INFRACAMPUS – UQAM (2016)

INFRACAMPUS est un atelier interdisciplinaire qui explore la culture des campus universitaires à travers leurs réalités sociales, politiques et spatiales, en les reconsidérant comme un terrain propice à l’expérimentation. Le cours est offert à tous ceux qui souhaitent partager, examiner et révéler une condition particulière de l’UQÀM. Dans cet atelier de recherche-action, nous nous intéressons aux infraqualités — telles que des réalités inexplorées, émergentes, invisibles ou minoritaires — pouvant alimenter des réflexions et inciter des actions sur le présent et l’avenir du campus de l’UQÀM. Une série de conditions singulières identifiées sur le campus feront l’objet d’une exploration approfondie en ayant recours à une diversité de moyens d’enquête et d’action. Parmi les conditions explorées, notons : l’autonomie et la porosité du campus ; le potentiel d’adaptation, de maintenance et de transformabilité; l’hétérogénéité versus l’uniformité ; les environnements incertains ainsi que les perceptions et récits. Quels éléments, situations ou tactiques peut-on imaginer pour interagir avec ces conditions ? Comment pouvons nous intervenir sur le campus pour encourager l’apparition de nouveaux types d’actions, des configurations sociales et des interrelations inusitées et insoupçonnées qui remettent en question les usages et les perceptions existantes ?

DES702F – Atelier thématique en design d’événements
École de design de l’UQAM, hiver 2016
Enseignants : Jean-Maxime Dufresne et Jean-François Prost

INFRACAMPUS ZINE (2013)

INFRACAMPUS is an interdisciplinary project developed by Jean-Maxime Dufresne and Jean-François Prost for SYN- that explores the social realities and spatial politics of the University of Guelph campus, and proposes the campus as a potential site for experimentation. How can we engage the campus as a place for fostering new kinds of actions, social configurations and interrelations in common spaces which question their existing uses and perceptions?

Initiated in 2011, the INFRACAMPUS project has been developed in three phases by SYN- in collaboration with different individuals and groups at the University of Guelph, as well as Musagetes.

The third phase consisted of disseminating the research and knowledge produced in the first two phases of INFRACAMPUS to the broader community of students and staff at University of Guelph as well as Guelph residents, through a week-long participatory production of the INFRACAMPUS Zine in Winter 2013. Unforeseeable and exciting content associations were generated during these working sessions by editing crews of students and staff. The Zine is comprised of a series of nine color-coded booklets that each refer to a condition explored during the INFRACAMPUS project. One hundred copies were printed and will be distributed on and off campus.

http://musagetes.ca/project/infracampus/

INFRACAMPUS ZINE Editing & Production Sessions – U of Guelph (2013)

Winter 2013 Zine EDITING & PRODUCTION Sessions (January 10-22, 2013) The Zine is comprised of a series of nine color-coded booklets that each refer to a condition explored during the INFRACAMPUS project. The Zine was created in four evening sessions, each of a three-hour duration, by teams of participants who discussed, assembled and edited the contents of research material produced during the Fall 2011 workshops, Winter 2012 meetings and Spring 2012 studio.

Developed and coordinated by Jean Maxime Dufresne and Jean-François Prost

Session 1

OVERUSED Carolyn Ayer, Nathan Saliwonchyk
CONVERTED Corinne Chapman, Meaghan Boddy
MISUSED OR UNDERUSED Andrew Alford, Katherine MacGregor

Session 2
CREATIVE APPROPRIATIONS Michael Edwards, Danica Evering, Daniel Waters
STUDENT-RUN Daniel Waters, Michael Edwards, Danica Evering

Session 3
HARDLY VISIBLE OR ACCESSIBLE Danica Evering, Daniel Waters, Nathan Saliwonchyk
UNSETTLING OR AMBIGUOUS Nathan Saliwonchyk, Katherine MacGregor, Danica Evering,
Daniel Waters

Session 4
DIVERSITY Stacey Aspinall, Michael Edwards, Danica Evering, Gryphon Loubier,
Steph-Marie Szenasi
NARRATIVES AND RITUALS Stephanie Manica, Elisabeth Nowatschin,
Nathan Saliwonchyk, Daniel Waters, Daniel Willison

» A zine is most commonly a small circulation self-published work of original and/or appropriated texts and images usually reproduced via photocopier. It is a noncommercial, often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter. Zines are written in a variety of formats, from computer-printed text to comics to handwritten text. Small circulation zines are often not explicitly copyrighted and there is a strong belief among many zine creators that the material within should be freely distributed.

http://musagetes.ca/news/syn-infracampus-zine-workshop-pictures/

Article by Stacey Aspinall in The Ontarion :
http://www.theontarion.com/2013/01/infracampus-zine-examines-social-politics-of-campus-space/

INFRACAMPUS ZINE – Open call for participation – U of Guelph – Musagetes (2013)

NEW ZINE LAUNCH DATE ! TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 www.musagetes.ca/news

INFRACAMPUS Studio – University of Guelph / Musagetes (2012)

During the second phase of INFRACAMPUS at University of Guelph, SYN- offered a four-week accredited studio course during Spring 2012, in collaboration with Associate Professor Lise Burcher and the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. Students participating in this course individually and collectively investigated a diversity of spatial and circumstancial conditions, building on prior research and using the university campus as a starting point to elaborate sets of microactions.

