The Commercialized Contemporary Public Art Scene in Toronto

This winter 2019, UofT anthropology and English major Maisha Mustanzir will be hosting a collective research project and workshop series dedicated to understanding the commercialization of Toronto’s public art scene from an ethnographic perspective.

The first meeting for this group will take place on Thursday, March 21st, 2019, from 1pm-2:30pm at the University of Toronto Anthropology building, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Room 330.

This project is titled “The Commercialized Contemporary Public Art Scene in Toronto.” The main objective of this project is to look at specific public artworks or what one may constitute as an artwork, in Toronto which has gone through any form of commercialization.

The project will involve a group of 6 to 8 volunteer research participants. Each participant will use ethnographic methods to conduct research on one or more public artworks. This project entails a series of bi-weekly workshops. The objectives of each workshop will be to support the participant’s individual aim, to discuss ethnographic methodologies and to engage in interactive discussions and activities.

The goal of this project is to simulate different perspectives on commercialized public art in Toronto. The final form of the ethnography will be displayed to the public through an interactive website series where each participant will create a website/blog where they will disclose their findings. These websites will be presented in a conference where the participants can share their ideas and findings. This project aims to encourage ethnographic methodologies in different disciplines and aims to incite different ideas surrounding public art.

Requirements for Research Participants:

• Undergraduate or graduate students studying in either humanities or social sciences (does not have to be a student at University of Toronto).
• Ideally has previous knowledge of and/or experience with ethnography but it is not compulsory
• expresses a strong interest in ethnography as a literary genre and/or as a research perspective

** if you are not an undergraduate or graduate student but want to take part, please get in touch with Maisha Mustanzir (maisha[dot]mustanzir[at]mail[dot]utoronto[dot]ca).

Workshop schedule

Workshop times will be posted prior to each meeting. Locations for each workshop will be the Ethnography Lab Seminar room (University of Toronto Anthropology building, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Room 330). Some meetings may be substituted for Skype sessions, depending on participant availability.