Centre for Urban Health, Arts informed Research, Body, Technology, Installations Featured at Seminar Series

Environmental Health Justice in the City

2008-2009 Seminar Series

Arts-Informed, Embodied Research Installations

Presenter: Dr. Geoffrey Edwards

Nov. 13th, 2008 from 2pm‐4pm

University College Room 248 - University of Toronto

St. George campus (15 King’s College Circle)

Free!

Beginning with some concrete examples of Resonant Installations currently under development, we shall explore some of the underlying principles concerning embodied experience and visceral knowledge; talk about technology toolkits that support the work, and do"body‐storming" exercises that favor the development of transformative design principles. The seminar will be a mix of theory, embodiment exercises and a practical work focused on installation design.

Geoffrey Edwards is a senior scientist who has long worked at the interface between disciplines. Since being awarded the Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Geomatics in 2001, he has concentrated his efforts towards the elaboration of cognitively‐informed tools for situating the body in space.

For the past five years, Dr. Edwards has been working with a performing artist, Ms. Marie Louise Bourbeau, on the development of new media installations that explore the body in space as it relates to issues and challenges in physical rehabilitation and public health.

These Transformative or Resonant Installations explore visceral embodied experience as it relates to personal identity and a sense of personhood.

Dr. Edwards has led several major initiatives in collaborative research over the years, including roles as director of the Centre for Research in Geomatics at Laval University and of the GEOIDE Network of Centres of Excellence.

More information:

St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre Features Beautiful Woman Project

"I found out that my daughter’s friend was saving money for breast implants. She was 13 years old! I knew I had to act."

Artist, Cheryl-Ann Webster

I had an opportunity to drop by the St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre today where the "Beautiful Women Project" by Gananoque, Ontario, artist, Cheryl-Ann Webster, is currently on display. The decorated representations seemed to embody and reveal the model's personality and life story, each women 19 to 91 proud and strikingly beautiful in her own special way.

Webster describes the project as "a teaching and healing tool for women and girls, men and boys. The mission of the project is to raise awareness about the link between self-worth, self-identity and physical appearance. "

Tonight I would like to share with you a Youtube video about the "Beautiful Women Project"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjRrS1GzYA

See "Beautiful Women Project" Artist Cheryl Ann Webster website:

http://www.beautifulwomenproject.com/healing/index.htm

Featured until July 6 at The St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre.

Medicine, Body, Technology, Installations May through June

This just in from Sandra Knol HCTP

Health Care Technology and Place

Whose Body is it, Anyway? (Curator Camille Turner)
Date: May 25 - June 16, 2007, Opening Saturday May 26, 8:00 pm
Location: InterAcess Electronic Media Arts Centre, 9 Ossington Avenue, Toronto

Installations:

Fatemaps: Would You Like To Know What Will Happen?
and Genital Embryogenesis, Jack Butler

Rough Cut, Monir Moniruzzaman

Whose Body is it Anyway? is an exhibition that explores the cultural impact of medicine on the body, in particular, the politics of power and issues of commodification and ownership of the body. It explores advancements in medical technology fueling a growing divide where fresh body parts can be purchased straight from the living bodies of the poor and bodies considered “deviant” can be surgically “corrected”. The exhibition contributes to emerging discourses within the growing field of new media art where culture intersects with science and medicine to challenge and critique the technological evolution of humanity.

This exhibition part of the Subtle Technologies Festival, University of Toronto
Exhibition Information: www.subtletechnologies.com/2007/?page_id=6

Art in this post from website Jack Butler Embryogenesis http://www.fatepaps.ca

More on Artist Jack Butler:

Jack Butler's art practice links visual art and medical science. He exhibits installations, video projections and computer animations internationally. His work is in public and private collections including the National Gallery of Canada. He is a founding member of Sanavik Inuit Cooperative, Baker Lake Nunavut. Butler has thirty years experience as a medical model builder and

published researcher in human development. He taught at Carnegie Mellon University at the Banff Centre and in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario.