Updates
Reflections of a Recent CultureNet Graduate
* Press Editor’s Note: We were pleased to see Christopher Gallardo-Ganaban graduate from Capilano University and complete the CultureNet program this year. He was kind enough to share his departing reflections on his experience with the program. With his permission we are publishing them here for the benefit of younger CNET students and for those, like Christopher several years ago, who may now be considering entering the program.
Reflections of a Recent CultureNet Graduate
by Christopher Gallardo-Ganaban
Christopher Gallardo-Ganaban, 2012 CultureNet/Capilano University Graduate
Capilano University’s website describes CultureNet as a “two-year multidisciplinary program designed for students interested in examining contemporary culture with a focus on how people interact with technology.” By definition, this synthesizes exactly what CultureNet at Capilano University entails. But that does not nearly characterize my personal experiences in CultureNet.
Two years ago when I finished high school, there was only one thing certain: that I would go to school to finish an undergraduate degree; I did not know what type of degree I would be pursuing. With the one school that I’ve wanted to go to since the age of six rejecting my application because I missed the admission average by merely two percent, I was faced with making a decision between schools that were not my first choice.
I picked CultureNet as it seemed the most versatile out of the list of programs to which I was accepted. I could not anticipate what an Associate of Arts Degree in Culture and Technology would get me. I might as well have flipped a coin to make my decision, because I knew I would be applying for another school within the next two years anyways.
My CultureNet intake year consisted of no more than five students with varying interests and educational backgrounds. We took three core courses together each semester as a cohort with other students who were not in CultureNet. At first, the courses we would be taking seemed unrelated. English, Communications, Art History, Anthropology, Computing Science, and Geography were just a few of the courses that we were required to take; the link between these disciplines was neither obvious nor apparent to me.
During my two years at Capilano University, I was immersed in the world of Marshall McLuhan, Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault, René Magritte, James Carey and Karl Marx. The courses we took had very different perspectives on culture, yet many disciplines borrowed ideas from each other. The representation of reality was a recurring theme; we traced the history of technology and media and how they influenced the world as we see it. As I took more of the courses required by CultureNet, I felt as if I were escaping the matrix. Not only did I learn more about the world surrounding me, I also learned more about the world with respect to who I am and my part in it.
At the midpoint of my program in CultureNet, I had the opportunity to attend SIGGRAPH 2011 with a media pass representing CultureNet. I was honoured to have had this opportunity to cover the conference via articles and tweets for the readers and followers of the CultureNet Press, an online publication by CultureNet.
At the end of my program, I walked away with a better understanding of society and the world in which we live, a better understanding of myself and what I want to pursue, and also a set of friends and contacts whom I will keep in touch with for many years to come. I will be continuing my education at Simon Fraser University with the intent to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree with a joint major in Communication and Interactive Arts and Technology.
My experiences at Capilano University were rewarding. In addition to completing a well-designed multi-disciplinary program and finding my educational path, my university experience was also enhanced by the extremely helpful professors, small class sizes that promoted discussion, and the additional clubs and activities that the school offered.
I would recommend this program to those who, like me, are questioning their career and educational path. CultureNet is a fresh, innovative program that covers many disciplines in Arts and Social Sciences; if you are passionate about the arts and culture, CultureNet may what you are looking for. If you are still not convinced, don’t hesitate to schedule a meeting with either an advisor at Capilano University or the convener of CultureNet to find out if it could be the program for you.
IKMQ: CNET Faculty Book Published by New Star Books
IKMQ, by CNET faculty member Roger Farr, was published and released this month on New Star Books press. The text consists of “sixty–four brief passages ––– stories, descriptions, instructions, scenarios, formulae ––– each involving the characters represented by the letters I, K, M and Q.” Visit the publisher’s website here for more information about IKMQ.
Image Courtesy of New Star Books
Graduation 2012 – New Program Graduates
Congratulations to our newest round of 2012 CultureNet graduates. This was our largest group of graduates since the start of the CultureNet program!
Congratulations to
- Christopher Gallardo-Ganaban
- Kerri Yuen
- James Siddall
- Charlie Macaulay
We will miss them and wish them the best!
