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LAUNCH OF HEXAGRAM INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMMING OF 2021-2022 EMERGENCE/Y @ ARS ELECTRONICA 2021 - Sept 8 to 12

In 2021, Hexagram celebrates its 20th anniversary. The network was created in 2001 to support collaborative research-creation projects amongst its members from eight Québec research institutions, as well as with local and international partners from academic, cultural and creative sectors. Over the last 20 years, Hexagram has played a seminal role in the recognition of practice-based art and design research in Canada and abroad, as well as in promoting knowledge-sharing activities between artistic and scientific disciplines. Today, Hexagram comprises 46 co-investigators, nearly 50 collaborators and over 200 students from various disciplines including the live arts, design, and media arts, while also connecting to disciplines in the social sciences and humanities as well as natural sciences and engineering.

In 2020, Hexagram’s mandate was renewed by the Québec Government for an additional 7 years, based on a proposed programme aiming to catalyze collective, interdisciplinary knowledge and to engage publics with cultures and practices that address current urgent and global scientific and technological challenges. In the first year of this new cycle we also saw the arrival of the global pandemic. This context emphasized the necessity to collaboratively propose new knowledge, new imaginaries, and to harness desirable futures in a period that is characterised by profound change and a constant state of emergence/y.

About the theme EMERGENCE/Y - Arts and Sciences for Troubled Times

“We are all living within a world where it is now easier to imagine the collapse of all life than imagine reinventing the right ways to live.” Jay Jordan

In 2021, it is now a cliche to say that we have lived through an “unprecedented year” - particularly when the state of the pre-COVID world was in many ways unprecedented. Yet, the combination of the global pandemic and its resulting political-economic fallout, the continuing ecological crises, and the social-cultural explosion of long simmering systemic injustice and inequality have made the entangling of human, machine and natural orders ever more apparent, with radical consequences for all forms of life on this planet. The future appears uncertain, unstable, unsettling and unknown.

How do we respond? Métis and University of Toronto STS scholar Michelle Murphy writes that “assemblies of technical practices have generated not just facts but also speculative phenomena that are a felt part of the world, even if intangible. How do speculative social science [or research-creation] practices produce a world where undecided futures are brought into the present?” Murphy refers to this as “technoscience dreaming.” In other words, in an increasingly uncertain world, how can RC enable us to dream and trial new possible futures? In order to respond with reflection and action to the wicked problems of our global situation, Hexagram will develop a thematic programme of activities that will run from September 2021 to June 2022. We explore the role that research-creation can play, at the broader intersection of the arts and sciences, in tackling these troubled times in order to offer new possibilities, hopes and visions of a more just, equitable and open future.

Exploring hybrid modalities of presentation, discussion, and outreach, this year’s ongoing activities will bring together Hexagram members and current and prospective partners whose approaches are equally dedicated to addressing the current complex challenges through research situated at the intersections of the arts and sciences. Through concepts, ideas and projects we will develop a series of public experiments consisting of hybrid gatherings and discussions, roundtables, reading groups, calls for written and collaborative projects, and a large public facing summit in the spring of 2022.

Rencontres Interdisciplinaires : Launch at Ars Electronica 2021 - September 8 to 12.

Hexagram’s 2021-2022 Interdisciplinary season programming on the theme EMERGENCE/Y will launch the week of September 8-12, in the framework of the 2021 edition of the Ars Electronica Festival. Hexagram will present a series of synchronous and asynchronous streaming-based events specifically curated and produced for the Festival. The events and projects were selected by an ad-hoc jury following a call which was open to Hexagram members. Over 50 co-investigator members, student members and Hexagram collaborators, as well as their own collaborators, will contribute their work, research and insightful live discussions to the four-day programme.

