170.3 ◆ january 24t h, 2013
arts & Culture
Zine examines social politics of campus space An interdisciplinary approach to student life
art to landscape architecture. The zine publication is the culmination of observational research, workshops and a studio course that have taken place since the Fall of 2011. Stacey Aspinall The zine launched Jan. 22 at the Red Brick Cafe. In the hectic pace of student life, it’s Urban life was one of the many easy to take campus space for grant- themes examined. U of G’s situaed, but in reality the configuration tion within the city of Guelph was of space plays an integral role in how noted, in comparison with univerpeople interact with each other and sities such as Concordia University, the environment. INFRACAMPUS which are located downtown and Zine is an interdisciplinary project thus immerse students in urban that aims to examine these social dynamics in a way that students at and spatial dynamics that form the Guelph may not experience, due backdrop of our daily experiences. to the somewhat distanced nature INFRACAMPUS Zine is a project of campus. initiated by SYN-, an artistic duo “It was interesting to see [Guelph] consisting of Jean-Maxime Dufresne compared to Concordia because and Jean-Francois Prost, artists [...] Concordia is trying to create a from Montreal who explore and campus within a city so it’s kind of experiment with different uses for very different in a sense, because public spaces. The duo drew upon [...], they are trying to isolate the their background in architecture in campus and create a feeling of enorder to explore the “social reali- tity,” said Prost. ties and spatial politics” of the U of According to Prost, Guelph is G campus, while “proposing it as a closer to the tradition of the North potential site for experimentation,” American campus, which typically in partnership with Musagetes, a aims to create a space that is discontemporary arts and culture tanced from the chaos of the city, organization. creating a sort of refuge for students The zine was created during four from some urban realities. This goal production sessions that took place is often part of the fabrication of on Jan. 10, 14, 15, and 16. Students campus space. and community members were Other topics included insight into encouraged to participate, and the non-material history of campus, the meetings involved participants which might fall outside of the typifrom a variety of disciplines, with cal discourse of campus life. This backgrounds ranging from studio involved more interpersonal and
social narratives, as well as the history of buildings that students might not be aware of, such as knowledge about buildings that have shifted uses over the years. Examining these narratives brought up questions of temporal continuity and how students relate to the history of campus. The research did not culminate in a specific conclusion, but rather is part of an ongoing discussion of campus space. “I think it’s more about exploring these different ideas. [...] I guess we’re not trying to draw conclusions as much as stirring up questions about campus. So that would be the leading path to all this work, like the research work that’s been done through the workshops, and the studio, and then now the zine, is really to initiate or trigger a set of questions about campus life, about campus realities, about maybe lesser known aspects about campus,” Dufresne said. The nature of the project as an open-ended and interdisciplinary undertaking was emphasized; it exists at the intersection between art and architecture, while also looking at campus space through the lens of student life, sociology and urbanity. “As Jean-Maxime said, we don’t necessarily propose solutions. I think it’s one distinctive point, which we often make, is that architecture offers solutions, and in visual arts, artists never offer solutions. And I think compared to those two extremes, a
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Stacey Whent
Artistic duo SYN- from Montreal and contemporary arts organization Musagetes held a series of workshops to produce a zine examining how space is conceptualized and used on campus. kind of duality or dialectic, we would be more in between, [...] in the sense that I think we bring up observations which might have a signal for certain forms of intervention,” Prost said. The zine launch, the last phase of the project, brings the research produced during the workshops and studio to the broader community, although zine publication was not in the initial plan. “We were in fact even thinking of
possibly an intervention on campus, but for us the zine in fact now has become a form of intervention,” Prost said. The collaborative DIY approach to organizing the information in zine form ultimately echoes the larger goals of the project: to reconfigure the way space is considered, in a creative way that challenges our perceptions – revealing these everyday spaces as anything but mundane.
Book Review: Christopher Hitchens – Mortality Famous author and journalist muses on life and death in collection of last essays Jordan Sloggett While on tour promoting his latest book, a memoir entitled Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Eighteen months later in December of 2011, Hitchens died. He was 62 years old. “‘Remember you too are mortal’ – hit me at the top of my form and just as things were beginning to plateau.
My two assets my pen and my voice “To the dumb question ‘Why me?’ who was unapologetic in his views. words of a prominent author, espe– and it had to be the esophagus,” the cosmos barely bothers to return He could tear down an opponent cially so soon after his death, would Hitchens wrote. the reply: why not?” – effortlessly drawing from an ex- normally be a challenge, but here Perhaps best known for his 2007 tensive and well organized mental Hitchens made the task easy. The An author of 12 books and five essay collections that included such book, a thorough criticism of re- library of quotes, facts and well rea- writing style was immediately actopics as politics, literature and re- ligion entitled God is Not Great: soned opinions. cessible and anyone at all familiar ligion, Hitchens was a prominent How Religion Poisons Everything, with Hitchens’s voice will find it lecturer and debater and was always Hitchens was a proud anti-theist impossible not to hear him in his the image of an English intellectual till the very end, and he returns to written word. Hitchens’s writing and gentleman, even when shred- the topic of faith often throughout comes across as both effortless yet profoundly insightful. ding an opponent’s argument on this volume. Hitchens assures the reader that the podium. Hitchens was clearly “In one way, I suppose, I have been a man who loved to speak, and did his sickness has not tempted him ‘in denial’ for some time, knowingly it very well. to turn to faith, and instead has burning the candle at both ends and While much of Mortality con- strengthened his conviction that refinding that it often gives a lovely cerns his sickness and thoughts ligion is a negative force in the world. light. But for precisely that reason, I can’t see myself smiting my brow about death, Hitchens retains every He writes, “the religion which treats with shock or hear myself whining bit of his humour, wit and insight: its flock as a credulous plaything ofabout how it’s all so unfair: I have fers one of the cruellest spectacles been taunting the Reaper into takthat can be imagined: a human being in fear and doubt who is openly exing a free scythe in my direction and ploited to believe in the impossible.” have now succumbed to something Mortality first appeared as a series so predictable and banal it bores of essays in Vanity Fair, compiled even me,” writes Hitchens. courtesy here with a foreword by editor GrayDespite a seemingly morbid subdon Carter and a heart-wrenching ject matter, Mortality would make afterword by his widow, Carol Blue. With the composure of a classical an excellent introduction into the At just over 100 pages, Mortality is English gentleman, Hitchens had a work of Christopher Hitchens. While a short, yet powerful read. distinct speaking style. Regardless dark, it never became depressing, Monday to Wednesday 10am to 3pm Many fans of ‘the Hitch’ will of whether they agree with Hitch- and I never felt morose. Hitchens’s Thursday to Saturday 10am to 9 pm Sunday closed stress the importance of seeing him ens’s views, few would ever doubt ability to face his death with a stoic debate. A brief YouTube search will his intellect and talent. Attempting sense of honour, humility and above yield hundreds of videos of a man to critically judge the last written all else, honesty, was extraordinary.