en-tropy

en tropy

en tropy

Introduction by Aaron Krishtalka, Maimire Mennasemay, Kenneth Milkman, Richard Shoemaker, Lois Valliant, and Andrew Katz Edited by Amanda Beattie Exhibition: April 18 – May 10, 2018 Warren G. Flowers Art Gallery Dawson College 4001 de Maisonneuve West Montreal, Canada H3Z 1A4

space.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/exhibits/summary/ the_en_tropy_exhibition

en–tropy The first idea often conjured by the word entropy is the tendency of things to drift towards disorder. Entropy, however, is also very much about order. While the long, long term trajectory of our universe is towards disorder, in the short and medium term, in local pockets of space, such as here on Earth, order is possible. Indeed, this is one of the key lessons we can learn by studying entropy: that the tendency towards disorder can be slowed and even reversed— with one caveat. Lowering entropy always takes energy and work. Consider the energy and work of writing a sentence.

Drawing a line. Composing a photograph. Meditating each morning. Conducting an experiment. Running a company.

Organizing a protest. Powering a car. The energy and work of re-considering a theory, a practice or a design, in order to make it more efficient, coherent, inclusive, humane, or whatever quality we are aiming for in our work.

All these endeavors and myriad others can be achieved—at a cost. What that cost is, who pays it, whether the tradeoffs are worth it and who gets to make that evaluation are questions that make entropy not only a matter of physics but also one of ethics.

Human aims must be central in our reflections on entropy, because we always mediate entropy with a purpose.

Over millennia humans have built pyramids, skyscrapers, personal computers, works of art, religions, philosophies, cities, life-saving medical technologies, institutions, all to benefit our species; or, rather, to benefit some people. It is increasingly dawning on us that what has helped certain people and groups to get ahead has also required disorder to be exported elsewhere—in the form of mental and physical trauma, socio-economic imbalance, environmental degradation—sometimes to an extent that threatens to make our efforts untenable and requires us to re-think our motivations, our goals, our approach.

What are the wisest ways to navigate entropy? Since a certain amount of disorder is unavoidable, do we allow for it, and even welcome it, to some degree? Is a certain amount of disorder essential for creativity and progress?

Another question that entropy poses is why things tend to drift towards disorder, a fact of life described in physics as the second law of thermodynamics. What exactly does this law mean? To begin with, it means that many arrangements of the elements of our societies, world and universe 2

are possible, which means that any single arrangement is improbable and therefore, like a sandcastle, a fixed idea, or a particular human civilization, likely to give way to other arrangements over time.

This exhibition presents a series of interpretations of entropy through the perspectives of Dawson students, alumni, faculty, staff and members of the broader community who work across a wide range of disciplines. Certain contributions emerged from within a single field of study, others from a dialogue between fields; some originated in a classroom activity, others from discussions and collaborations beyond the classroom; some of the pieces here are the work of a single individual while others are the result of a group effort. There are also many more explorations of entropy that took place this year than could be included in one exhibition.

What all participants share in common is that they have adopted entropy as a framework of interpretation to explore the work we do, how and why we do it, the energy it requires, and what and who it requires it from. They invite us to adopt this framework ourselves, to reflect along with them on the ways we navigate entropy, as individuals and a society, for better and for worse, as well as to pay attention to those moments when entropy eludes our efforts to tame it and thus confronts us with the need to re-consider how we deal with this universal phenomenon that shapes our lives.

Aaron Krishtalka, Maimire Mennasemay, Kenneth Milkman, Richard Shoemaker, Lois Valliant, and Andrew Katz.

Sabira Langevin

3rd Year, Illustration & Design en–tropy theme poster for 2017–2018 Mixed media Variable dimensions

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Jules Prud’homme

Faculty, Illustration Loss, 2018 Pine, maple, steel, iron, glass, cork, paper, acrylic paint, epoxy, screws, cardboard, ink, nickel, pearl, plastic, velvet and shellac 49.5 cm x 33 cm x 13.2 cm

Through the elements, temperature (extreme heat and cold), humidity, dryness, and obvious dynamic impacts and fractures, the abandoned musical instrument has lost its voice, shape and structure. It remains a silent decayed shell. A shadow.

The immediate thought at the sight of any instrument is Music.

The object still talks through the universal symbol it represents. The music played on it comes to mind and it tickles curiosity.

Already subjected to a first series of rough treatments and subsequent abandon in a country shed, there was very little that could be done to save or restore its playability over its failing and decayed broken structure.

Some elements were kept. The rest was left to fire. Thermodynamics at work. Across the process of combustion, these parts of the instrument were turned to ashes.

Carbon dioxide emanation, water evaporation and ashes are all measurable components and effects. Entropy is based on the measure of lost energy.

The Music, then, must be the unmeasurable loss.

This piece is about Music, and Ashes—the only traces left of the music played on it—and the combustion process of the discarded remains.

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Jesse Rae

1st Year, Psychology, Social Science Make Music, Not War!, 2018 Foam core, glue, sparkles, images Rectangle: 76 cm x 51 cm; guitar: 76 cm x 28 cm

The devastating effects on human lives of the Vietnam War, segregation, and sexism in the 60s and 70s inspired many people to protest against them in an attempt to bring about a more peaceful America and world. These “entropic” times also sparked a music revolution, with influential bands and singer-songwriters writing and performing political songs that protested against many of the catastrophic events of that period. Using the power and fame of their music, these artists worked to help raise awareness about war and inequality and to call for a more equitable, just, peaceful social and world order.

Neil Young wrote the song “Ohio” after the Kent State shooting to protest against the Vietnam War and its consequences. Another example is John Lennon's “Give Peace A Chance,” which was released in 1969. It became an anthem of the American anti-war movement. On October 15, 1969, protestors gathered for the “Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam,” and sang John Lennon's song together. Furthermore, the Woodstock festival in 1969 had a significant impact on politics and the counterculture.

Originally, it was a music festival planned for commercial reasons, but after being hacked became the “three days of 6

peace” that we all know of today, which encouraged peace, music, and harmonious living. Famous artists like Jimi Hendrix, Country Joe and The Fish, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and many more performed many protest/political songs that made an important statement. Although the war still continued afterward, a whole new counterculture was born, and the government began to compromise on decisions, potentially preventing even worse chaos and destruction.

To portray the effect of music at this time as an entropy-mitigating force, I created two collages with different themes. The rectangular one contains photos taken of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the feminist movement. In the guitar, there are photos from the famous Woodstock festival that capture the vibe of these three days.

Lowering entropy requires work. Music did this important work to lower social and political entropy at a volatile time in American history.

Sun Yang-Zi

1st Year, Visual Arts Childhood Memory, 2016–2017 Ribbons, wool yarn, sketch paper, fabric, pine cone, hair clips, plastic rope, bulb, broken book pages, pins, steel wire brush, elastics, toy, sponge, wood, bicycle wheel 79 cm x 59 cm x 43 cm

Childhood is chaotic. The pure pleasure of playing is chaotic. The innocence and passion for games is chaotic. As we grow up, we have to order and define our lives with barriers and conventions. Growing up, in common terms, means to abandon the chaotic innocence and passion for games and to start to consider life with seriousness and a notion of order.

This artwork is a portrait of my childhood. It is also a game “en soi.” The sculpture was originally an interactive installation. It was initially made within the frame of a project called “Art Is Blind.” People with vision loss as well as people with covered eyes were invited to touch and “play” the sculpture with the aim of finding the birds hidden inside.

They could then leave with the birds that they found. The sculpture and game were meant to stimulate senses other than sight. The loss of sight permits one to abandon him/ herself in the chaos of play and set aside always wanting to be in control. The aim of the project was to help people re-discover the passion of playing like when they were children.

