Concordia Course Web Sites

ARTH 374/A (Winter 2025): ARCH & URBANISM IN MONTREAL

A City Shaped by Its People

“Buildings make the city. They define the streets. They define the squares. They define where the parks are. They define how you live in a city, how you walk in a city, what you do in a city; they can make it very pleasant or very unpleasant.” – Phyllis Lambert

A wide-ranging survey of the architecture, urbanism, and landscape of Montreal and their significance in the political, social, and cultural context of the city throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. If “buildings make the city,” as stated by Montreal architect Phyllis Lambert, then who makes the buildings? Beyond professional architects and urban planners, this course will explore how regular citizens and their actions can shape the cityscape. We will pay attention to the ways that different forces—such as settler colonialism, immigration, economic booms and busts, gentrification, urban renewal reforms and popular movements—contribute to the transformations of Montreal and its buildings over time. We will look at architecture as a product of its specific local environment, and of global forces and historical conditions. Adopting an intersectional approach, we will consider how buildings can be read as sites of conflicting power relations, social dynamics, and collective action. As such, students will be asked to analyse buildings not as isolated objects, but as the result of political, cultural, social, and technological contexts of their time. Each week, as we discover different areas of Montreal, we will learn to recognize key architectural typologies, styles, and movements, and encounter both iconic sites and lesser-known figures. If you’ve ever asked yourself why Montreal looks and feels the way it does, a city of unique neighbourhoods defined by their buildings and the people who built them, this course is for you.

ARTH 6600/A (Winter 2025): SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF ART/ARCHIT

ARTH 676/AA (Fall 2025): INTRO CURATORIAL PRACT&THEORY

CONCORDIA COURSE CALENDAR DESCRIPTION

An introductory examination of selected aspects of curating and curatorial practices.

COURSE SUMMARY

This seminar introduces students to the histories and theories of curatorial practices in various

local, national, and international contexts. It explores a range of historical, social, economic,

educational, ethical, legal, technological, and administrative issues concerning curation in

various types of institutional and non-institutional contexts. The course introduces both

theoretical and historical aspects of curatorial practice from an array of perspectives, such as

but not limited to Indigenous, Black, queer, feminist, and decolonial approaches, and

methodologies such as cultural analysis, institutional critique, and activist interventions, to cite

only a few examples.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Discuss how histories and theories of curatorial activity affect current practices within

multiple contexts: cultural institutions and organizations, the larger art world, and diverse

cultural communities.

• Take into consideration multiple perspectives, including Indigenous, Black, queer,

feminist, anti-oppression and decolonial approaches.

• Recognize diverse methodologies, including cultural analysis, critical race museology,

institutional critique, and activist interventions used in research-based curatorial

practices.

• To develop an independent research paper that interprets elements of curatorial frameworks and perspectives

• To present research orally in a clear and concise format

COURSE MEETING SCHEDULE

EVALUATIONS

10% Punctuality and regular weekly in-class oral participation (Q&A, comments, etc.)

15% Think Tank

25% Exhibition Review

20% Notebook evaluation

30% Curatorial Concern proposal (written component and oral presentation)

IMPORTANT DUE DATES

September 30^th: Guest Lecturer – Camille Larrivée

October 17^th: Deadline to submit required documentation to register with the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities and request exam accommodations for the fall 2025 final examination period

October 28^th: Exhibition Review with short presentation

November 11^th: Think Tank

November 25^th: Final presentations + hand-in your notebook

PARTICIPATION AND REQUIREMENTS

Your main responsibilities in this course are to complete the readings assigned before the class in question, to follow the lecture and to ask questions and to contribute to discussions. Attendance and participation are thus essential. Indeed, active participation transforms curatorial seminars from passive lectures into venues for dynamic intellectual exchanges. When students engage through discussion and debate, they develop critical thinking skills and become better equipped at connecting artworks to broader cultural contexts. Participation also fosters deeper preparation and retention. A collaborative environment allows multiple perspectives to emerge, enriching everyone's understanding of complex artistic movements and cultural significance. This engagement mirrors professional curatorial and cultural work discourses, preparing students for more advanced study and careers requiring analytical communication skills. During class discussions, you are required to always show respect and openness towards your colleagues’ views and to always treat each other with dignity, even when you disagree with each other. Your participation is valued at 10% of your final grade