Project Manager: Marc-André Cossette
Programming coordinator: Isabelle Boucher
Communications: Marine Theunissen (Hexagram) and Stephanie Creaghan (Milieux Institute)
Contact: Manuelle Freire, General Coordinator - Hexagram

Reclaiming the Planet

Authors

Maya Lamothe-Katrapani

Maya Lamothe-Katrapani is an undergraduate student in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Concordia University, Montreal. She is currently a research assistant examining speculative smart city projects at a planetary scale under the supervision of Dr. Orit Halpern. She is also collaboratively working on the website for the Reclaiming the Planet project. Her past academic works have merged her interests in gentrification, the role of material traces, memory and heritage with sound recording and photography. She is interested in exploring how creative mediums translate the embodied experience of social science research. She will complete her BA in the Fall 2021 semester at the University of Copenhagen as part of a student exchange program. This experience will allow her to familiarize herself with the Danish Welfare model and with Danish Architecture and Urban Design through a sociological perspective.

Alessia Zarzani

Alessia Zarzani is currently a Guest professor at the Université de Montréal, Faculty of Architecture. Her current research focuses on the urban landscape and the influence of technology and artificial intelligence. She graduated in architecture in 2012 (Sapienza University of Rome) after having worked in Italy and Brazil on multiple projects combining architecture and urban planning; furthermore she holds a joint PhD in Planning from Université de Montréal and in Landscape and Environmental from Sapienza University of Rome (2018). Author of several articles related to the evolution of urban landscape, Zarzani co-edited together with A. Ponte the publication Architecture and information 2.0 (2017). In 2018 she joined the research staff of the cooperation MILA-IVADO-UdeM on issues dealing with the ethics of urban digital landscape and the integration of artificial intelligence. In 2019 she became co-author of the Montreal Declaration for responsible artificial intelligence. Since then, she joined the Division of Plan and Policy of the City of Montreal. Her portfolio includes the integration and the impact evaluation of new mobility services and technologies in the urban landscape, including autonomous vehicles and micro-mobility.

Orit Halpern

Orit Halpern is an Associate Professor in Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. Her work bridges the histories of science, computing, and cybernetics with design. She is currently working on two projects. The first is a history of the relationship between “intelligence”, liberalism, and democracy; the second project examines extreme infrastructures and the idea of experimentation at planetary scales in design, science, and engineering. She is also the director of the Speculative Life Research Cluster and D4 : The Disrupting Design Research Group, both are laboratories bridging the arts, environmental sciences, media, and the social sciences.

Jean-Denis Milette

Jean-Denis Milette is an Architect and Ph. D. student at Montreal University. His work focuses on the impacts of science, computing, and regulation on architecture. He completed his studies at both Montreal University and EPFL. He is currently working on his Ph. D. research about 4.0 industry’s impact on architecture.

Gabriel Payant

Captivated by the effects of the digital transformation in design, Gabriel Payant works as an Architect and automation specialist for DMA Architects, as well as a Guest Professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Montreal. Since he first grasped the disruptive nature of computational design in his master’s thesis on the parametric planning of the redevelopment of ailing malls at the regional scale, he has furthered his research by tutoring architecture master students for their thesis project in workshops on territory and technology.

Marius Senneville

A recipient of SSHRC scholarships at both the master and PhD levels, Marius Senneville is now pursuing a thesis in Social and Cultural Analysis at Concordia University under the supervision of Orit Halpern. Borrowing from science and technology studies, political economy and organization studies, his research focuses on the cultural and organizational/financial factors influencing how ethical and socially responsible research in AI is conceptualized and operationalized in entrepreneurial spaces of knowledge production. His work has been published in Big Data & Society (co-authored) as well as presented at the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S).

Alessandra Ponte

Alessandra Ponte is Full professor at the École d’ architecture, Université de Montréal. She has also taught at the schools of architecture of Princeton University, Cornell University, Pratt Institute New York, the ETH Zurich, and at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia. Since 2008 she has been responsible for the conception and organization of the Phyllis Lambert International Seminar, annual colloquia held at the Université de Montréal, addressing current topics in landscape and architecture. She curated the exhibition Total Environment: Montreal 1965-1975 (Canadian Center for Architecture, Montreal, 2009) and collaborated to the exhibition and catalogue God & Co: François Dallegret Beyond the Bubble (with Laurent Stalder and Thomas Weaver, London: Architectural Association Publications, 2011).

