“We at the Milieux Institute are nothing short of delighted to present this year’s cohort for the Undergraduate Fellowship! Hailing from over nine different programs and many more disciplines, our Fellows demonstrate a capacity to think beyond what currently is, in a way that is inspiring and wonder-making. It is with great pride that we welcome them to the Institute, and with great honour we’ll aid and bear witness to their academic, artistic, and research-oriented growth!
During these once again unprecedented times, it is of note that so many of the Fellows’ practices and projects have at their core the spirit of community. From social work to dialogue developing to world building, these creators all endeavour in some way or other to underscore the importance of exchange through their work. It is, in turn, our responsibility at the Institute to foster these important developments and ambitious intellectual and artistic leaps, despite and in light of current obstacles. We, as well, recognize how energizing it is to host these Fellows in their work, and what a privilege it is to do so.
In order to best encourage their research, Milieux provides these fellowships to undergraduate students who are engaging in compelling work at the heart of their respective clusters. Each fellow will receive a monetary stipend as well as access to Milieux’s resources for project development over the 2021-2022 year. Next month, we’ll be organizing an online Pecha-Kucha that will be open to all Milieux members and staff. We will also ensure that the Fellows feel supported and uplifted, and feel wholeheartedly digitally welcomed to the Institute.”
-Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology, January 19th 2022
T&M is proud to have two undergraduate fellows represented: Christine White and Emily Blair. Read more about them below.
Emily Blair
My name is Emily Blair and I am a weaver and fibres artist currently in my fourth year in the Fibres and Material Practices program. My work involves collecting information from environmental sources, such as temperatures, light, and oxygen levels to reflect on the fragility of ecosystems and our intertwined existence with those natural environments. Using computer assisted design software like ProWeave, computerized looms, and patterns like overshot, I translate data sets and texts into weavable structures. I often work collaboratively with sound and video to incorporate audio-visual documentation of the data sources. This has manifested as projecting stop-motion video of weaving patterns against a building triggered by sound, video projected onto the woven textile itself and translations of ProWeave patterns into music composition and vice versa. I intend to focus my future projects on exploring this relationship between cloth pattern and structure and how that can relate to my environments and to push further my methods of displaying and communicating my research.
Christine White
Christine White is soon to complete her BFA in Intermedia with a minor in Sociology. She aspires towards developing her thesis around mobile disruptive architecture and how her project PedalBox Gallery can act as both a tool for community engagement and data collection. She is also currently a member of Value Collective, researching the Housing Crisis through Next-Generation Cities at Concordia. They are one of 29 groups selected across Canada for the CMHC Affordable Housing Supply Challenge. Members of Value Collective originally came together in early 2020 when the Office of Rules and Norms selected them for the Shock Value Fellowship. PedalBox Gallery continues to be a fundamental element to her research across all collaborations.
Full list of recipients here
textiles + materiality research cluster 