The sculpture is the result of the interaction. Many birds have been taken and some parts of the sculpture have been modified by the many hands that touched it. After the interaction, the sculpture is no longer the portrait of my own childhood, but now contains the memories of many childhoods. *Every part of this sculpture is made with recycled materials. It is part of my collection gARTbage, which involves working along the lines of upcycling. As an artist working with found materials, I think that change must come from every individual. Every domain must make its own evolution. I believe that the domain of the arts must actively contribute to environmental issues.

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Geoffrey Pearce, Mark Beauchamp and their students Faculty, Geography; Faculty, History Learning Community: Geography and Research Methods Voices of Shaughnessy Village, 2017–2018 Interactive media

Shaughnessy Village is in a state of constant flux. People move in and out of its borders as part of their daily rhythm, for extended periods, or permanently. Communities form and dissolve, people migrate, and memories are made, shared, and lost. Buildings and spaces are remade by the needs and desires of the people within, and from without, by economic, technological, and other large and seemingly untouchable forces. This process of entropy, of destruction and renewal, creates social and political tension as people with different visions clash for the use of Shaughnessy Village’s scarce space. At present, Shaughnessy Village is in a particular phase of rapid change and there is the sense among many that the most marginalized are being pushed out to clear the way for a new neighbourhood with a different vision.

This project explores societal entropy by understanding the people and places that constitute our Dawson neighbourhood and to interpret the changes that define its past, present, and future. Students in a paired Geography and Research Methods course completed projects on themes pertinent to Shaughnessy Village. One component was to conduct oral history interviews with people who live, work, and participate in the life of Shaughnessy Village and whose experiences make them well-situated to discuss the neighbourhood.

Students Cassandra Béïque1, Thalia Bailly-Chavez2, Chelsey-Adonide Bonègre2, Annisa Maria Burgos2, Yanira Margarita Coulson2, Sophie D’Amours2 , Leah Effraimov2, Salma Farah2, Kayla Faubert-Sheppard2, Yulia-Joy Gooden1, Lydia Gromak2, Sarah Hnatchuk1, Ashley Juneau1, Dara Korne2, Vanessa Likoray2, Brandon Lomaglio2, Alissa Luxenberg2, Martha Mrozek2, Karli O’Connor2, Olivia Shulman2, Tamara Tarasconi2, Beatrice Vaillancourt2, Radislav Nikolaev Zehtinski2 2 Year, Child Studies, Social Science, 22nd Year, General Social Science

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Narrators Patrick Barnard, Rose Alicia Castillo Salazar, David Chapman, Quentin Corning, Ghislain Corriveau, Caroline Coussot, Cedric de Delva, Glendon Drummond, Robert Hajaly Zach Ingles, Felicia Katsouros, Jae Kwon Phil Lichti Mathieu Pomerleau, Laura Shea, Kazadi Tchibanga

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Above: Screen shot from the interactive map.

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Esther Calixte-Bea

Graduate, Visual Arts Traffic Signs Series, 2017 Acrylic on canvas Circle: 20 cm diameter; square: 20 cm x 20 cm; rectangle: 20 cm x 25 cm

The concept of entropy conflicts with my series and may even contradict it. Although traffic signs are made to give us instructions, establish order, prevent accidents and stop us from falling into a state of confusion, traffic is nonetheless a term that implies a certain degree of chaos. The system of street signs creates a sense of organization. Laws back them up and consequences arise if they are ever broken or disobeyed.

The work expresses a sense of order and shows a system that is meant to control us. This is not done in a negative way, but rather helps to create a sense of awareness concerning our surroundings for our own safety.

Nature and urbanism can be seen colliding in the work.

There is a subtle sense of chaos: a world controlled by laws designed by man, but not followed by nature.

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Alexi Dagher

Dawson Support Staff Hope & Pleasure Lost, 2011 Digital 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm

As time passed, I watched this building—once lively— slowly degrade and decay to finally being empty, then demolished. I had to capture that moment with the demolition notice before it all disappeared because that sign contrasted with the words “hope & pleasure;” that building had completed its route to entropy and was now hopeless.

The scene instilled a loss of hope and an eerie sense of sadness and depression. The building got replaced with a fresh new one and possibly new hope.

I would like to further illustrate the photograph with a verse from the song “Entropy” by the band Bad Religion from their album Against The Grain: Extinction, degradation: The natural outcomes of our ordered lives.

Power, motivation: Temporary fixtures for which we strive.

Something in our synapses assures us we're ok, But in our disequilibrium we simply cannot stay.

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Kayla Fragman

2nd Year, Arts & Culture, ALC For Better, For Worse, 2017 Video 2:23 minutes

Above: Still from For Better, For Worse

Marriage is often portrayed romantically as a low-entropy state in which two people are in harmony with each other.

The classic image of this romantic portrayal is the wedding day, especially the image of the happy bride and groom smiling at each other, kissing, dancing, in love. But the reality is that entropy can arise in a marriage in many ways that may lead us to question this idealized view.

my mom was arguing with my dad and put my phone on record. I then combined the audio of the one-sided phone conversation with the footage from their wedding day.

For Better, For Worse allows people to see the start of my parents’ marriage while hearing the reason behind it ending, and also giving an insight to the state of their current relationship.

As I was moving out of my childhood home after my parents’ separation, I found footage from their marriage 25 years ago. I started watching the old VHS tapes and dwelled in the nostalgia of such a happy time in their relationship. Then I was awoken one morning, after a month of my parents being in separate houses and not speaking, to them fighting on the phone. I snuck into the kitchen where

This film was created as part of Kim Simard’s Alternative Cinema class, Fall 2017.

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Charlie Galea McClure

2nd Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC ASUNDER, 2017 Animation 1:08 minutes

Above: Still from ASUNDER

My Soul is something I have never seen yet I feel the weight of its existence every day.

It is dual and exists in two realms.

The first: within me, in this physical world.

This is a story about astral projection—about my soul leaving my body and its active engagement in balancing my mind's decay with my ever-evolving identity.

More specifically, this is a story about my gender identity and the actions I take to better connect my body and mind.

The second: as a force and an energy—a fluid entity in another dimension.

This energy actively engages with entropy by trying to make order out of my thoughts and feelings.

Ideas of who I am and how I feel implode and cause chaos yet it is my soul that allows for calm interactions.

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Gillian Richards

2nd Year, Arts & Culture, ALC Don’t Forget. Write It Down, 2018 Poem

Don’t forget. Write it down.

Call the kids. Is everything OK? Take out your pen. Write it all out.

Wait, why are you holding the phone?

Call the kids. Is everything OK? “Mom, are you alright?”

Wait, why are you holding the phone?

“It’s your daughter, Jane…”

“Mom, are you alright?”

Who are you speaking to?

“It’s your daughter, Jane…”

Right. Remember this.

Who are you speaking to?

“You should see your doctor.”

Right. Remember this.

“Are you writing this down?”

“You should see your doctor.”

Take out your pen. Write it all out.

“Are you writing this down?”

Don’t forget. Write it down.

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Audrey Gravel

1st Year, Illustration Mixed media 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm This illustration was created in association with Don’t Forget. Write It Down as part of a collaboration between the S.P.A.C.E. web magazine and 1st year Illustration students in Neal Armstrong’s class.

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Yann Brouillette

Faculty, Chemistry Element Representations by 2nd Year Illustration students overseen by Meinert Hansen (Faculty, Illustration); Colouring by Dawson Daycare children Periodic Table of the Elements Colouring Book 150 cm x 200 cm Digital, paperback colouring book (120 pages) At the forefront of Active Learning strategies in the STEAM disciplines, the Chemistry Department and the Illustration Department from Dawson College initiated a collaborative project to create a palpable introduction to the building blocks of matter for kindergarten children.