SUBMISSIONS

All assignments, without exception, must be handed in on the due date mentioned in your syllabus. All requirements are to be completed on their scheduled date. No extensions or make-ups are possible, except in the case of illness (must be proven with a doctor’s certificate) or medical emergency/death in the family (must be proven with a certificate). Out of courtesy for the professor and your fellow students, you are expected to arrive at every meeting on time. I will take attendance every week (for your participation grade). You are also strongly encouraged, especially before the midterm break, to come in during office hours to discuss your research project.

GENERATIVE AI

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT have become very popular but are unreliable for historical research as they often produce misinformation or biased, even inaccurate data. You are thus strongly discouraged from using them. Prohibited uses and/or not sufficiently acknowledging use will be deemed misconduct under Concordia’s Academic Code of Conduct. Students who engage in these behaviours may be charged under Articles 18 (general cheating/plagiarism /dishonest behaviour) and 19a (plagiarism) of the Code. You are always responsible for what you submit to the instructor.

THINK TANKS

A think tank is an organization formed to think up new solutions, especially for social and scientific problems. It is also a research institute that seeks to play a key role in making and influencing global, regional, and national policy. In sum, it is when a body of experts provides advice and solutions to specific issues at hand. In the case of our classrooms, our think tanks are spaces where, as emerging practitioners, we will address specific issues related to curating and provide new ways of thinking, and attempt to influence current curatorial discourses. Based on our readings, exhibition visits and what we have discussed and learn so far, think tanks ask questions like: what did you / didn’t you notice? What and who was missing? What are the successes and failures of curating and talking about artistic practices in this way? How can you relate everything you have seen, read and heard so far to your current research? The Think Tank is valued at 15% of your final grades.

EXHIBITION REVIEW

Each seminar participant is asked to write an exhibition review of a show they have seen during the semester (it should be a different exhibition from the one highlighted in your syllabus). For this assignment, you are asked to visit an exhibition by yourself or in small groups sometime in September and early October. In your exhibition review, which you are to write individually, please try to address these first basic points: How is this exhibition structured? How is the textual and artistic material organized? Who/what is included or discussed in the show? Do you find the curating to be successful, based on the organization and the documents presented? Do you think there was a good diversity of works, artists and ideas presented? Do you also think there is too much, or too little, information available on other artists who influenced his work? Was there a particular work that grabbed your attention more, and if so, why? Of course, feel free to address other issues besides the ones included in this prompt. Remember to be specific in your answer and to make direct references to the material on display in the exhibition. Although you can certainly express whether you like the exhibition, the main emphasis should not be on presenting judgments of taste about whether or not you like the works on display (for example, interesting vs boring, beautiful vs ugly). Be mindful that your reader (me) may not have seen the exhibition you are writing about.

Assignment should be 750-1000 words, double-spaced, 12-point font (Times New Roman or similar). Include a title page with your full name, student ID, and course information. Please include at least one photograph that you took yourself during your exhibition visit (cell phone pictures are allowed). If you use any outside sources (including the gallery website), make sure to use the appropriate footnotes.

You will give a brief presentation (5-7 minutes) of the exhibition you are reviewing before handing in your paper. Include a PowerPoint presentation and answer the following questions:

·      What have you seen, and where

·      Why did you select this exhibition to review

·      Brief presentation of the institution and artists / curator-s

·      Why you would or would not recommend this exhibition to your colleagues

The rest of the classroom will ask you questions about the exhibition. Student participation in the Q&A is essential. Total presentation, including Q&A is 10-12 minutes for each student. Written exhibition review and presentation are valued at 25% of your final grade.