Kim Laneuville

Kim Laneuville completed a pre-university degree in natural sciences (2014) at the Cégep de Sherbrooke. She also owns a Bachelor’s degree in psychology (2017) as well as a Master’s degree in architecture (2020 at the Université of Montréal. Since 2013, she has been a medical assistant in the Canadian Armed Forces requiring resourcefulness, priority management, creativity and leadership. She started her intership in architecture in June 2021 with Groupe Leclerc Architecture + Design.

Adriana Menghi

Adriana Menghi aims for a career in ecological architecture which would contribute to the valorization of the built heritage, of crafts arts and vernacular building techniques. She believes in an egalitarian and collaborative design process as well as in the importance of low-tech and high-tech approaches. She completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts with distinction from the University of Toronto, with a double major in design and in history and theory of art and architecture. She founded her faculty’s student union and a student research lab in eco-architecture, the future-Living Lab. With this design-build group she designed and built several prototypes and a Passiv Haus in Northern Ontario. After her graduation she worked with architect Stefano Pujatti in Italy, then as a researcher in the fields of holography and virtual and augmented reality visualization at OCAD University, in Toronto.

Delphine Ducharme

After having completed her undergraduate studies in architecture at Université de Montréal and having spent a year abroad at LOCI Bruxelles university, Delphine came back to Montreal to pursue a master in architecture. Her research interests currently focus on the role of architecture within territorial issues. She simultaneously works in a research group in collaboration with ARIAction and Architecture Without Borders Quebec where she works on improving the resiliency of the built environment in cities of Quebec to increasingly frequent flooding events.

Meryem Sekhri

After graduating from the University of Montreal with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2020, Meryem Sekhri is pursuing her Master of Architecture degree at the same institution. In 2019, she participated in the Visiting Barragan workshop in Mexico City, under the tutelage of Go Hasegawa. Since winter 2020, she has been involved with Docomomo Quebec, a modern heritage preservation organization. She is currently participating in the Architecture Territory Information 4.0 workshop directed by Alessandra Ponte. Her research theme addresses the issues of pollination and the beekeeping industry in Quebec.

Alexandre Asselin

Originally from a small village in Montérégie, Alexandre started his academic path in the city of Saint-Hyacinthe. After having completed his high school studies in an international program at Saint-Joseph de Saint-Hyacinthe, before obtaining his college diploma at the cegep of the same city in Pure and applied sciences. In 2017, he enrolled in architecture at McGill University, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in 2020. He is currently completing his Master’s degree in architecture at the Université de Montréal. Since the summer of 2018, Alexandre also works at Architecture CBA, a small firm located in Mont-Saint-Hilaire.

Anna Paola Bossi

Originally from Verona, Anna Paola Bossi first completed her studies in foreign languages, to then study architecture at Polytechnic of Milan, in Mantou. After many travels, she finally settled in Montreal in 2015 where she undertook a minor in art history and started her professional career at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Afterward, she started her studies in architecture at the Université of Montréal through which she is awarded three scholarships from the CIBPA Foundation as well as from the Fonds Wilrose Desrosiers et Pauline Dunn. Officially graduated in 2020, she is currently pursuing a master at the Faculty of Planning and works full-time as an intern at Ian Nataf architect.

Baptiste Kauffmann

After having obtained a general scientific baccalaureate at the Saint-Just high school in Lyon, Baptiste Kauffmann went to study for a BTS in construction (Brevet de Technicien Supérieur). He completed an internship in the construction company Grisoni-Zaugg in Geneva, Switzerland. Following this training, he entered the Université de Montréal to complete a Bachelor’s degree in architecture. He worked for Architecture Barillot in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, on various projects such as the conversion of a dwelling into a wine tasting school in Mâcon and the creation of a butterfly refuge for the Parc des oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes. He is now completing a Master’s degree in architecture at Université de Montréal.

Millie-Ann Grenon

Passionate about architecture, she completed her professional training at the Université de Montréal while accumulating various professional experiences within emerging architectural firms. Sensitized to the challenges of current practice and the opportunities that the field of planning might offer, she undertook the Architecture/Territory/Information 4.0 Master’s project. It is people and their environment that inspire her and motivate her passion for planning and inhabited spaces.