“Digital Natives” Project – Roger Farr
Digital Natives
curated by Lorna Brown and Clint Burnham
April 4–30, 2011
electronic billboard at the Burrard Street Bridge
Vancouver, BC
Canada
lorna@othersights.ca
Other Sights for Artists’ Projects is pleased to announce Digital Natives, a public art project on the electronic billboard at the Burrard Street Bridge, in Vancouver, Canada.
Located on Skwxwú7mesh territory in the heart of the city, the digital signs, facing north and south, flash a static advertisement every ten seconds. Their scale, and their proximity to the bridge makes for an assertive relationship to the pedestrians, cyclists and motorists entering and departing downtown, and this occupation of visual space has been the subject of considerable controversy.
For Digital Natives, the billboard becomes a space for exchange between native and non-native communities in an exploration of language in public space. Using the form of tweets, artists and writers from across North America have contributed text messages to be broadcast during the month of April, coinciding with the 125th Anniversary of the City of Vancouver. Interrupting the flow of advertisements, the brief messages respond to the location and history of the billboard; of digital language and translation, and of the city itself.
digitalnatives.co extends the conversation, featuring a blog that captures the exchange between contributors across the continent. The contested history of the site is chronicled in text and images, and a live Twitter feed tracks public responses to the project.
Digital Natives is public art that the public not only ‘receives’, but may also produce. Contributions from First Nations young people have been gathered through a series of workshops, and local and remote audiences are invited to tweet their messages to @ diginativ to be considered for broadcast.
Public Language Trouble
Sixty messages were composed for Digital Natives: two contributions, and one Skwxwú7mesh translation were omitted before broadcast by the corporation that is under contract to manage the billboard’s content, Astral Media Outdoor. We present them below in solidarity with these respected artists:
“IMPERIAL CANADA AWARDED SEX ABUSE TO NATIVE YOUTH BY THE BLACK ROBES NOW PROUDLY BESTOWS BRONZE SILVER GOLD MEDALS WITH INDIAN IMAGE”
Edgar Heap of Birds
“Your grandparents’ unacknowledged debts return to you as rage against the car in front”
Larissa Lai
Other Sights for Artists’ Projects is dismayed at the exclusion of their work.
Contributing Artists and Writers:
Candice Hopkins, cheyanne turions, Chris Bose, Christian Bok, Daina Warren, Edgar Heap of Birds, Emily Fedoruk, Henry Tsang, Jeff Derksen, Larissa Lai, Lisa Robertson, Lori Emerson, Marianne Nicolson, Mercedes Eng, Michael Turner, Peter Morin, Phillip Djwa, Postcommodity, Rachel Zolf, Raymond Boisjoly, Rita Wong, Roger Farr, Sonny Assu, Tania Willard.
Digital Natives is commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program with the support of Vancouver 125 and the participation of the Government of Canada. We are grateful for the support of The Canada Council for the Arts and the Museum of Anthropology, at the University of British Columbia.
About Other Sights
Other Sights for Artists’ Projects Association operates as a collective of Vancouver-based individuals with expertise in curation, project management, presentation, delivery, and promotion of temporary art projects in public spaces. Other Sights is dedicated to challenging perceptions, encouraging discourse and promoting individual perspectives about shared social spaces. We seek to create a presence for art in spaces and sites that are accessible to a broad public, such as the built environment, communications technologies, the media, and the street, supporting critically rigorous work for highly visible locations. We collaborate and share resources with organizations and individuals to present projects that consider the aesthetic, economic and regulatory conditions of public places and public life, creating new platforms for temporary artist projects in the public realm.
Follow us on Twitter @diginativ
Documentation
Image above:
Barbara Cole.
A “perfect fit for a cynical pop culture devouring media junkie” : Culture Net student featured in Capilano U. 2011-2012 Viewbook
CNET student Jordan Harbord is featured in the 2011-2012 university Viewbook in an article on the CultureNet Program.
The original Viewbook in its entirety can be ordered in print form here or viewed online here.
© 2013 Press – A Publication of the CultureNet Program @ Capilano University. All Rights Reserved.
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