NOTEBOOK EVALUATION

The notebook you will need to buy serves as a diary: this is where you will consign every note, question, highlight, aha moments and ideas you will have throughout the semester. You will also use it as a portfolio for every exhibition flyer, text and images that you are drawn to and/or have a link to your current academic research. The purpose of this notebook is to gather and archive your thinking process throughout the semester and keep a record of things you want to remember. It is basically a commonplace book: A commonplace book is a personal collection of information—such as quotes, observations, ideas, recipes, and other noteworthy tidbits—gathered from various sources and organized for easy reference. It serves as a personalized central resource or "scrapbook for ideas" where individuals can store and retrieve wisdom and inspiration to support intellectual growth and creativity. You will not be evaluated for the quantity of what is gathered; what is important is your participation in building a strong curatorial framework for yourself and your curatorial/academic research. The notebook is valued at 20% of your final grade.

PROJECT PRESENTATION

For your final project, you will present a scene from a film, a TV show, a news segment, etc., where one or more people is experiencing an exhibition, a gallery, a museum, an outdoor installation, in any way, shape or form (as an example, the scene in the Musée du Louvres in Jean-Luc Godard’s Bande à Part). After giving us the basic information on your choice, please discuss, in Pecha Kucha format:

·      What attracted you to this scene (formal characteristics)

·      If and why their behaviour is or is not appropriate

·      If you wish the general public were allowed or not allowed to act in this particular way

·      Can exhibition making and curating be conducive to similar or different behaviours

·      What kind of behaviours would you want your curating to achieve, and how would you do it?

·      Are artists and curators served by the behaviour proposed in your clip?

·      Would you want to be there, and if so, how and who would you want to be in the scene?

·      One question you would like to ask your fellow colleagues about your scene.

For your final oral presentation, clarity and concision will be key. You will need to present the content and the general approach you have used for your research project. We will use the Pecha Kucha format. Pecha Kucha is a presentation structure created in Tokyo in 2003 by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham. The name means “chit chat” in Japanese. The format requires presenters to show exactly 20 slides, with each slide displayed for precisely 20 seconds, creating a total presentation time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. This type of format was designed to keep presentations concise, fast-paced, and engaging. Originally used for design and architecture presentations, Pecha Kucha has expanded globally across various fields, including business, academia, and creative industries. The constraint encourages creativity and clarity. It also helps prevent long-winded presentations while maintaining audience attention. Your slides need to include good-quality images and short text/quotes. A short Q&A portion will follow each presentation. Your presentation will be a total of 20 minutes, including the Q&A and is valued at 30% of your final grade.

LANGUAGE

Course assignments may be submitted in French or in English. Also, feel free to email me in either French or English. Je suis francophone. Class instructions and discussions, however, will be conducted in English.

EMAIL COMMUNICATION

Students’ course-related emails will be answered within approximately 24 to 36 hours, Monday through Friday, barring unforeseen circumstances. I do not read or answer emails on the weekend. I am a freelance curator and therefore have many other engagements. Please be mindful of this with your expectations. Any message/response that would be of help to other students will be discussed in the following class. Please limit emails, as much as possible, to more technical or specific questions. For longer discussions, please set up an office appointment.

GENEROSITY

This is the first course of the first Graduate Curatorial Certificate at Concordia University. Please be generous to yourself, your classmates, and the scholars teaching you this course. This experience is new to everyone; please be mindful as we try and test this program.