Together, they created a Periodic Table Colouring Book illustrating the first 118 elements of Mendeleev's table. In an internationally accessible format, each page displays only the atomic number and symbol of an element, in addition to a few black and white outlines representing an example of its real-world application.

The chemical elements are the building blocks of matter, the Lego blocks of the world. And since kids from ages 4 to 99 enjoy assembling Lego blocks, this colouring book is not just for children; all can enjoy and learn from it. One can discover, for example, that water—once considered one of the four elements of the world, along with fire, earth and air—can be made from the elements of hydrogen and oxygen.

Put together, the elements create a magnificently organized system of knowledge, classifying physical and chemical properties in groups and trends which in turn help us to navigate the entropy of the material world through an understanding of its chemical composition. But the Periodic Table remains a complex system to grasp in its entirety, and the process of learning about all the possible elements can be difficult for anyone, young and old alike, who is new to chemistry. The colouring book thus provides a simple, ordered way of entering into this field of study while also making the experience fun, motivating the learner to explore further.

The colouring book does not simply provide an orderly introduction to the elements, however. It also invites the entropy of creativity. While some can see entropy in the radioactivity of some elements decomposing into smaller entities, the real chaos arises when children are given the opportunity to draw all over the elements using ink, wax and paint. This piece shows a brilliant disorder of colour within the order of periodic classification.

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In 2017, all known elements were given an official name and two letter symbol. This book is the most updated version of the periodic table to date. Elements 99 and higher are named after famous scientists who deserve to become familiar faces as recognizable as those of popstars, hence the outlines of their faces in the colouring book. And just as Dimitri Mendeleev bravely left gaps in the systematic arrangement of elements that later became the modern periodic table—gaps where he thought undiscovered elements at the time would be located—some pages of this colouring book have no illustration, mirroring the idea that, so far, no applications have been found for these particular elements. The gaps are a form of entropy and disorder that challenge and invite the generations to come to find meaningful applications for the most recently isolated and/or synthesized elements.

Science is an evolving field, and this book will be old-fashioned one day. But until then, the digital copy of the complete periodic table colouring book will be accessible online worldwide for free.

Student artists Theo Elton Andreville, Antoine David Arnould, Antonia Aspros, Dalia Ataev, Skylar Aung-Thwin, Tobias Avison, Sahar Bakhtiari, Angela Chiarelli, Malika Chim, Natalia Czaharyn, Audrey Desaulniers, Sophie Després, Nicole Evstakhov, Andrea Fabris Pascual, Benjamin Fisher, Marie Joëlle Fournier, Rose Fulford, Marie-Maxime Giguère, Kaya Gonzalez, Vanessa Ierfino, Lydian Kirkwood, Megan Lalonde, Sarah Lemieux, Joanna-M Marianakis-Belec, Valentina Martorana, Rebecca McFarlane, Sakeenah Montanaro, Emma Murphy-Furze, Julie Nguyen, Lauren Pagotto, Xuan Huong Phan, Pavlina Petrova Rahneva, Ngoc Tri Tu, Derek Ung, Jafer Wong.

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Ji Won Jeong

2nd year, Cinema-Communications, ALC Exponential Function, 2017 Poem

Exponential functions always have a horizontal asymptote noted as “k”, an unreachable horizontal line the curve is reaching for.

In fact, the x will always be running after infinity.

Its equation blurts out like this: F(x)=ac^[b(x-h)]+k At first, it electrocutes your brain, confusion numbing consciousness but as calculations go by, you figure out the only thing that matters is that the curve in your graph will never reach an end because there is no end to infinity.

It is fairly strange because it really does look like at some point the curve is going to meet “k” but in order to cross this unreachable horizontal line you have to reach infinity.

Time always has a horizontal asymptote Noted as “the ultimate end” which is an unreachable horizontal line the time is running after.

In fact, time will always be chasing infinity.

Its equation goes like this: time = ∞ At first it sinks your existence in the bottom of an unknown ocean but as waves sweep by, your heart accepts that when it stops beating, time will still be flowing because a current has no end.

It is fairly strange because it really does look like the current will stop one day but in order to cross this line of inertia time will have to freeze.

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Alice Wang

1st Year, Illustration Mixed media 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm This illustration was created in association with Exponential Function as part of a collaboration between the S.P.A.C.E. web magazine and 1st year Illustration students in Neal Armstrong’s class.

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Kathleen Binette 3rd Year, Illustration & Design Heaven & Hell, 2017 Digital 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm each print

Heaven consists of what makes us happy and comfortable, and also what makes us feel in control. In pursuit of Heaven, however, we can become willing to stop at nothing to get what we want, without caring about who we have to step over to get it, creating entropy in the form of trauma for others.

Similarly, the world around us becomes Hell when everything feels out of control. The extreme of this is when others completely dictate our lives and we are forced into highly entropic situations that make us feel like we have lost all power.

Between the Heaven and Hell of utter control and none, we must work to find a balance.

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Myriam Boucher-Pinard, Jennifer Ng

2nd Year, Psychology, Social Science; Graduate, Illustration & Design Beautiful Mind, 2018 Digital print, suspended frame Variable dimensions

“On a […] metaphysical level, the universal law of entropy […] tells us that any isolated system, left on its own, is inevitably destined to irreversible degradation, to the point of self-destruction.”

Denis Villeneuve This quote by director Denis Villeneuve, in reference to his film Polytechnique (2009), was the inspiration for this project.

internal struggle they are already facing, that isolates them further from society. The ability here to step behind the frame allows the viewer to become the viewed, to imagine and even glimpse directly into what it feels like when one is labelled and alienated due to one’s mental struggle. The desired outcome of the piece is that the viewer will become aware of this frame and thus remove it, eliminating the stigma around mental illness—the stigma that keeps one locked inside the box and unable to escape.

To stand in the shoes of an individual with mental illness, to look out from their point of view and to feel the stigmatizing gaze of the world firsthand—these are the goals of this installation, which began as a project for Patricia Romano and Kim Simard’s Resist Violence Initiative.

If left alone and isolated, an individual with mental illness will be bound to an ever-worsening illness. Let yourself be moved to take a step behind the frame. Experience it.

Perhaps then we will be more inclined to discuss and support mental illness, together.

Stigmatization is comparable to a frame placed in front of individuals with mental illness, separating them from others; it is a box they are placed into that aggravates the 21

Raha Jahromizadeh 3rd Year, Illustration & Design The Entropy of Time, 2018 Digital 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm

The artwork here represents an exploration of the concept of time and its power to shape us in ways that might seem imperceptible in the moment but that reveal themselves across years and decades. This artwork captures the moment when the woman is becoming aware of time and of its effects on her, both on her physical and psychological self—effects she cannot reverse. It shows the power of time on us and how we are weak and powerless in comparison.

It shows how time slowly ruins us and how we are played by it unconsciously.

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Anaïs Sautter-Léger 1st Year, Liberal Arts P2(1/2), 2018 Ink on paper 27.9 cm x 20.3 cm

According to the Oxford Dictionary, entropy can be defined as the ‘‘lack of order or predictability’’ and the ‘‘gradual decline into disorder.’’1 This drawing of a woman represents the tendency to go towards chaos. She represents the entropy almost everyone experiences at some point in life, which is the loss of control over one’s own plans, ideas, projects, relationships. Sometimes we feel as if we are disappearing, submerged under the heavy weight of life and its—at times difficult to accept—unpredictability. The woman is half order, half disorder.

The woman is presented in two parts: one side of her was drawn while I was observing a model and glancing occasionally at the drawing, while the other side of her was drawn while I was looking at the model and not looking at the drawing at all. The drawing itself is therefore a representation of a loss of control and order, since looking away from what one is doing tends to yield an unpredictable result. ‘‘Entropy.’’ Oxford Dictionary, Oxford U P, 2018, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/entropy. Accessed 02 February 2018.

