In/visible

Materials and the process of making are intricately intertwined in invisible power systems, shaping our interactions and relationships with design processes, and the ultimate form of designed creations. The interplay of systems and material resonates across industrial, technological, ecological, textile production, and manufacturing domains such as data centers, construction sites and waste management. Our relationships to these complex systems mould our perceptions and contributions to the world around us. In/visible: Materializing eco/systems towards new ethics of making ventures into new realms of materiality, navigating the nuances and alternative possibilities of creation within these concealed power structures. 

How can we productively engage with the failure, lags, gaps, and opacity of industrial and technological production systems ? How can the materiality of objects help expose their invisible underlying power systems? How can we foster new sustainable relationships to materials and the environment through a material practice of critical awareness and care?

The exploration unfolds beyond the visible to engage with the inherent failures, lags, gaps, and ambiguity woven into the fabric of industrial and technological production systems. Advocating for alternative modes of creation, our inquiry fosters an ethos of making that transcends the material realm, seeking to unravel immateriality through tangible engagement, performances, composites, and up-cycled processes. Through an multidisciplinary exhibition of research-creation projects, In/visible invites the public to partake in a contemplative  and explorative exploration of material practices. New materials are crafted to enhance our engagement and relationship with the corporeal and constructed environments we inhabit, fashioning an alternative ethics of making that speaks to the intrinsic nature of our interconnected world. 

How can you participate? Join us in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube. 

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca  

Scintilla (Gabrielle Archambault) 

Scintilla is an exploration of alternatives to harmful oil paints: From food scraps to pigments to ephemeral paintings- creating vibrant narratives that wash away, leaving no environmental trace.

Digital Consequences: Grasping the Physicality of Our Carbon Impact (Ally Steinberg) 

Digital Consequences: Grasping the Physicality of Our Carbon Impact explores the invisible digital footprint using visual representations to translate the intangible and hidden environmental costs of digitization into relatable forms for digital consumption awareness. 

Superabsorbent Materials: a passive strategy inspired by nature for responsive canopy design (Saba Hor) 

Superabsorbent Materials: a passive strategy inspired by nature for responsive canopy design examines superabsorbent materials properties to design responsive shading and facades inspired by nature, which can adapt to their environment and protect people from harsh weather.

Collaborating with construction materials (Beth Vince) 

Collaborating with construction materials considers how, through engagement with material agency and by introducing natural materials, a new composite might be formed with discarded construction waste. 

Voltus 749BWE (Junior Vignault) 

Voltus 749BWE is a research-creation project that explores power dynamics between human and intelligent machine systems through critical media art practices and materiality. 

Project XX (Megan Wake) 

Project XX is an inquiry in alternative materials for the fashion industry. It brings up key topics of care, attachment, and memory in relation to fashion and technology.

Altertronic: Redefining Sustainability in Electronics (Audrey Coulombe) 

Altertronic: Redefining Sustainability in Electronics develops sustainable alternatives to critical minerals and raises awareness of how we consume, care for and dispose of electronic devices, as well as the relationship we have with them.

Leaf Chronicles (Julie Kashim) 

Leaf Chronicles illuminates the stories within each leaf, sharing tales of growth, adaptation and coexistence. Living textiles in the digital realm reflect the symbiosis between humans, nature, and technology.

Wasted Care (Azmat Ishaq) 

Wasted Care is a critical evaluation of the praxis of disposal in modern society. It investigates waste bin design through speculative imitation and modification based on a relational ethnographic approach.

Re-imagining and Re-imaging (Elysabeth Breton)

As a final homage, Re-imagining and Re-imaging presents fifteen disregarded virtual projects, born of assets and email threads, now materialized in a memorial catalogue.

Vestigios de Coquillages (Allison DuPont)

Vestigios de Coquillages is an exploratory array of natural materials leading to the creation of ceramic-like composites composed of shell waste as an interior finish.