2nd Asia-Global-Cultural-Studies-Forum (AGCSF)

Saturday, October 26, 2019 - 2:00pm to 6:00pm

Date: Saturday, October 26th, 2019 @ 2-6 pm

Venue: Room 284, 100 McCaul (OCAD U)

 

Facilitated by professor Soyang Park (Liberal Studies, Graduate Studies)

3 tiers of presenters: Students, professors, and professionals

Participatory forum: Presenters, discussants, and the audience

Ongoing forum: regularly from September 2019: open for public submission of ideas: email to: spark@faculty.ocadu.ca.

 

*Everyone is welcome to participate in this forum/become a presenter in future events.

*AGCSF does not support any form of ethnocentric or regional chauvinism or hegemonic nationalism unfit for our vision for the future. It solely focuses on promoting cosmopolitan learning and exploration of cultures and multi-directional decolonization.

*AGCSF supports the emergence of other cosmopolitan research groups and fora at OCAD U - based a non-hierarchical and non-exclusionary notion of regional, national, ethnic, and cultural identities.

*For further information: find the “Asia-Global Cultural Studies Forum” (AGCSF)’s official facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pg/Asia-Global-Cultural-Studies-Forum-AGCSF-101978051207514/photos/?ref=page_internal

Or visit our website: https://asiaglobalculturalstudiesforum.wordpress.com

Also check out our youtube channel for our inauguration forum on May 17th (unedited experimental  2-channel montage video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utrGxiguQ9g

 

List of Presentations:

Dr Soyang Park (OCAD U), The Politics of Beauty: The Ghost of Colonialism, White-Washing Rumors, and the K-Beauty Wave   [A Response - The Polemics from the last AGCSForum]

Christie Carriere (D&P, OCAD U),  Art and Community: What I Learned from Five Months of Placement at TeaBase

Kathy Wang (VCS, OCAD U),  Female Representation in Japanese Manga: Ito Junji’s Tomie (1987 – 2000)

Wenjie He (CADN, OCAD U),  Designing the Multilingual: Beijing Olympic Pictograms and Universal Design

Enna Kim (DF, OCAD U), ONLINE//OFFLINE: Digital Diaspora and Speculative Narrative Animation

Keiko Hart (Curator/Programmer, Subtle Technologies and C-Magazine), Locating Identity: Pronunciations of Self

 

                 Global Network of Researchers: Video Participation    

Yilong Liu (Drama/Film Studies, University of Manchester, UK)  

Jessica Liu (Painting and Drawing, Nanjing University of the Arts, China)

Dr Hyunbang Shin (Professor, London School of Economics, UK), On Gentrification, Korean and Chinese Recent  Development

……………………….. 

 What is Culture

Culture is the shared value system and code of conducts that exist in interconnected and contingent differences across communities, cultures, and nations.

Culture in all its manifestations – conventional, popular, emergent, marginal, and resistant – are constantly shaped by and are (re-)shaping our status quo, ways of thinking, and visions.

Culture is not fixed but constantly shifts through the intersecting influences of politics, economy, populations, migrations, and even environment.

The study of culture is empirical as well as theoretical, and most importantly, it is an interdisciplinary endeavor. The set of questions, analyses, and evaluations it involves itself in interacts with other fields of study such as the study of economy and politics; social studies, ethnic studies; cultural anthropology and media studies; identity, gender, sexuality, class, and ideology studies.

     

What is a Forum

A gathering place for exchanges of ideas and views. It is also the agora (Greek), a proto-site of democracy.

 

The ethos of AGCSF:

  • A syncretic forum of all levels of researchers (students, professors, and professionals)
  • Merit- and contents-based (not rank or prestige).
  • No ethnocentric/regional chauvinism or hegemonic nationalism.
  • Cosmopolitanism and exploration of difference and alternative epistemologies.
  • Non-hierarchical organizational model for the promotion of a culture of open discussion.
  • Participatory forum: The participants will consist of the presenters, the discussants, and the audience whose participation is to be equally valued to bring about diverse and multidirectional discussions.
  • The Discussants are an important category of this forum. They are the generators of discussion as well as latent presenters. Those who are interested in presenting are recommended to participate as the discussants first. The discussants – along with the audience – who have previously participated in the forum and substantially contributed to the discussions will be considered with priority as the presenters for the following event.
  • Embodied participation is implied in its growth model based on merit and contribution (rather than on rank or prestige). AGCSF hopes to make this forum truly an intellectually viable place for lively exchange and discussion of ideas and visions, a lively intellectual fora filled with genuine curiosity and openness to different perspectives.
  • Embodied and experiential knowledge: AGCSF values embodied and experiential knowledge, research, and ideas rather than the overly academicized outcomes short of the conductive power to generate grounded and real conversations.
  • ESL students are the most welcome. You are the holders of up-to-date global knowledge. If you have any ideas to share but the only thing that makes you hesitate is your English, please bring a translator or discuss the ideas with us.
Venue & Address: 
OCAD University, 100 McCaul St., Room 284
Website: 
https://www.facebook.com/Asia-Global-Cultural-Studies-Forum-AGCSF-101978051207514/
https://asiaglobalculturalstudiesforum.wordpress.com
Email: 
spark@faculty.ocadu.ca
Cost: 
Free
AGCSF in white on a peach background with blue abstract accents

RE:ORIENTATIONS

Richard Fung’s RE:ORIENTATIONS  brings together a filmmaker, historian, and sociologist to produce a groundbreaking longitudinal documentary film on LGBTQ Asian Canadians covering a 30-year period. It fosters collaborations between community groups and academic institutions and brings critical conversations around sexuality, race, and nation to wider audiences.

RE:ORIENTATIONS (2016) revisits the interview subjects of Richard Fung’s 1985 film Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Asians, which was the first documentary on diasporic queer Asians in North America. RE:ORIENTATIONS presents seven surviving subjects of the original documentary with raw interview footage from the 1980s, putting them in dialogue with their younger selves. Their reflections on identity, sexuality, racism, activism, and cultural expression are contextualized through conversations with six younger queer and trans activists, scholars, and artists. The project examines continuities and transformations in identities, political discourses, social processes, and legal frameworks as they relate to the intersecting and continually shifting categories of ‘LGBTQ’ and ‘Asian Canadian’.

RE:ORIENTATIONS had its world premiere at Inside Out: Toronto LGBT Film Festival on Saturday May 28, 2016.The film was presented in international LGBT film festivals as well as Asian and Asian diaspora festivals. It has been acquired by university libraries and screened at universities and academic forums. In addition, RE:ORIENTATIONS opened the inaugural Shanghai Queer Film Festival and was the focus of a residency and roundtable at Simon Fraser University, to be published in a peer review journal.

Re:Orientations has produced enriched discourse among, and advocacy on behalf of, LGBTQ and Asian/Asian diaspora/Asian Canadian communities. and provided a pedagogical tool for academic institutions and a resource for research.

 

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

SSHRC Logo

Creator: 
Still from Re:Orientations - Interview subject on a Toronto street, standing before a wall covered in LGBTQ-postive statements
Photograph of a dancer performing. He is lying on the ground, wearing a mask.
Film still: a photograph of a man playing the piano while an elderly man listens in the background.
Monday, October 30, 2017 - 10:15am

Culture Shifts Presents: Free Screening of Re:Orientations by Richard Fung, Faculty of Art

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Culture Shifts Presents...FREE Screening of Re:Orientations by Richard Fung

Place: Auditorium, Room 190,

OCAD University, 100 McCaul St.

Time: Tuesday, December 6th, 7pm

A fascinating look into the lives and thoughts of seven queer pan-Asian Canadians as they look back on a 1984 documentary in which they featured. How have they changed? And how has the world around them evolved and changed?

In 1984, Richard Fung released his seminal first documentary Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Asians. Featuring 14 women and men in Toronto of South, East and Southeast Asian backgrounds, Orientations was the first documentary to explore the experiences and perspectives of queer Asians in North America. Capturing pivotal moments in Toronto’s history, it presents an intimate portrait of the texture of gay live and politics at that time. Re:Orientations revisits seven of the original participants as they see anew the footage of their younger selves, and reflect on their lives and all that has changed over the intervening three decades. Their interviews are deepened and contextualized by conversations with six younger queer and trans activists, scholars and artists.

Post-screening discussion panel with:  Richard Fung, Director of Re:Orientations, Vivek Shraya, Artist and Writer, Ju Hui Judy Han, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto

* Culture Shifts is a documentary series at OCAD University. Culture Shifts presents documentary media as a catalyst for critical discussions and community action for social change.