SYN- is looking for participants to take part in the INFRACAMPUS interdisciplinary studio course that explores the culture and realities of university campuses, and reconsiders them as potential sites for experimentation. It is open to all who would like to highlight, share, discuss and act upon a particular condition of University of Guelph’s campus.

Drawing from previous explorations, studio participants will interact with university campus to imagine a flexible framework where spatial conditions will be revealed in order to facilitate creative forms of appropriation. In this course, we will explore how infra-qualities – such as undisclosed or lesser known realities – might inform us of future potentials for campus transformations. How could we then engage the campus as a locus for fostering new kinds of actions, social configurations and interrelations in common space which question existing uses and perceptions ?

Spring 2012 Studio (April 27 -May 21, 2012)

Studio participants
Melissa Coderre, Student, Landscape Architecture, Michael Edwards, Student, Landscape Architecture, Saeid Rostamibookani, Student, Landscape Architecture, Daniel Willison, Student, SOFAM

Instructors
Jean-Maxime Dufresne & Jean-François Prost, SYN-

People met during the studio
Neil Buddell, Julie West, Lise Burcher, Nathan Perkins, Maurice Nelischer, Joshua Ofori-Darko, Peter Bradley, Alison Mikelson, Alissa Scott, Shailagh Keaney, Valencia Gaspard, Tom Wall

From April 27th to May 21st, 2012, a project in collaboration with Musagetes (Guelph)

INFRACAMPUS – 1mile², Guelph, Ontario / Musagetes (2011)

SYN- is looking for participants to take part in a inter-disciplinary workshop series that explores the culture and realities of university campuses, and reconsiders then as potential sites for experimentation. The call is open to all who would like to highlight, share and discuss a particular condition of Guelph University’s campus.

Drawing from previous explorations, SYN- intends to interact with Guelph’s campus and its surroundings to imagine a flexible framework where spatial tensions will be revealed in order to facilitate creative forms of appropriation. In these workshops we will explore how infra-qualities – such as undisclosed, lesser known or hidden realities – might inform us of future potentials for campus transformations: how could we then engage the campus as a locus for fostering new kinds of actions, social configurations and interrelations in common space ?

The research explores different topics such as: interactions between campus and urban life through insider and outsider perspectives ; re-shuffled notions of the historically «cultivated» North American campus and its idealized detachment; social dynamics and connectivity in a pavilion-based architectural setting altered by self initiatives and experiments; providing alternate uses or introducing creativity and participation processes in existing services like food production, on-site maintenance or security.

Workshop experiments and findings will establish the bases for a future collaborative intervention on the Guelph campus to be realized in 2012.

http://musagetes.ca/project/infracampus/

INFRACAMPUS Participants

FALL 2011 Workshops (September 28 – October 9, 2011)

Workshop 1
Zoë Barrett-Wood, Olivia Mussels, Sarah Poole, Georgia Simms, Steph-Marie Szenasi, Shawn Van Sluys

Workshop 2
Andrew Alford, Zoë Barrett-Wood, Robin Bergart, Kira Burger, Alissa Firth-Eagland, Ashley Lowenthal, Matthew Little, Gryphon Loubier, Barbara Mann, Tegan Maxwell, Steph-Marie Szenasi, Dylan White

Workshop 3
Andrew Alford, Zoë Barrett-Wood, Julie Renée De Cotret, Alissa Firth-Eagland, Gord Gavrilovic, Alyssa Hubert, Matthew Little, Gryphon Loubier, Shawn Van Sluys, Sophie Maksimowski, Miguel Robles-Duran, Georgia Simms, Steph-Marie Szenasi, Thomas Purcell

Workshop facilitators
Jean-Maxime Dufresne, Luc Lévesque & Jean-François Prost, SYN-

WINTER 2012 Meetings (February 2-3, 2012)

Meetings 1 and 2
Sophie Maksimowski, Christine Porterfield, Steph-Marie Szenasi, Erika Stewin, Barbara Mann, Wayne Caldwell, Alvis Choi, Peter Bradley, Gryphon Loubier, Lise Burcher, Tegan Brock, Howard Steinberg, Andrew Alford, Terez Szoke, Alissa Firth-Eagland, Shawn Van Sluys, Shane Krepakevich