The talks will take place in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies, Arts Building, room W-215 at 4:30pm, unless otherwise noted. All are welcome.
Fall 2026
September 24
Ernst Logar (University of Applied Arts Vienna)
“Reflecting Oil”
Reflections on crude oil in petroleum sciences and the humanities usually take place without direct physical experience of the substance. The interdisciplinary Reflecting Oil project is a collection of artbased research that includes practical action and holistic observation of the raw material in the context of petroculture. This research approach focuses on sensory perceptions and aesthetic and symbolic interpretations and provides insights at the levels of multisensory and practical knowledge.
The talk presents the Reflecting Oil book, which summarizes the research project's outcomes in all its facets.
CANCELED: October 22 (Moved to Winter 2027, date TBA)
Nicolette Little (University of Alberta)
"Social Media Ghosts: How Automated Nostalgia Harms Survivors of Gender-Based Violence”
November 5 (Arts W-220, 3:30-5:30 pm)
Derek Woods (McMaster University)
"Trophic Time: A Media Theory of the Ecosystem.”
What is the system of the ecosystem? While the ecosystem concept is central to contemporary environmental politics, what makes it a system is rarely examined in critical environmental studies. My talk approaches this question through a media theory of ecological temporality built from readings of the history of ecology and Earth system science. Beginning with the tension between the "chemical wheel of life" and organicist conceptions of ecological order, I trace changing attempts to explain ecological function through cybernetics, systems ecology, and contemporary Earth system science. I propose the concept of trophic time to describe how biogeochemical processes constitute memory and other forms of temporal structure that exceed the lives of individual organisms. By reconsidering ecological stability as a problem of temporality and scale framing, the talk asks how a more rigorous account of the ecosystem concept might inform the contemporary politics of time.
Co-presented by the Grierson Research Group.
November 12th
Jennifer DeVere Brody (Stanford University)
"Moving Stones: About the Sculpture of Edmonia Lewis"
This talk analyzes several sculptures carved by the 19th century, Afro-Anishinaabe neo-classical artist, Edmonia Lewis (1844-1901). The lecture focuses specifically on questions of materiality in Lewis's work with Carrara marble while thinking about the ways in which Lewis's life as a diasporic sculptor who moved to Rome at mid-century mattered to how we remember her work and life.
Winter 2027
The lecture series would like to thank the Dean of Arts Development Fund at McGill and a generous anonymous donor for contributing to the series.