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Anaïs Charbonneau-Poitras 3rd Year, Psychology, Social Science A Wavering Current of Doubt, 2018 Audio recording, text 4:00 minutes

Stream of consciousness is an approach to writing, used before by authors such as Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, that embraces the entropic flow of thought and feeling rather than trying to tame it in overly orderly sentences.

This text takes the form of a stream of consciousness on the subject of decisions about life after CEGEP. As a graduating student this semester, this is something that has maintained a strong grip on my mind. The monologue focuses on the university application process and the choices involved in it. Evidently, it’s not an easy decision, and I wanted to share my somewhat scattered, existential thoughts on the subject, in order to open a discussion about what the present and the future mean and will mean for every graduating student in terms of our educational and career goals.

Are we rushing into something that we ‘assume’ or falsely believe we want? Are we idealizing careers that in reality will only disappoint us? Any ideas or goals for university can become clouded with doubt and unpredictability, and my own process of applying to university provoked this free-form outpouring of existential and sometimes pessimistic questions that critically evaluate myself, my past choices, my future self and my dreams. But is there honesty in the answers, or are they fueled by fear? Curiosity will never let us be satisfied, thus prolonging the doubting game. Eventually, however, somehow, through the spiral of entropic questions that surround us, we manage to make a choice. All in all, it’s difficult to think rationally and with clarity while deciding what happens after CEGEP, and stream of consciousness is a good medium to express that difficulty.

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Ridiculous. Applying to university shouldn’t trigger an existential crisis. Or should it? Perhaps I do need to question, with a piercing critical eye, all of my choices going forward. Are they compatible—exceptionally— not only with who I am now but with my future self?

The future. An alienating concept. Theory and practice are different, so what if my idea of a career is an idealization, illusion, lie? Career, marriage, house, dog, and children. Conformity, the recipe for happiness? What about exploration, discovery and creation? I remember. Remember thinking as a youngster that I’d have more clarity and confidence about myself and my future when I got to this point. But all that resolve disappears when I try to bring the pieces of my identity together to construct a possible career. What kind of person am I? How do I deduce that? My dreams, hopes seem unstable, changeable. I could become a different person during university, a chameleon taking on new colours, but will I be able to find myself among my shifting hues?

I want to make a decision for myself, but is it my own?

Or an influenced one? I don’t just want to settle, I want to challenge and push myself. I don’t just want to be one thing and this choosing game feels like it forces a single direction. I don’t want to become a coward in face of this decision. Perhaps my biggest fancy is to find a career and lifestyle that melds all aspects of my persona and dreams together. But the same deafening decision still ticks. What type of person do I want to become? Am I ready to mold my shapeless form and become part of a category? Protagonists are always faced with multiple identical doors, only one right, the others tricks. Which door do I open?

Gustavo Aguirre

1st Year, Visual Arts Life #7173, 2017 Feathers, cutouts, LED lights, beads, buttons, bolts, nails, amethyst, magnets, wire, 35mm film and marbles on canvas 45.7 cm x 45.7 cm

Don't let the shine blind you. The value of the journey is not printed on its face. A dollar sign cannot preside over who you are. The real value resides most often in forces we cannot see. Try to separate a strong magnet from metal, just far enough that you can feel the strength of the invisible force. You can't see the energy you have invested in your life. Or the energy wasted when mindfulness was not present.

If you think it may not be worth the struggle, if you feel consumed in a maze of sheltered emotions, then the exhaustion and suffocation will deplete you.

Open your feelings, not just your eyes, and find who you truly are. Be gentle and loving to yourself. You go through many ups and downs, but all in a constant expanding spiral upwards. We are beings of energy dissipating into the universe, one of the many expressions of entropy in life.

Pain can dissipate, too. New experiences can arise like new-born stars, sparking dreams fueled by the love within yourself.

We are conceived like carbon, we crystallize through time, becoming unbreakable diamonds. Our brilliance, imperfections and clarity are the result of extreme pressure; the work entropy demands.

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Ignacio Perezmontemayor Cruz 1st Year, Liberal Arts Unscheduled Entropy, 2017 Prose

I notice entropy in rigidity, in anything that lacks flexibility, be it in our schedules, our goals, or our beliefs.

Whenever we forget how little actually depends on us, then life, God, or however you imagine forces beyond our grasp tend to remind us of the futility of our desire, our need, to have complete control over our brief time in this world.

It does not always happen all at once. Entropy generally starts intruding in our lives slowly, little by little, until our only remaining option is to make it part of our routine, to leave behind any preconceived ideas and open ourselves to whatever might be thrown our way.

A good example that might be relatable to a great number of my peers would be our mindset during the first few weeks of class. “I will do all of my homework.” “I will study every day.” “I will never skip a class or be late for school.” “I will have the best R-Score of my class.” The list goes on, and while these all are noble objectives, they are seldom accomplished because of the almost inhumane rigor it would require of you, given the unpredictability of life in general. Simple things like getting stuck in traffic, or getting left behind by your bus because it got to the stop too early, or having a bad day and performing badly on a test, start stacking up eventually and, in front of a record that gets tarnished further by the day, you may start losing faith in these lofty ideals, and along with it your motivation, and return to your initial more care-free mentality.

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I am not saying that we should not strive towards a better self, that we should stop trying to improve as a person. It is more along the lines that if you set impossible standards for yourself, you are going to end up dropping the idea of getting better altogether.

Instead, working on a day-to-day basis and keeping in mind that, even though we may often feel like it, we are not Superman, helps us stay grounded in our expectations for ourselves.

Life is instability, life is randomness, life is chaos, life is often beyond our control. Our hands are not big enough to grasp it, and entropy is always there to remind us of that if we ever forget it.

Sabrina Ceccherini

1st Year, Illustration Mixed media 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm This illustration was created in association with Unscheduled Entropy as part of a collaboration between the S.P.A.C.E. web magazine and 1st year Illustration students in Neal Armstrong’s class.

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Neal Armstrong Faculty, Illustration Turning to Entropy, 2018 Mixed media 30.5 cm diameter

As human beings, we are hardwired to identify patterns and make quick visual assessments of what it is we are looking at. Visual artists are experts at bringing intangible and fleeting ideas into coherent physical form. It is the job of an artist to imagine and skilfully arrange visual stimuli into something recognizable. A form of reverse entropy, the artist must negotiate between order and disorder along the path to absolute order. In my illustration, the viewer controls the orientation of the image through rotation, restructuring the relationship between order and disorder.

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Tom Berthelot

3rd Year, Professional Photography In Media Res—Laundry, 2018 Digital 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm

We tend to think of ourselves as more advanced than other species because of our ability to create and use tools to solve a problem or overcome a limit. But the tools we invent and wield to help us lower entropy and bring order to our lives can also generate new forms of disorder.

In Media Res—Laundry hints at the effects that these tools have on human emotions in a futuristic setting where technology has become an essential pillar of our existence. It is a contemplative multimedia experience meant to immerse the viewer in a cinematic atmosphere featuring a moment of tension between the control humans exert over technology and the control technology exerts over us. The piece suggests an imperfect control over our invented tools, and the ways in which those tools can overwhelm us.

The 360-degree panorama positions the viewer in the middle of the scene. It challenges our assumption that because we are able to look around, we are inherently closest to reality, and that we have lowered or even eliminated the number of unseen possibilities. The single photograph shown next to the panorama reveals another clue as to what might be happening in the scene. It suggests the existence of a larger story, outside the specific physical and temporal setting of the revolving image. Like missing pieces of a puzzle, there are elements of a larger story in both the panorama and the photograph that we cannot clearly identify but whose absent existence, and whose impact on the scene itself, we can sense.