 LEARNING SERVICES

 In grading your papers, good writing, that is, grammar, sentence structure, clarity of ideas, strength of argument, etc., will be taken into account as part of your evaluation. If you have writing difficulties or would like the help of an editor, please visit the Student Learning Services: Counselling and Development, Hall Building, H-440 Tel. 848 2424, ext. 3545 Email: sls@alcor.concordia.ca Web: http://learning.concordia.ca/

HEALTH OR PERSONAL DIFFICULTIES

 If you are experiencing health or personal difficulties that impede your work or attendance, please contact me as soon as possible, and do not wait until you have fallen behind. I will respect confidentiality, as much as I can within my role as instructor. For serious issues, you are especially encouraged to reach out to Concordia’s help services, composed of trained professionals: Health services: 514-848-2424, ext. 3565, http://www.health.concordia.ca Counseling: 514-848-2424, ext. 3545, http://cdev.concordia.ca Sexual Assault Resource Centre: https://www.concordia.ca/students/sexual-assault.html

STUDENT RESSOURCES

Office of Rights and Responsibilities: http://www.concordia.ca/students/rights.html

Otsenhakta Student Centre: on-campus resource for First Nations, Métis and Inuit students: https://www.concordia.ca/students/otsenhakta.html

Black Perspectives Office: https://www.concordia.ca/provost/about/areas/black-perspectives-office. html

NouLa Student Hub: https://www.concordia.ca/students/noula.html

ACCESS CENTRE

 If, for psychological or medical reasons, you require assistance to help you with your work, please consult the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities at your earliest convenience. http://supportservices.concordia.ca/disabilities/

PLAGIARISM

All members of the Concordia Faculty of Fine Arts community are expected to maintain complete honesty in all academic work, presenting only that which is their own work in tests and assignments. Copying or paraphrasing the words and ideas of others without proper acknowledgment is considered as plagiarism, defined as “intentionally representing the words, ideas, or data of another as one’s own in any academic exercise without providing proper citation.” On how to properly attribute the work of others, contact your professor, or visit the Concordia website: http://finearts.concordia.ca/HTML/conduct.htm e description of and penalties for plagiarism (which include failing the course) can be found in the Concordia University Calendar. All suspected cases of plagiarism will be investigated, and ignorance of the rules and regulations regarding academic conduct will not be considered as an excuse.

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

The Department of Art History supports student use of technology in the classroom only when that use is directly related to the lecture, such as using a laptop for the purpose of taking notes or using the Internet at the professor's request. Students with special accessibility requirements are advised to speak with their instructors to ensure accommodations. Using technology to engage in email, gaming, text messaging, chatting or browsing the Internet, etc., is not permitted during lectures. Not only does this use interfere with the user’s own capacity to listen, learn and participate, it also disturbs students sitting nearby. Any technology that captures images of other students or the professor without their permission is also in violation of the Code of Conduct and Canadian privacy laws.

ONLINE BEHAVIOUR, TECHNOLOGY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Per Concordia rules, all individuals participating in courses are expected to be professional and constructive throughout the course, including in their online communications. Concordia students are subject to the Code of Rights and Responsibilities, which applies both when students are physically and virtually engaged in any University activity, including classes, seminars, meetings, etc. Students engaged in university activities must respect this Code when engaging with any members of the Concordia community, including faculty, staff, and fellow students, whether such interactions are verbal or in writing, face to face or online/virtual. During potential class discussions and “break out group” meetings, you are required to be constructive and to show etiquette, respect and civility towards your colleagues’ views at all times. Please treat each other with utmost dignity. It is never allowed to use demeaning or oppressive language towards the instructor or fellow students based on appearance, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, language, religion and/or sexual orientation. Failing to comply with the Code may result in charges and sanctions, as outlined in the Code. Content belonging to instructors shared in online courses, including, but not limited to, syllabus, online lectures, course notes, and video recordings of classes, remains the intellectual property of the faculty member. It may not be distributed, published or broadcast, in whole or in part, without the express permission of the faculty member. Students are also forbidden to use their own means of recording any elements of an online class or lecture without the express permission of the instructor. Any unauthorized sharing of course content may constitute a breach of the Academic Code of Conduct and/or the Code of Rights and Responsibilities. As specified in the Policy on Intellectual Property, the University does not claim any ownership of or interest in any student’s intellectual property. All university members retain copyright over their work. During the synchronous portions of the course on Zoom, please do not distract others with other online activities using phones, tablets or computers, whether it is work for other classes, social networking, gaming, or texting. It is also strictly forbidden to capture sound or images of other students without their explicit consent, as it infringes on Canadian privacy laws. Please be respectful of these rules at all times, even if we are online. The complete Code of Rights and Responsibilities is available online: https://www.concordia.ca/content/dam/common/docs/policies/official-policies/BD-3.pdf

EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES In the event of extraordinary circumstances, the University may modify the delivery, content, structure, forum, location and/or evaluation scheme. In the event of such extraordinary circumstances, students will be informed of the changes. See: www.concordia.ca/academics/undergraduate/calendar/current.html

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

Please let me know ahead of time if you wish to celebrate religious holidays not listed on the Concordia academic calendar that may be happening at the same time as the course. I’d be happy to accommodate your request.

FORMATTING All reading responses need to be formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

CONCORDIA GRADING SCALE

ASEM 620/B (Winter 2025): ART: IDEAS AND PRACTICES

ASEM 620/4 Art, Ideas and Practices: The Assemblage is a graduate seminar exploring historical and contemporary assemblage practices in the visual arts (painting, photography, works on/of paper, sculpture, installation, film, new media and performance) through the lenses of art history and criticism, cultural studies, social and political theory, and post-humanist philosophies. Our discussions will consider how industrial and post-industrial production models shape social formations, object relations and aesthetic strategies, and gauge how the many and various arts of assembly mirror and imagine ways of knowing, relationality and belonging, and the individual, community and collective.

The course begins with a series of seminars meant to establish a theoretical, historical and conceptual ground for student-led research project presentations addressing related, but independent themes.

Introduction to managing the development, design and construction of buildings. Examination of project management for the total development process, including inter-relationships between owners, developers, financing sources, designers, contractors and users; methods of project delivery; introduction to planning and scheduling; role and tasks of the project manager; feasibility analyses; construction claims; financing and cash-flow analysis; government regulations; environmental and social constraints; introduction to control of cost, time and technical performance; human factors; computer applications. A project is required.

The advent of the internet has given marketers new tools, new media, but it hasn't changed the fundamentals. And those are exactly what you'll learn in this introductory course. Are you in? Say yes, if you'd like to learn about the critical components of marketing or the situations in which a marketing manager must thrive. Say yes, if you want to learn about strategic marketing planning, decision-making, market segmentation and positioning. Say yes, if you'd like to lay the foundation for continued studies in marketing. You see, that's what marketing is all about: getting consumers to say yes.

This course is a great way to help you:
• Develop and implement a marketing plan;
• Respond to changing and evolving business-related situations with appropriate marketing strategies;
• Narrowly define a desired target market;
• Effectively position an organization's offer;
• Develop marketing communication skills.

As in the workplace, teamwork is key here. Sure, there will be engaging assignments and activities, but you'll also form ad-hoc teams to discuss real-world subjects presented by business experts. You'll formulate strategies to solve problems or seize opportunities. Above all, you'll have ample chance to contribute personally to the process. This course is designed with a combination of online live synchronous learning where the instructor and the students meet in a virtual classroom (Zoom) at the same time, and asynchronous work guided by the instructor and completed by students in their own time. 

• Anyone who wants to learn the essentials of marketing and online marketing.
• Students who want to work in marketing, advertising, promotions, retail or sales, or pursue studies in those areas.
• Entrepreneurs who want to market their products or services.
• Students moving onward to an academic path in marketing.
• Employees in marketing, communications or sales who want to refresh their skills or open new horizons.
• Small-business owners or association members who manage their own marketing and communications.

CEPR 125/1 (Summer, 2022): SOCIAL MEDIA - NETWORKS

CEPR 125/1 (Spring 2025): SOCIAL MEDIA - NETWORKS

CEPR 125/A1 (Fall, 2016): SOCIAL MEDIA FUNDAMENTALS

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CEPR 125/B1 (Winter, 2021): SOCIAL MEDIA - NETWORKS