Material Assemblages: before and after the Human
Symposium @ Canadian Cultural Centre October 16 / Paris FrHosted within the evolving environment of the Oscillation exhibition, Material Assemblages before and after the Human invites participants to engage in conversations that move between matter and meaning, process and form.
The program explores the entangled dynamics of bodies, materials, and environments, focusing on how artistic and critical practices respond to ecological transformations, infrastructures, and sensory experience.
The exhibition acts as a shifting ground for these discussions by creating an active space shaped by the interplay of flows, energies, and collaborative practices. The conference foregrounds modes of thinking and making that engage with the porosity of the boundaries between the human and the non-human by emphasizing practices that attend to interdependence, permeability, and transformation. It highlights approaches that refuse fixed categories, instead embracing fluid, relational processes that challenge dominant hierarchies and imagine alternative forms of coexistence, interdependence, and agency.
The scientific direction of the symposium is provided by Samuel Bianchini, Marie-Pier Boucher, and Alice Jarry, co-guest curators of the Oscillation exhibition.
Program:
9:15-9:30: Coffee
9:30-9:45: Welcome and introductions
Welcome by Catherine Bédard (Canadian Cultural Center-Paris), Marie-Pier Boucher (University of Toronto, Canada), Samuel Bianchini (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts décoratifs – PSL, France), and Alice Jarry (Concordia University, Canada)
9:45-10:00: Short intro of the exhibition and its history concerning Fossilation (Centre Pompidou), history of the research projects and themes that bring us together + presentation of the place of research-creation in Canada and abroad
Alice Jarry (Concordia University, Canada)
Géraldine Gomez (Centre Pompidou)
10:00-10:45 – Keynote 1
Patricia Ribault (Université Paris VIII, France), Title TBA
Introduction and Q&A, Samuel Bianchini (École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs de Paris – PSL, France)
10:45-11:00: Break
11:00 – 12:00: Roundtable 1: More-than-human Assemblages
Moderator: Jacqui Beaumont (Concordia University, Canada)
Participants: Sofian Audry (Université du Québec à Montreal, Canada), Jane Tingley (York University, Canada), Joel Ong (University of Victoria, Canada), Guillaume Pascale (Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada et École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes, France)
12:00-12:15 Break
12:15 – 13:00 Roundtable 2: Mattering Energies
Moderator: Samuel Bianchini (École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs de Paris – PSL, France)
Participants: Raphaëlle Kerbrat (École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs de Paris – PSL, France), Audrey Coulombe (Concordia University, Canada), Matthew Halpenny (Concordia University, Canada)
13:00-14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 15:30: Roundtable 3: Imagination, Affection, Bodies
Moderator: Marie-Pier Boucher (University of Toronto, Canada)
Participants: Edwige Armand (Université Gustave Eiffel), Jacqui Beaumont (Concordia University, Canada), Danny Perreault (Université du Québec à Montreal, Canada), Lee wilkins (University of Toronto, Canada),
15:30-15:45 Break
15:45-16:45 Roundtable 4: Meaningful Waste and Residuals
Moderator: Alice Jarry (Concordia University, Canada)
Participants: Brice Ammar Khodja (Concordia University, Canada), Vanessa Mardirossian (Concordia University, Canada), Aurélie Mosse (EnsadLab – PSL University), Lea Perraudin and Iva Resetar (Humboldt University, Germany)
16:45 – 17:00 Break
17:00-17:45 Keynote 2
Monika Bakke (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland), Title TBA
Introduction and Q&A, Marie-Pier Boucher (University of Toronto, Canada)
17:45-19:00: Cocktail