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In the panorama we see a woman in an orange shirt, but not her face. We see two figures in grey using a fictional new technology that projects directly onto their eyes while they hold a small controller in their hands. We can’t see what they are experiencing but they seem somewhat disconnected from their environment.

As we increasingly incorporate the tool of technology into our lives, making it an extension of our own bodies, even of our own selves, we may find ourselves increasingly navigating this tension between what we do with technology and what it does to us.

For the full viewing experience of the panorama in 360°, go to: www.360.tomberthelot.com/laundry.

Flat projection of an equirectangular panorama from In Media Res—Laundry on pages 32 and 33.

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Miranda Lalla, Jennifer Lynch 1st Year, Liberal Arts; 1st Year, Graphic Design Crème Brûlée, 2018 Lyrical prose, digital

The recipe for a perfect crème brûlée starts like this: Step 1: Pick a ripe and fair-skinned mademoiselle fresh from the lusty stems of the Upper-Middle-Class. See to it that her hip-length, pin-straight hair resembles golden spaghettinini (a spaghettini so fine, it would be, in fact, illegal for the Olive Garden—assuming their inadequate resources could even permit an attempt—to botch through replication). She must be as pretty as the centerfold model of a 1963 Esquire ad for mink coats, but not pretty enough to make trick riding a Bourbonnais donkey while reciting a limerick look effortless.

Step 2: Place a lacerated world in her right hand, and three needles in her left. Her violet eyes will water upon the realization that she has no thread, and will flash red when a man flailing a leather-bound book preaches the divine significance of the number “three.” As she suffocates, hand her a pack of Camels, tuck a lock of sunshine behind her ear, and remind her that she will forever be “daddy’s little girl.”

Step 3: Watch the custard-sweet heroine blossom into a scorched-lunged cliché with a fast tongue, very much aware of her own over-qualification for an under-qualified world.

Step 4: Leave her to chill on the park bench of a foreign duchy until inner-city ghosts suck out the lullabies escaping from between her blue lips. Her song will somersault in the harsh glare of incandescent street bulbs, sprawling far and wide in the form of softly rumbling beach-waves or curt and dignified queen-waves—it is always looming, invisible to those suffering from the very Homo Sapien condition of the “blind eye.”

The excerpt above is from a more extensive text that can be found online at: space.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/exhibits/summary/ the_en_tropy_exhibition

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Natasha Ogrodnik 2nd Year, Visual Arts untitled 01, 2017 Charcoal and contĂŠ 101.6 cm x 152.4 cm

This painting, finished, is nothing like how I’d imagined it would be. This is a recurring pattern in my painting practice: I go in with an idea, an intention, and I come out surprised by what I see. Somehow the initial idea I have shatters into a chaotic mess and what comes from this is not what I had intended or expected of it, yet is in and of itself its own type of order.

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Charlene Todaschuk

Dawson Occasional Staff Naked Chaos, 2018 Chinese ink, coffee spatter and Vermilion lipstick 72 cm x 52 cm

Naked Chaos is teetering on the edge of art gone wild. No matter what form art may take, in the end, it must never fail to recognize an idea. In this case, it’s a matter of seconds before this wonky cartoon sketch expresses a forced interruption: all of a sudden, you cannot see all things in front of you, nor can you see all things behind you… this is a consequence of entropy, and is such a significant part of this piece.

As an artist there is a “want” and a “need”—what you want is to bear your soul, but what you need is to stay in control. My entropic expression declares the attention on these ideas through her impish smile; her knotted hair–derailed and off track; her naked wardrobe that descends into her devouring ego; her beady eyes that will shut her down and put her back together exactly the same way.

Entropy, by definition, is essentially the idea that everything in the universe ultimately moves from composed to abstract, from order to disorder, and entropy is the measurement of that distortion of change. When you break it down, with every brush stroke and pervasive amounts of impasto, Naked Chaos must emerge into the most entropic sense. Noticing nothing, feeling everything.

Although, I am a realist at heart and have favoured classical realism most of my life, I am an artist who enjoys new forms of artistic expression. I follow intuition and enjoy a spontaneous delivery of characters that introduce juicy bits of conversation. And with one goal in mind, this cartoon rendering of Chinese ink, coffee spatter and a smudge of Vermilion lipstick should manifest a perfect stimulus of a flirtatious game of chaotic persuasion…and the freedom for you to experience it.

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Florencia Vallejo

2nd Year, Arts & Culture, ALC FreED from ED, 2017 Prose

But what does a real eating disorder look like? It doesn’t look like a magazine cover girl in a bikini. Nor does it look like flat stomachs and thigh gaps. It’s not having the “willpower” to resist eating a piece of cake or fitting into the smallest skinny jeans.

Eating disorders look like shame and misery.

My eating disorder looks like 8 years of constant battle against myself. It looks like fights over how filled a cup of Special K should be. It looks like meal plans, midnight weigh-ins, lies, and cries. It looks like wearing kid-sized sweat pants and 3 sweaters to hide every sticking bone in my body. It’s feeling ashamed of my thinness, but still striving for more. It looks like putting coins in my bra to try to weigh a bit more with my nutritionist or like adding calories in class instead of adding the math work assigned to me. It is overwhelming anxiety, mixed with paralyzing depression, which translates to wanting to lie in bed and die, but doing jumping jacks instead, because “I might get fat.”

I thought I would only lose weight, but instead, I lost myself. I lost my friends, I lost my family’s trust, I lost my body, my period, my hunger, my memory, my time, my growth. I lost my will to live, and slowly but steadily, I decided to starve myself to death. But despite all of the negative aspects of my disease, I can see that in some way, my eating disorder was a necessity, as it was the only way I knew to cope with my pain.

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With such a stigmatized disease, it is hard to explain to others how, when I isolated myself, it wasn’t because I didn't like them, but because “Ana” made me do it. It is hard to explain why I “fear” a certain food and how the fear is real. It is hard to explain that eating disorders are not choices, but that it is only through one’s choice that one can recover. It's hard to explain to my vegan friends how, if I attempt going organic or vegetarian, I’m most likely to end up in an obsessive cycle. And it’s even harder to live in a fat-phobic world, in which it is assumed that everyone is looking to lose weight. But still, I stand and fight, because I know I cannot heal alone, and by showing strength through my vulnerability, I can help others overcome their silent disease and love themselves without any shame.

The excerpt above is from a more extensive text that can be found online at: space.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/exhibits/summary/ the_en_ tropy_exhibition

Jenny Bien-AimĂŠ

1st Year, Illustration Mixed media 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm This illustration was created in association with FreED from ED as part of a collaboration between the S.P.A.C.E. web magazine and 1st year Illustration students in Neal Armstrong’s class.

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Cheyenne Skurczak 1st Year, Literature, ALC Learning to Melt, 2017 Prose

I have decided to tattoo lilacs onto my skin.

I need to remember to grow.

I have decided to lie on this bed, to listen to the growl of the tattoo gun as it pierces my ribs and indents me forever with a full bloom.

I squeeze my cousin’s hand. It hurts, but she begins to tell me a story about how my old cat would always get pregnant right before we were going to get her fixed, so I laugh and everything seems a bit better.

I have decided to do this because when winter manages to last for lifetimes, I feel as if I am trapped in a certain darkness. As if I am frozen within myself, no matter how much the shower water burns my skin. When four o’clock somehow turns into midnight, it is as if my body has learned to shut down as well. The freezing wind grasps my ungloved fingertips and travels through my bloodstream until I am an ice sculpture, incapable of moving.

The emptiness consumes me, a black hole absorbing any form of light. I try to ignore it. I try to prevent it. I try to destroy it, but it returns like a second-coming, growing stronger each time. Like swelling waves, it crests higher, crashes harder, and each winter, breathing becomes more difficult. I look at all those who smile so effortlessly and I offer them my icicle of a spine.

“Crack me over your knee,” I say.

It would be that easy.

There’s a tree in my backyard. It pushes out buds that persist through the insistent morning frost. Soon, purple flowers—lilacs. Their scent brands my street, a favourite aunt’s magnificent perfume.

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When the lilacs bloom, spring has arrived. My ice-struck heart is placed in a cup of warm milk. In the crook of a mother’s neck. In a bed of honey. After the longest night I am bathing in sun. I begin to thaw.

I lie on the chair and wince. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to pin you down so you don’t shake,” the tattoo artist tells me. I nod and welcome this stability I have always needed.

Here is my wink to all of those who have disregarded me.

My final glance at the teacher who sent the child who threw up in the trash home but claimed that “going for a walk” should be enough for my flaming mind and shaking body to heal. My last wave to the screams within me that only escape in silence.

The excerpt above is from a more extensive text that can be found online at:space.dawsoncollegeqc.ca/exhibits/summary/ the_en_tropy_exhibition

Ahlyssa-Eve Dulay

1st Year, Illustration Mixed media 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm This illustration was created in association with Learning to Melt as part of a collaboration between the S.P.A.C.E. web magazine and 1st year Illustration students in Neal Armstrong’s class.

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Pamela Vaccariello

2nd Year, Literature, ALC Mouth Shut, Mind Shouting, 2017 Prose poem

You inhale hastily.

Trembling hand pushes hair behind ear; It’s time to speak.

But you can’t.

A million thoughts run through your mind simultaneously, thorns pricking its surface: What if I mess up; what if everyone hates me; I know I will, I know they do; they probably think I’m so weird.

Including impatient barks of logic: What the hell are you doing? There’s nothing to be afraid of!

Doubts: But there is.

God, there is; if there wasn’t, I wouldn’t be feeling like this.

And in an attempt to shut them all up— Just SPEAK! No sound escapes your chapped lips.

Your pale, frozen hands are shaking.

At the fear of having your voice quiver, you clamp your mouth shut, but in doing so, realize you’re forgetting to breathe.

Just breathe, you tell yourself.

Just breathe.

Fingernails dig into the palm of your sweaty hand, sure to leave red marks. You don’t dare take a peek at the tiny pink crescents you know are there, feeling ashamed for causing yourself pain.

You shiver, the sweat slicked over your body combining with the air-conditioned atmosphere to make you feel as ill as you sometimes think your mind is.

“Are you okay?” you hear someone ask.

They look worried, confused, brow furrowed, They definitely think you’re a freak.

“Yeah,” you lie. Your voice is muted, shaky, broken. Weak.

You utter one word, and it still manages to be everything you wish it hadn’t been.

Your ice-cold hands cover your face, attempting to cool down your now red-hot, set-aflame cheeks.

You sigh in defeat.

Maybe, next time, you shouldn’t attempt speech.

The excerpt above is from a more extensive text that can be found online at: space.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/exhibits/summary/ the_en_tropy_exhibition

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Maggie Zeng

1st Year, Illustration Mixed media 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm This illustration was created in association with Mouth Shut, Mind Shouting as part of a collaboration between the S.P.A.C.E. web magazine and 1st year Illustration students in Neal Armstrong’s class.

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Sarah Wigger

2nd Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC Pain, 2017 Script

This script is based on the concept of surrealism and my dreams. All the sequences are based on dreams that I have had in the past. There is a disorder in how I am presenting the story, as I have placed my dreams in a different order than how I dreamed them, and I keep going back and forth between them. The female character also lives through things that are not in order. The title, Pain, can be interpreted in many ways. I used this word as my title because my script ended up having a painful quality to it. My own interpretation of it is that since I am usually a happy person, I keep all the negative things inside me and they come out in my dreams.

A girl is sitting at a white desk and is staring in a mirror in front of her in a small run-down bedroom. We are looking at her from the side of her face. The camera slowly moves until we would finally be able to see her reflection in the mirror, but she has no reflection.

JUMP CUT: The girl is in a small kitchen. There are dirty dishes in the sink and on the counters. There is no light besides the light that the moon is projecting from a small window.

The girl grabs a dirty glass made of glass out of the sink.

She sets it on the counter and then heads to the fridge.

She opens the freezer and pulls out a can of black paint and a toothbrush. The girl sets everything down on the counter before starting to paint the dirty glass with her toothbrush.

JUMP CUT: The girl grabs a black sharpie on her desk and starts to draw herself in the mirror.

The girl pulls a small blender out of the stove and sets it on the counter. She plugs it in.

JUMP CUT: The girl pulls bottles of prescription pills out from a drawer. She lays them all on a small round table. They are different shapes and colours. She grabs a rolling pin and crushes the pills until they are powder. Once done, she grabs the powder and puts most of it in her hands.

She walks to the blender that now has a white liquid inside of it that is filled up halfway. She adds the powder and the liquid rises to the top of the blender. She grabs a wooden spoon out of the fridge and mixes the pills and the white substance. After stirring for a while, she grabs a red plastic cup and puts the mix in it. She then grabs the cup and puts it in the microwave for fourteen seconds.

The excerpt above is from a more extensive text that can be found online at: space.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/exhibits/summary/ the_en_tropy_exhibition

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Jonathan Gauthier 1st Year, Arts & Culture, ALC Chaos in Motion, 2013 Acrylic on canvas 20.3 cm x 25.4 cm

Chaos in Motion is my interpretation of the interconnectedness of every living being, and how everything is affected by culture. It demonstrates the potential for good and bad within us all; our ability to lead and to follow; to give and to take; to kill and to protect.

Chaos in Motion is the funneling of our individuality into venom and our innate need to seek out the answers to our own ignorance. We are entangled by the puppet strings that bind us to our superiors and become faceless tools devoid of personality, and we are then used to kill one another for material possessions and idols of mere visual worth. We have the potential to change our world for the greater good, yet we choose to fester in the shadow of our

oppressors—ever fearful of death, punishment, and imprisonment. We choose to kill one another, to punish each other, and ourselves, for our humanity, and to rid ourselves of anyone who is willing to disturb the status quo.

After choosing death over life, punishment over perception, and imprisonment over independence, how can one not see the world in decay? This is entropy.

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Jerome Bertrand

Graduate, Professional Photography Entropy in Assemblage, 2017–2018 Digital 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm each print

My project involves entering into an artist’s studio and picking bits and pieces to photograph. I then assemble the objects in order to encapsulate the artist’s entourage in one image. Spontaneous actions lead to organized visual representations inspired by a certain momentum and interaction.

The collages exercise a level of uncertainty as the artist’s perspective shifts and is different from my own. I also integrate personal artifacts in the mix therefore engaging into a dialogue “in situ.”

I rely on instinctive, automatic drive and emotional forces, ad-libbing as an actor would, to allow for chaos to come to terms with order within the context of entropy.

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Xavier Landry, Matthew Gravas 2nd Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC Buy My Film, 2017 Video 2:00 minutes

Above: Still from Buy My Film

Buy My Film portrays the entropy-inducing yet artistically intricate concept of utilizing various chemicals and colours to “change” the individual frames of found footage from old Canadian films and documentaries captured on actual film reels. The goal of this process was to work with the principles of manipulation and intellectual montage to create a new and interesting order out of the chaos.

Although altering the images in this way may render them so disordered as to not even be recognizable, this film still finds a way to be orderly. It was not only compiled in a structured fashion but also manipulated by individuals with the intent to make a statement, ending with one student’s satirical commentary on the pretentiousness of the film industry in general.

Each student who participated in this “scratching and painting on film” activity captured each individual frame by taking photographs of them, augmented with a DSLR camera lens, and animated it via stop motion through an editing software. Buy My Film is a combination of each individual project, compiled and edited together to make one larger, more interesting, and complete film.

