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Monika Kin Gagnon, PhD

  • Professor, Communication Studies

Research areas: experimental media arts; alternative media; Expo 67; identity and cultural politics

Contact information

Email:

monika.gagnon@concordia.ca

Websites:

CINEMAexpo67
Archive | Counter-Archive
Transnational IMAX

Biography

Education

PhD, Communication, Simon Fraser University

MA, Social & Political Thought, York University

BA, Communication Studies, Concordia University

Awards

Concordia University Research Fellow (Person & Society) 2017–18

Current research projects

Locating Transnational Collaborations in Early IMAX Film & Architectures (1970-90)

This project investigates 6 early IMAX cinemas strategically selected for their historical, technological and architectural significance, as well as their prominent role in film production

Expo 67 Brouillements numériques: AR|chives

The expo67 AR|chives project is mobilizing augmented reality (AR) as a way of exploring Montréal's Expo 67 islands. Created with the support of Concordia MA students Elina Lex, Marie Bernard-Brind'amour, Bradley Peppinck and Prashant Hongal.

In Search of Expo 67 exhibition and podcast

In Search of Expo 67 was a major exhibition of 19 works by Québec and Canadian artists at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, investigating the most innovative aspects of the World exhibition, as well as its artistic, social and political contexts. Co-curated by Monika Kin Gagnon and Lesley Johnstone in 2017. Catalogue published by McGill-Queen's University Press in French and English editions
Expo 67 Thinking Out Loud: An 8-episode series https://www.concordia.ca/events/conversation-series/thinking-out-loud/expo67.html

IMAX premiered its first film, Tiger Child, at Osaka's Expo '70

IMAX

Selected publications

Selected essays and book chapters

“Before I made films, I was singing,” conversation with Alanis Obomsawin in Alanis Obomsawin: Lifework exhibition catalogue, eds. Richard Hill & Hila Peleg (Berlin: Haus der Kulturen der Welt/Prestel, 2022).

“Into the Archive with Joyce Wieland: Bill’s Hat (1967),” special issue of Journal of Canadian Art History, eds. Johanne Sloan and Mark Clintberg 41.1/2 (2020).

“Introduction,”with Lesley Johnstone, in In Search of Expo 67, eds. Monika Kin Gagnon and Lesley Johnstone (Montreal: McGill-Queens UP and Musée d’art contemporain, 2020).

“From Expanded to Intimate Cinemas in Canadian Experimental Film/Video,” in The Oxford Handbook to Canadian Cinema, eds. William Straw and Janine Marchessault (Oxford University Press, 2019).

“Polar Life/La vie polaire at Expo 67,” in Arctic Cinemas and the Documentary Ethos, eds. Lilya Kaganovsky, Scott MacKenzie and Anna Westersthal Stenport (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2019).

“All-embracing Circlevision 360: Canada 67 at Expo 67’s Telephone Pavilion,” Reimagining Cinema: Film at Expo 67, eds. Monika Kin Gagnon and Janine Marchessault (Montreal: McGill-Queens UP, 2014), 218–233.

“Unfinished Films and Posthumous Cinema: Charles Gagnon’s R69 and Joyce Wieland’s Wendy and Joyce,” in Cinephemera, eds. Zoë Druick and Gerda Cammaer (Montreal: McGill-Queens UP, 2014), 137–158.

“Communicating the Intermedia Archive: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha,” in Database|Narrative|Archive, eds. Matt Soar and Monika Kin Gagnon. A book anthology created in Scalar, open-access at www.dna anthology.com

“Amplifying Threat: Reasonable Accommodations and Quebec’s Bouchard-Taylor Commission (co-authored with Yasmin Jiwani),” in Shifting the Ground: Nation-state, Indigeneity, Culture, ed. Smaro Kamboureli (Guelph: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2012).

“The Christian Pavilion at Expo ’67: Notes from Charles Gagnon’s Archive,” in Expo 67: More than a Souvenir, eds. Rhona Richman Kenneally and Johanne Sloane (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010),142–162.

