Associate Professor in the FOA Ilene Sova will be presenting her international COIL project at the Global Digital Humanities Symposium at Michigan State University with her co-teacher and co-presenter Dr. Alla Myzelev from State University New York.
- Friday, March 22, 11:10 – 11:30 am – Decolonization in practice
Decolonial Art Practices: Virtual Exhibition as a Teaching Tool – Alla Myzelev, Ilene Sova - Michigan State University
Alla Myzelev (SUNY at Geneseo, USA) and Ilene Sova (OCAD, Toronto, Canada) In 2021, two professors working in different institutions and countries (the USA and Canada) began to think about launching a co-taught course, recognizing that the online teaching space allowed the unique experience of the borders between the countries to be eroded. They decided to do a collaborative teaching project anchored in decolonial approaches to art education. The learning outcomes for the class were centred on the creation of an online virtual reality exhibition titled “Looking Out while Looking In”. This included the paintings created by the studio students and the virtual space curated by the students in the Museum Studies Minor program. The collaboration between the two groups created an existing way of connecting and processing what communities collectively experienced during the C19 pandemic. The artwork and the exhibition design by the emerging curators dealt with the issue of isolation and COVID-related lifestyle changes as they relate to equity and inclusion.