A big thanks to Kim Simard, Andrew Katz, and the Fall 2017 Alternative Cinema Class.

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Kayla Fragman, Maya Gilmour

2nd Year, Arts & Culture, ALC; 2nd Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC Café Entropy, 2018 Table, chair, menu Variable dimensions

Café Entropy invites exhibition-goers to sit down and write in the gallery for as long as the gallery is open, as they would in a café (without the drinks or snacks, of course).

In the midst of the entropy of both the rest of the gallery and the world beyond, this installation piece aims to create a calm area where a person can gather their thoughts and put words to paper.

Any person who writes is likely to encounter entropy in many forms during the writing process. The entropy of their own thoughts and emotions. The entropy of language with its vast number of words, syntactical variations and potential meanings. The entropy of the cultural and social contexts in which the person is writing.

MENU EXCERPTS Entrée “A word can change the essence of a whole verse or sentence, which then impacts the purpose of the text. Which is why I aim to pick all my words carefully, crafting mindful paragraphs. But this process can also be toxic and prevent me from enjoying writing or even writing at all. I feel pressured to choose the ‘perfect’ word, to find the right word, and if it does not come to me, I feel annoyed and defeated. I've realized that I need to let go, to take a deep breath, release this unnecessary stress and let the writing flow.”

Elizabeth Pinault, 2 Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC nd

Café Entropy offers a lower-entropy environment to facilitate this encounter. At the table there is also a menu with three sections. First, the entrées, consisting of descriptions

by Dawson students of the entropy they have experienced in the writing process. Second, the main courses, which features lists of exercises that may help a person to navigate the myriad possibilities they face in the writing situation.

Then, finally, the desserts: examples of writing by students, based on the exercises in the menu.

Anyone who visits the gallery is invited to sit down, to read through the menu, and ultimately—whether guided by an exercise in the menu or by another source of inspiration— to write, so that they can experience for themselves the entropy and excitement of charting their own course across the blank page.

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Main Course Write a poem without using the letter “e”.

Dessert Not a consonant: a fraction of a body in bits of what I cannot say or draft, a cinch to pass over, a distant right to milk.

I am, now and always, missing you.

Maya Gilmour, 2nd Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC

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Eftihia Simitsakos

Continuing Education Εντρο-pia, 2018 Pencil, colour pencil and pastel on paper 110 cm x 76 cm

Our lives are affected by the power and energy of our actions.

To keep things stable takes a considerable amount of energy. Without stability, there is the risk of bringing imbalance to other sources.

If we lose control and became ignorant to the vibes that warn us against certain actions, we can find ourselves at the center of a chaotic abyss.

The balance between stability and loss of control is very delicate. Should one element start to fall, so too will the others.

I am aware of how we have become so inflexible and disconnected from our true nature that we have stopped caring enough to make choices that can bring positive changes to ourselves and our environment.

I want to express myself with this drawing, illustrating my concerns for the ill-fated future of all the lives around us if disorder becomes the norm.

In my drawing the figure is positioned in the center, in a state of confusion, as his environment lacks organization.

Fragmented elements are in a state of entropy, moving randomly and without structure.

Although entropy is about change from harmony into chaos and order into disorder, I aim to express that we do have choices to make, and that our decisions can reverse the effects of uncertainty.

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Natasha Ogrodnik 2nd Year, Visual Arts Basement Junk, 2016 Charcoal and conté 58.4 cm x 88.9 cm

I have always been taken by the basement of the duplex I live in. It’s always been full of stuff, even to this day, and every trip down throughout my life was the chance to see something new or interesting. The charm in this, for me, is in the mess and disorder of the space. I’m drawn to the dirty and the gritty; the wear and use exhibited in things as time passes. That’s really what that space is, the bits and pieces of the lives of my family; used things and memories. And as a subject for my drawing I picked out a small, intriguing piece of the chaos and created my own order out of it. Every choice I made in the creation of this piece had the potential to lead in either direction. I chose to work with the disorder, and not to erase it completely.

That would have erased the beauty.

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Juan Pablo Hernandez Gutierrez 2nd Year, Visual Arts Seguidores, 2017 Acrylic on canvas 152 cm x 122 cm

For some people, the digital art world might feel apocalyptic. There could be a fear that the traditional way of painting will get lost. It is important to remember that the medium of paint is never going to die. It evolves with society, because it is a part of it. We will constantly find new moments and new controversies to immortalize.

The digital age gives us the opportunity to be the owners and creators of our own virtual world. We play as if we were gods, in a place where the consequences are less physical than in the real world. We become followers of trends, troubles, lies and new ideas, such as "branding yourself."

The idea of people choosing to be treated as products becomes stronger every day and has become the new big business. Artists have to take advantage of this big opportunity and show that many art mediums, including traditional mediums, still have more to give to this world. We now have the opportunity to democratize art.

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Nicholas Sourias

3rd Year, Professional Photography Bee, 2017 Digital 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm

Every ecosystem in our world is under the constant service of insects. They work, thrive, live and die in ways that we too often interpret as being disorderly. They find refuge in your gardens, houses and food. If you’re scared of them, they always seem to make their presence known at the worst of times. It’s as if their irritating actions are nothing short of complete and unnecessary randomness. Upon further study and observation, though, it is revealed that there is indeed a method to their madness. Their necessary contributions to our natural environments save our world from declining into disorder. A common example

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would be the way bees pollinate. This process directly leads to the production of fruits we can eat, and seeds that will create more plants. Any significant drop in this important purpose bees provide could result in a gradual decline into worldwide entropy.

Elizabeth Pinault

2nd Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC Aftermath, 2018 Video 3:18 minutes

Above: Still from Aftermath

This piece is born out of disappointment over the way we, as humans, have been treating our planet. It was sparked by frustration and helplessness. The current state of our environment is marked by ongoing degradation, yet it seems we would rather keep our eyes shut to the harm we are causing—not only to our own habitat but also to that of future generations—than change our behaviour.

This piece is not intended to be beautifully shot; it is deliberately crude, in order to portray a crude fact that we tend to avoid. Hopefully, it can evoke a sense of responsibility and represent a call to action. But that will be up to you!

This film was created as part of Kim Simard’s Alternative Cinema class, Fall 2017.

This short video, inspired by performance art, is meant to illustrate the mindless destruction humankind has been effective in causing—“mindless” because we too often take for granted that the order in our lives comes at the cost of displacing disorder onto our environment. The video is meant to simulate the perpetual violation suffered by the different ecosystems surrounding us, sometimes for purposes that do not seem worth the price we unwittingly pay for them.

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Xavier Landry

2nd Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC Darkness, 2017 Poem

Just a small speck of light Just a big streak across Just a tiny little peep hole Feels like I’m staring down a dark tunnel Nothing but blurriness The ability to distinguish some objects Distant figures are a blur All the lights have strong flares and halos around them Little specks of light floating around me Small black spots Everything is clean and clear

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Jiajun Wang

1st Year, Illustration Mixed media 43.2 cm x 27.9 cm This illustration was created in association with Darkness as part of a collaboration between the S.P.A.C.E. web magazine and 1st year Illustration students in Neal Armstrong’s class.

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Shir Gruber

1st Year, Pure and Applied Sciences Tree of Life, 2018 Discarded paper, plastic, metal, wood, disposable coffee cups 170 cm x 130 cm x 90 cm

Sustainability implies a search for the stability and longevity of natural resources as well as of all species (including the human race) for generations to come—in other words: a search for balance. Entropy, however, implies constant change, in particular towards a more chaotic state—a constant shifting in the balance. Can these two concepts stride hand in hand? Can there be sustainability in a world where entropy is always increasing?