“The Persistence of Spectatorship: the Racialized and Ethicized Gaze,” in Precarious Visualities: new perspectives on identification in contemporary art and visual culture, eds. Christine Ross, Olivier Asselin, Johanne Lamoureux (Montreal: McGill-Queens UP, 2008), 120–135.

"Cinematic Imag(in)ings of the Japanese Canadian Internment," in Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen, ed. Elaine Chang (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2008).

“Tender Research: Field Notes from the Nikkei Internment Centre,” Canadian Journal of Communication 31.1 (Spring 2006).

“The Capacity of Cultural Difference" (with Scott Toguri McFarlane), for the “Minister’s Forum on Diversity and Culture,” Dept of Canadian Heritage, April 2003, Ottawa and “Cultures, Diversity and Everyday Life,” with Council of Europe, May 2002, Montréal.

Books

Co-edited with Lesley Johnstone. In Search of Expo 67/À la recherche d'expo 67. Montreal and Kingston: Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal and McGill-Queen's University Press, July 2020.

Co-edited with Janine Marchessault. Reimagining Cinema: Film at Expo 67. Anthology with essays, interviews, and filmmaker portfolios; with Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Colin Low and others. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014.

With Richard Fung, 13 Conversations About Art and Cultural Race Politics. Montreal: Artextes Editions, 2002. Translated into Territoires et Trajectoires. Adapted and translated by Colette Tougas. Montreal: Artextes Editions, 2006.

Other Conundrums: Race, Culture and Canadian Art. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press/Artspeak/ KAG, 2000.

Art-related essays

"With Olivia Michiko Gagnon. "Dana Claxton's Gifts of Fringe," in Dana Claxton (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery, 2018)

“Posthumous Collaboration (for Nancy Shaw),” in Prefix Photo 20 (Fall 2009).

“(Media) ‘History from Below’: From the Snaphshot to the Home Movie in Jamelie Hassan’s Installations, in Jamelie Hassan: At the Edge of Words (London ON: Museum London, 2009).

“The Enchantments of Richard Fung’s Unsettling Landscapes (after JMW Turner),” in Richard Fung (Hamilton: McMaster Museum of Art, 2008).

“Duels, Dualities and Intertextuality in the Media Works of Stephen Foster,” for Stephen Foster (exhibition brochure), Auckland: MIC Toi Rerehiko, 2007.

“Book and Exhibition Review: Janet Cardiff: The Walk Book and Her Long Black Hair,” Senses and Society 2.1 (July 2007): 259-263.

Participation activities

Conference Presentations (refereed)

“Unfinished Films in the Archives,” Shadow Screens: Unmade, Unfinished and Unseen Film and Television Conference, Sheffield Hallam University (forthcoming May 23-24 2022, rescheduled due to Covid-19)

“AR|chives: Augmented Reality on the Expo 67 Islands,” part of Archive as Medium: Activations, Remediations and Counter-Archives panel, SCMS Annual Conference (postponed due to COVID-19), March 2021

“More Other Conundrums,” with Richard Fung, Dana Claxton, Andrea Fatona, Richard Hill, Larissa Lai, Genevieve Wallen, Kira Wu, at University Art Association (UAAC), Vancouver, by Zoom due to COVID-19 Nov 2020

“Activating Counter-Archives: Exploring Platforms for Effective (Re)Presentation (with Patricio Davila)” at American Moving Images Archivists (AMIA) Annual Conference by Zoom due to COVID-19, Nov. 2020

“Small Gestures,” Panel convenor with Treva Pullen, University Art Association, Quebec City, Nov 2019

“Brouillements numériques at Expo 67,” (with Bradley Peppinck), Communication Association Annual Conference, University of British Columbia, June 5 2019.

