new dialogues within and between ethnocultural and global art histories, critical race theory, media arts, and curatorial studies. Jim was a co-chair of the Artistic Committee for ISEA2020 Montreal: Why Sentience? (International Symposium on Electronic Art) and co-convenor of GAX 2019 Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal): Asian Indigenous Relations in Contemporary Art, which brought together sixty Asian diasporic and Indigenous researchers, artists, and students from Samoa, Hawaii, Australia, across Canada, and the US to consider the theme of “curating hospitality.” Jim was a visiting professor for Summer Institute 2019: Future Commons at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong and is a co-investigator of the Trans-Atlantic Platform Social Innovation grant project (through SSHRC and FQRSC), Worlding Public Cultures (2020-2023). Her current research examines the convergence of Indigenous and Afro-Asian futurism in contemporary art. Jim is a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada and is currently on the boards of Oboro Artist-Run Centre, College Art Association (CAA), Open Arts Journal, and the Journal of Curatorial Studies.
PRESENTERS
Megan Seldon
New York University, History of Art
Transformational Justice and Land Based Activism in Museum Spaces
A second year Master’s student at New York University, Megan first earned undergraduate degrees in English Literature and Comparative Humanities at the University of Louisville. Her accolades include the Trustee’s Scholarship, Morris Bein Outstanding Humanities Senior of the Year, and the Wolfolk Thomas English Departmental Scholarship. She was also named Outstanding Senior of the Year and earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. In addition to completing a year of teaching in Malaysia, Megan has also spent the time between her studies as an environmental steward on sustainable family farms. She has advocated for small, diverse, and beginning farmers in the 2019 Farm Bill, and led an educational campaign petitioning Barbara Comstock for more equitable policies. While at NYU, Megan has taken courses which have primarily focused on the history of museums, the role of context, and issues of colonization and decolonization.
Zoe Compton
Concordia University, Art Education
Pedagogy of Discomfort: Mapping Family History in Prince Edward Island
Zoe Compton is a second year Master’s student in Art Education at Concordia University and she comes from a background in Environmental Studies. She works as a Teaching Assistant at Concordia and is also the 2nd Year President for the Art Education Graduate Student Association (ArtEGs). Zoe is currently working on an arts-based thesis looking at her family’s history as Loyalists in Prince Edward Island to critically contemplate her position as a white settler in Canada.
Brandon Sward
University of Chicago, Sociology
How to Make Site-Specific Art When Sites Themselves Have Histories: Whittier Boulevard as Asco’s ‘Camino Real’
Brandon Sward is an artist and doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago who lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. He was a quarterfinalist for Ruminate Magazine‘s 2018 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize, an honourable mention for the 47th New Millennium Writing Awards, a finalist for the 48th New Millennium Writing Awards, and was shortlisted for Disquiet International’s 2020 Literary Prize. He has been awarded residencies by Alternative Worksite, the Hambidge Center, Main Street Arts, NAVE, SloMoCo, the Sundress Academy for the Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Wassaic Project, Western Montana Creative Initiatives, the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, and the Institute for LGBTQ+ Studies at the University of Arizona. Learn more about Brandon and check his portfolio at his website.
AGIC 