Presented with the support of:  Indigenous Visual Culture OCADU, OCADU Faculty of Art, Integrated Media, Art & Social Change and our Community Partners:  Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at University of Toronto Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto Reel Asian

Venue & Address: 
100 McCaul St., Room 190, Auditorium
Cost: 
Free
Re-Orientations Poster photograph and text

OCAD U campus stars in Kim's Convenience

Photo of the cast of Kim's Convenience
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - 4:00am

 

OCAD University makes many  appearances on CBC’s acclaimed new weeknight comedy, Kim’s Convenience. Based on a play by Torontonian Ins Choi, the show portrays a Korean-Canadian family. The daughter Janet (played by actress Andrea Bang), is a photography student at OCAD U. Janet’s parents opened a convenience store in Regent Park when they immigrated to Canada.

The production company filmed on campus on July 19, primarily in Butterfield Park and on McCaul Street. The exterior of the Sharp Centre for Design can be seen in several episodes. The show’s producers also commissioned and leased photos by students Maddie Alexander, Antonio Giacchetti and Tess Siskay to represent the works of Janet and her classmates.

Kim’s Convenience is receiving praise for being Canada’s first TV sitcom led by Asian actors and for addressing social and intergenerational issues with humour and sensitivity.

The series runs on Tuesday evenings on CBC TV and can be watched online.

Culture Shifts presents MIGRANT DREAMS, a documentary directed by Min Sook Lee, Faculty of Art

illustrated poster of colourful skyline over row of buildings with silhouette of birds in flight
Monday, October 24, 2016 - 11:00pm

Culture Shifts presents MIGRANT DREAMS, a powerful feature documentary that tells the undertold story of migrant agricultural workers struggling against Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) that treats foreign workers as modern day indentured labourers. 

Director Min Sook Lee, Gabriel Allahuda and Evelyn Encalada Grez of Justice for Migrant Workers will participate in a post-screening discussion.

Culture Shifts presents documentary media as a catalyst for critical discussions and community action for social change.   The series is sponsored by Indigenous Visual Culture Program, the Faculty of Art, Art and Social Change, and the Department of Integrated Media.  The screening of Migrant Dreams is presented in partnership with Harvesting Freedom, Cinema Politica and Justice for Migrant Workers. 

migrantdreams.ca

 

Venue & Address: 
100 McCaul Street, Auditorium (room 190_
Cost: 
FREE
illustrated poster of colourful skyline over row of buildings with silhouette of birds in flight

Project Lotherton: What do you see?

Lotherton youth
Thursday, August 7, 2008 - 4:00am to Saturday, August 9, 2008 - 4:00am

Fifteen youths from the Lotherton community break down social and cultural barriers in an exhibit of never-before-seen photographic work. Raw, powerful images put unforgettable faces to the Vietnamese, Chinese, Caribbean, Jamaican, Tamil and Filipino cultures thriving within the Lotherton Youth Community.

XPACE

XPACE is a non-profit artist- and student-run centre committed to the exposure of multi-disciplinary emerging artists in a professional context that is recognized within the local and international contemporary art and design community. Their goal is to build a bridge between art and design students and their professional counterparts by offering a platform in which they may exhibit their works and be externally recognized, which in turn promotes relevant programming that instigates public discourse and propels the development of contemporary art and design.

All OCAD students are members of XPACE Cultural Centre, which is a membership driven organization governed by The OCAD Student Union

Venue & Address: 
Xspace 58 Ossington Avenue, Toronto, Ontario
Cost: 
Free

Re:Orientations...THREE DECADES LATER. A new film by Tenured Professor Richard Fung

poster for the premiere with photograph of three young men of south asian background behind a camera
Saturday, May 28, 2016 - 4:30pm

WORLD PREMIERE / Inside Out: Toronto LGBT Film Festival

Saturday May 28 at 12:30pm / TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 2

Tickets: www.insideout.ca

Re:Orientations, 2016, 68 min

In 1984, Richard Fung released his seminal first documentary Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Asians. Featuring 14 women and men in Toronto of South, East and Southeast Asian backgrounds, Orientations was the first documentary to explore the experiences and perspectives of queer Asians in North America. Re:Orientations revisits seven of the original participants as they see anew the footage of their younger selves, and reflect on their lives and all that has changed over the intervening three decades. Their interviews are deepened and contextualized by conversations with six younger queer and trans activists, scholars and artists.