“Brouillements numériques at Expo 67,” HASTAC, University of British Columbia, May 2019

“Animating Canada’s Audio-Visual Heritage through Partnerships: CINEMAexpo67 and Archive|Counter-Archive," with Janine Marchessault, Paul Gordon and Stéphanie Côté, at American Moving Images Archivists Annual Conference,Portland OR Nov 28–Dec 1 2018

“Réanimation des archives avec Korsakow: Archiving R69 (2010) et Racing Home (2015),” Colloque: ACFAS 9 mai 2016

“Reanimating Archives: Graeme Ferguson’s Multi-screen Polar Life of Expo 67 (with Jean Gagnon)” American Moving Images Archivists (AMIA) Annual Conference, Portland OR Nov 20, 2015

“Graeme Ferguson’s Polar Life at Expo 67,” Panel and Screening with Graeme Ferguson, Visible Evidence, University of Toronto, Ryerson and York, Toronto 20 & 22, 2015

“Reanimating Archives: Graeme Ferguson’s Multi-screen Polar Life of Expo 67,” Society of Cinema and Media Studies, Concordia, Montreal March 25 2015

“Creative Archiving: Dossier Joyce Wieland at the Cinemathèque Québecoise,” with Vanessa Meyer. Canadian Communication Association Annual Conference. Brock University, May 2014.

“Archives and Database Cinema, “International Digital Media Arts Assocation, Laguna CA,Nov 2014.

“Posthumous Cinema,” at Life and Death: A Conversation, Society for Cultural Anthropology, Providence RI, May 12, 2012

“Communicating the Intermedia Archive: The Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Collection CHArt (Computers and Art History), King’s College, London, Nov 12, 2011

“UnfinishedFilms in the Multimedia Archive,” Visible Evidence 18, NYU, August 2011

“Creative Archiving in the Multimedia Archive: Animating ‘Canada and the Films of Expo 67,’” (with Mary Elizabeth Luka), Re-Animating the Archive, UCLA, Los Angeles,Nov 2010.

“Reconstructing Two Immersive Multimedia Pavilions from Expo ‘67: The Christian and Telephone Pavilion,” Media in Transition 6, MIT (Cambridge MA), Apr 2009.

“Posthumous Cinema: Unfinished Films and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s White Dust from Mongolia,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference (SCMS), Tokyo, May 2009

“Reconstructing Two Immersive Multimedia Pavilions from Expo “67: The Christian Pavilion and the Telephone Pavilion,” Media in Transition 6, MIT Boston, April 2009

“Posthumous Collaboration/Posthumous Cinema: Memory, Afterlife and Moving Images,” ISEA Singapore, July 29 2008

“Posthumous Collaboration: In Honour of Nancy Shaw,” Canadian Communication Studies Association Annual Conference, University of British Columbia, June 5 2008

“The Cinematic Imaginary at Expo “67,” Film Studies Association of Canada Annual Conference, University of Saskatchewan, May 30 2007

Archival Film Projects

Archival Film Projects

La Vie polaire/Polar Life (the recreation), Cinémathèque québecoise (Oct 2014) Collaboration by CINEMAexpo67 with CQ and the National Film Board of Canada

Joyce Wieland's Unfinished Films for the Cinémathèque québécoise (2014)

Charles Gagnon: 4 Films, producer, catalogue editor and writer (Montreal: Spectral, 2009). Premiered at Festival internationale des films sur l’art (FIFA), March 25 2009. Screened at Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal from October 2010–January 2011.

Reviews of Charles Gagnon: 4 Films and R69 [unfinished/inachevé]

        “FIFA 2010: The Flicks to Pick,” Canadian Art [online edition], March 18 2010.
        Scott McKenzie, “Charles Gagnon: 4 Films (review),” The Moving Image 10.2 (Fall 2010): 167–170.

        Christian Roy, “Readings: Charles Gagnon,” Ciel Variable 89 (automne 2011): 88.

Archiving R69 (2011). Korsakow Film (interactive database film). Hosted at www.archivingr69.ca. Screened at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema FNC/Lab October 2012.

Happy Birthday (2010). Black-and-white 16mm film with optical sound. 6 minutes. Made at the Film Farm Retreat 2010, Mount Forest, ON.
Took 27 milliseconds
 
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