University of Toronto Art Journal

This year will mark the inaugural publication of the "University of Toronto Art Journal." The journal publishes selected student papers from the Department of Art's annual graduate conference; the title of this year's conference was "Constructing Identities."

The third volume of the University of Toronto Art Journal includes three papers given originally at the Department of Art’s 2010 interdisciplinary graduate symposium, OUT OF SIGHT: Looking Beyond Seeing, a day spent examining experiences where sight was not the primary point of entry. The first paper of the day and of this volume, given by Elise Noyez, explores Robert Barry’s ability to achieve what the author terms a “state of utter invisibility” in his 1960s Inert Gas pieces. Our second author, Amalle Dublon, is concerned more with sound—namely its relationship with visuality and violence— in the works of Yoko Ono, Clifford Owens, and Fernando Ortega. How does a sound, she asks, connect all who can hear it, especially when that sound results from a violent act? The third paper, written by May Chew, moves us into the realm of the natural history museum, specifically Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Chew’s paper examines how through new curatorial practices that emphasize touch, the natural history museum has opened a new colonial discourse between the visitor and the objects on display. Finally, for the first time the journal includes the catalogue for the 2010 Masters of Visual Studies Graduating Exhibition featuring the works of Kathleeen Boetto, Rebecca Diederichs, and Bogdan Luca and essays by Michelle Jacques, Vladimir Spicanovic, and Alison Syme. Special thanks to Lisa Steele, Graduate Program Director for the Masters of Visual Studies in Studio Art, for providing the catalogue.

This volume embraces the complexity of artistic rebellion and its disseminators. We explore those visionaries who have used their chisels brushes, compasses, and video-cameras to affirm the value of resistance, even destruction, regardless of political outcome. A GUSTA Symposium held on January 27-28, 2011 invited graduate students to explore the dynamic methods in which nonconformist artistic practice could be considered subversive. How have artists defied cultural paradigms with their visual practice? What are the inherent, deliberate, and unforeseen repercussions of such creative protest? And how have these tidal waves of discord irrevocably changed public opinion and academic theory?

We selected three papers that spoke most directly to these issues. Peter Clericuzio (University of Pennsylvania) addresses the resistance movement in architecture during the Belle Époque of France (c.1898-1914) and argues that patriotic artisans looked to Art Nouveau elements to combat the Germanization of Alsace-Lorraine. In the world of print media, Katharine Josephson (New York University) offers an in-depth study of the dissenting student-made demonstration posters that gave a voice to the political riots of Paris and Mexico City in the 1960s. And finally, turning to contemporary digital practice, Nicholas Barber (McGill University) examines
the new media videographers of Brazilian indigenous tribes. He highlights the importance of considering the internal content of indigenous-produced videos when examining their political effects.

Lastly, we have included in this volume the exhibition catalogue from the 2011 University of Toronto Masters of Visual Arts Graduating Exhibition featuring the work of Deborah Kirk, Alberto Suarez, and Blake Williams.

We are thankful to all those who submitted to, presented for, and participated in the composition of the journal.

Sincerely,
The GUSTA Editorial Staff