Venue & Address: 
TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 2
Website: 
http://Tickets: www.insideout.ca
Cost: 
Tickets: www.insideout.ca

Diasporic Intimacies event is first of its kind

Image shows mannequin covered by butterflies made from pieces of visual porn
Friday, February 6, 2015 - 5:00am

Diasporic Intimacies is the first explicitly queer Filipino/a event in North America. Co-organized by OCAD University’s Robert Diaz, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the event brought together artists, scholars and community workers to discuss the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Filipinos/as to Canadian culture and society.

From the well-attended reception at OCAD U’s Open Gallery, to the day-long OCAD U conference panels that extended into the evening to accommodate all the speakers, Diaz and co-organizers, artist Marissa Largo and students Karlo Azores and Fritz Pino, were encouraged by the enthusiasm of the 250 participants..

Says Diaz, “The most innovative leaders in settlement work, academia, and the art scene are often Filipino/a and LGBTQ identified. We wanted to create a space for these individuals to share their creativity and to celebrate their work with the general public.”

Diasporic Intimacies is based on Diaz’s research at OCAD U. His interviews with LGBTQ Filipinos/as in Toronto (focussed on their everyday struggles and strategies for empowerment) inspired him to create a forum to encourage LGBTQ Filipinos/as to share their experiences, insights and art, as well as build networks between mainstream and Filipino/a  LGBTQ Communities in Canada.

During the conference, panelists and participants addressed such question as:

  • How might queer Filipinos/as in Canada contribute to our understanding of indigeneity and collectivity?
  • How do regional policies on labour, migration and multiculturalism influence queer Filipino/a Canadian lives?
  • How might Filipino/a lesbian and transgender communities reimagine social formations that have come to be attributed to Canadian queer oral histories?
  • What forms of resistance and resilience do queer Filipinos/as practice as they inhabit multiple spaces within Canada?

As well as the conference, a three-week long exhibit, Visualizing the Intimate in Filipino/a Lives, co-curated by the organizers, highlights the work of community-based artists and OCAD U alumni. Examples of visual culture, new media, community-based and critical work by Filipino/a artists are on display at Open Gallery from January 23 to February 15. Installations explore what is sometimes called the third space — where issues of identity and community are not considered fixed, but fluid and hybrid. In the case of Visualizing the Intimate, representations of immigration, gender and colonialism suggest how queer identity is neither universally understood nor expressed.

According to Diaz, “The issues, concerns, and contributions that LGBTQ Filipinos/as have made enrich how we see ourselves as Canadians. These events allow us to recognize the hard work of those who strive to make Canada a better and more equitable society, while also highlighting the areas we can still improve upon.”

Visualizing the Intimate in Filipino/a Lives art exhibition runs until February 15, 2015, at OCAD U’s Open Gallery, 49 McCaul Street. 

Diasporic Intimacies: Queer Filipinos/as and Canadian Imaginaries

Image of butterflies
Friday, January 23, 2015 - 2:00pm to Sunday, February 15, 2015 - 10:00pm

Art Exhibit: Visualizing the Intimate

This groundbreaking series of events brings together academics, artists, activists, and community members as they discuss the contributions of queer Filipinos/as to Canadian culture and society.

EVENTS CONFERENCE & RECEPTION
January 23, 2015. 9 am – 7 pm
100 McCaul Street, Room 190

FILM SCREENING
January 24, 2015. 6 pm to 9 pm
The 519 Church St Community Ctr.

ART EXHIBIT:
VISUALIZING THE INTIMATE
January 23 – February 15, 2015.
Hours, 9am - 5pm
Open Gallery, 49 McCaul St.

Venue & Address: 
Open Gallery, 49 McCaul Street
Website: 
http://www.queerfilipinosincanada.ca/

Diasporic Intimacies: Queer Filipinos/as and Canadian Imaginaries

Image of butterflies
Saturday, January 24, 2015 - 11:00pm to Sunday, January 25, 2015 - 2:00am

This groundbreaking series of events brings together academics, artists, activists, and community members as they discuss the contributions of queer Filipinos/as to Canadian culture and society.

EVENTS CONFERENCE & RECEPTION
January 23, 2015. 9 am – 7 pm
100 McCaul Street, Room 190

FILM SCREENING
January 24, 2015. 6 pm to 9 pm
The 519 Church St Community Ctr.

ART EXHIBIT:
VISUALIZING THE INTIMATE
January 23 – February 15, 2015.
Hours, 9am - 5pm
Open Gallery, 49 McCaul St.

Venue & Address: 
The 519 Church St Community Center
Website: 
http://www.queerfilipinosincanada.ca/

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