While entropy is a reality we must accept, we can also work to curb it. How? By attempting to produce the least amount of waste required for our needs and by reclaiming, recycling, as well as reusing as much as we can. This adaptive response to entropy, this challenge, is sustainability.

For this sustainability project, the Green Earth Club and the Music and Arts Club were curious about a seemingly straightforward but, in fact, complex question: what is in our garbage at Dawson College? What and how much are we throwing away, and what percentage of our garbage could have been composted or recycled—and perhaps never purchased in the first place?

Our work included, first, the analysis of a garbage audit that we conducted at Dawson College on February 15, 2018 in conjunction with Sustainability Dawson, along with a video of the audit in action. But to draw attention viscerally to the reality of our garbage, we also made a sculpture out of it, which both fashions a certain order out of the disorder while inviting us to notice the disorder created by what we sometimes mindlessly throw away.

This project will also include a public discussion at a GreenXTalks event organized by the Green Earth Club on April 20, 2018. Our hope with this entire project is to draw awareness to the reality of entropy as manifested in the garbage we produce, and out of this awareness, to inspire us all to do better in reducing our waste.

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What can we, as individuals, change in our school to make it a more sustainable place—that is to say, to bend the curve of entropy downward? Our response: learn about climate change, do research such as this audit, spread awareness and try to help create and support policies that favour sustainability.

We have worked as a team to gather materials for this piece; materials that people may or may not have reflected on when they purchased them and again when they threw them out because they no longer served a desirable purpose. We then gathered the materials to shape them into this tree, which is both beautiful and useful as a statement about what we are doing to our home. While it was easy to generate this garbage, the process of upcycling was more difficult and time-consuming. Such is entropy.

Everyone is able to play a part in reducing the disturbance we cause to the ecosystem, and to help in building an environment in which we would like to live. Viewers are invited to attach a leaf to the tree as a symbol of their engagement in reducing waste and promoting sustainable practices.

Contributing Students Isaac Abramowitz1, Omar AlSafadi2, Connie Beaudoin-Pellerin17, Brandon Ben-Ezra3, Tiffany Chenier4, Tristen Clarke-Cousineau5, Sophie Dummett6, Kate Feldman7, Valentina Fiallo8, Kayla Fragman9, LĂŠa Gauvin10, Charlotte Gonzalez-Legendre11, Witkeys He12, Abigail Lalonde10, Sivan Milton7, Gabrielle Plowens13, Melissa Roach4, Sophie Scattolin15, Olivier Tom16, Yiran Wang4, Hanyan Xue14 2 Year, Computer Science, 22nd Year, Studio Arts, ALC, 33rd Year, Studio Arts, ALC, 42nd Year, Law, Justice and Society, Social Science, 52nd Year, General Social Science, 61st Year, Cinema-Communications, ALC, 7 st 1 Year, Liberal Arts, 81st Year, Illustration, 92nd Year, Arts and Culture, ALC, 102nd Year, Environmental Science, 111st Year, 3D Animation & CGI, 122nd Year, Pure and Applied Sciences, 132nd Year, Liberal Arts, 14 nd 2 Year, Health Sciences, 151st Year Environmental Sciences, 16Continuing Education, 171st Year, Health Sciences 1 nd

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Leah Watts

2nd Year, Visual Arts Éclosion, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 152 cm x 122 cm

My painting represents a large, abstract, egg-like shape that bursts at the bottom of the composition. As a result, its remains simultaneously cascade down in masses of intertwined tendrils of colour and float up in thin, translucent filaments. The title, Éclosion (hatching), refers to this process, this disturbance and eruption within the unfathomable original structure. How was this structure before its shattering? Was it immaculate, or was it as entangled as its current state?

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Entropy relates to my painting in that it is a necessary means to uncover that which was previously hidden. There is a sense of discovery and of unstable transitioning between two states—the pristine and the fragmented. I also explore this sense of disarray through the liveliness and movement of the piece. The disorderly birthing represented within the work mirrors the intuitive process of creating the painting; my brushstrokes were guided by the instinctual movements of my hand. I had to relinquish control over the outcome and embrace the unexpected.

Elissa Baltzer

3rd Year, Illustration & Design Entropy, 2017 Digital 27.9 cm x 43.2 cm

This work shows nature in various stages of growth and decomposition, pieced together from photographs taken on my meanderings and macro observations in nature where I am often happiest. There are decomposing tree branches with growing fungus on them, and leaf-littered forest floors from which new life will spring. Meanwhile, there are sacred geometrical shapes that are kaleidoscopic, but also slightly imperfect in their construction. Out of these spring strange cosmic snails with odd inhabitants. The sacred geometry represents infinite possibilities, as we do not know what or who may or may not be inside. All of the possibilities that entropy brings are offered here. The layering speaks of the intricate interconnectedness of all things and the innumerable possible combinations of these things. The colour palette was chosen to take the viewer out of their everyday mindset so that they might contemplate these strange possibilities.

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Acknowledgments

Gratitude to all participants (students, alumni, faculty, staff and others), including the individuals and entities listed below.

Guidance and assistance: Neal Armstrong, Amanda Beattie, Mark Beauchamp, Laurel Breidon, Yann Brouillette, Guiseppe Di Leo, Barbara Freedman, Meinert Hansen, Andrew Katz, Aaron Krishtalka, Maimire Mennasemay, Kenneth Milkman, Frank Mulvey, Geoffrey Pearce, Richard Shoemaker, Kim Simard, Lisa Steffen, Joel Trudeau, and Lois Valliant

SSAP Coordinator: Tina Romeo

Catalogue editor and creative director: Amanda Beattie Exhibition coordinator, exhibition design, additional photography and prepress file preparation: Frank Mulvey

Warren G. Flowers Art Gallery Committee: Andréa Cole, Don Corman, Catherine Desroches, Elizabeth Fidanze, Raymon Fong, David Hall, Meinert Hansen, Mary Di Liello, Guiseppe Di Leo, Rhonda Meier, Scott Millar, Ramona Ramlochand, Michel Seguin, and Donna Varrica

Administrative assistance, file management, proofreading: Ursula Sommerer

Individual contributors (photographs, scans and digital files)

Graphic design: Catherine Moleski

Note: material from collective projects often represents a selection from larger sets of content, visible on the S.P.A.C.E. explorations pages at space.dawsoncollege.qc.ca

Design elements incorporated into cover design: Sabira Langevin

Office of the Director General: Donna Varrica Admin. Support Agent, Visual & Applied Arts Programs: Helen Wawrzetz

© 2018, Dawson College

Dean of Academic Development: Catherine LeBel Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication En-tropy / introduction by Maimire Mennasemay, Kenneth Milkman, Aaron Krishtalka, Richard Shoemaker, Lois Valliant, and Andrew Katz ; edited by Amanda Beattie.

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Warren G. Flowers Art Gallery from April 18 to May 10, 2018.

ISBN 978-1-55016-931-7 (softcover) 1. Dawson College--Faculty--Exhibitions. 2. Dawson College--Students-Exhibitions. 3. Dawson College--Alumni and alumnae--Exhibitions. 4. Art, Canadian--Québec (Province)--21st century--Exhibitions. 5. Exhibition catalogs.

I. Mennasemay, Maimire, writer of introduction II. Milkman, Kenneth A., writer of introduction III. Krishtalka, Aaron, 1940-, writer of introduction IV. Shoemaker, Richard, 1945-, writer of introduction V. Valliant, Lois, writer of introduction VI. Katz, Andrew, 1975-, writer of introduction VII. Beattie, Amanda, 1979-, editor VIII. Dawson College, issuing body IX. Warren G. Flowers Art Gallery, host institution X. Title: Entropy.

N6547.M65E5 2018 62

709.714'2807471428

C2018-901312-5