Rachel Ducharme

Rachel Ducharme is currently completing her Master in architecture at Université de Montréal. After graduating from high school in 2015, she completed a DEC in Visual Arts at Édouard-Montpetit CEGEP and obtained, in 2016, the scholarship for the best R score in the program. From 2017 to 2020, she completed her Bachelor’s degree in architecture at Université de Montréal and started the Master’s program in 2020. Since May 2021 she has been interning at Nativ Architecture.

Charles Antoine Poulin

After his undergraduate studies in architecture at Université Laval, Charles Antoine proceeded to complete a master in building engineering, structural profile at Concordia University. He is currently pursuing a master in architecture at Université de Montréal. Helped with his previous experience in patrimonial architecture in Chaudière-Appalaches, Charles-Antoine is now focusing on digital integration with regard to the conception of forestry projects in the region of Abitibi-Témiscamingue. His research conducted during winter 2021 has allowed him to explore various ways to use wood structures as well as data collection with regard to the monitoring of the general state and behaviors of buildings. This research framework is to be further advanced within the thesis project during the fall 2021 semester.

Fannie Hébert

Following her undergraduate studies in communication-marketing at Université de Sherbrooke as well as her independent studies in art history at Université du Québec à Montréal, Fannie Hébert ultimately chose the architecture program at Université de Montréal in 2016. In 2018, equipped with a basis of German, she leaves Montreal to complete her last undergraduate year of study at the Technische Universität of Munich. This experience allowed her to discover and explore an entirely new perspective on her domain of practice. Once back in Montreal, she joined the team of Manoeuvre Architecture, where she has been working for now more than a year and a half, in parallel to her master in architecture she currently conducts at Université de Montréal.

Ikram Haffaf

Initially pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Université du Québec à Montréal, Ikram reoriented toward architecture to satisfy both her curiosity and creativity. She graduated from Université de Montréal in 2019 and then dedicated a full year to internships and entering the professional milieu at Rouge Architecture. In 2020, she started her master in architecture and is concurrently working at Ruccolo+Faubert Architectes.

Liliane Hamelin

After having completed her Bachelor’s degree in architecture at Université de Montréal in 2019, Liliane undertook her Master of architecture at the same faculty. In 2009 she was recipient of the Ivanhoe-Cambridge Observatory Scholarship for a project carried out in collaboration with two of her colleagues, and in 2021 she received the GLT Scholarship for her proposal with regard to her Master’s project. Liliane is now working as an intern at the Montreal firm Provencher_Roy for almost two years.

Marie-Ève Fortier

Originally from Cantons-de-l’Est, Marie-Ève graduated in 2016 from the Technology of architecture program at Université de Sherbrooke (award of excellence) and continued her Bachelor’s degree at the Université de Montréal. In 2018, she undertook a semester abroad as part of the Hors les murs program where she conducted research and design work in Brazil. She dedicated the following year to a professional trip to Paris where she notably worked at the Ramdam architecture studio as well as to the Conseil d’Architecture, d’Urbanisme et de l’environnement (CAUE) of the city of Paris. In parallel to her university training, she participated in various competitions within the DAME collective founded in 2020 with David Blanc.

Reclaiming the Planet will be a publication, series of video taped discussions, and installation of data visualizations and architectural models. In this piece we showcase the results of our current architecture research studio investigating how industry 4.0 is transforming territory, environment, and political-economy. The project involves data visualizing the changing Quebec extraction industry ecologies, and imagining speculative designs for inhabiting post-extractionary territories in the future.

STUDENTS:
Alexandre Asselin
Arnaud Coulombe
Delphine Ducharme
Rachel Ducharme
Marie-Ève Fortier
Millie-Ann Grenon
Ikram Haffaf
Liliane Hamelin
Fannie Hébert
Baptiste Kauffman
Kim Laneuville
Adriana Menghi
Anna Paola Bossi
Charles-Antoine Poulin
Meryem Sekhri

DIRECTORS/STAFF
Alessandra Ponte
Orit Halpern
Alessia Zarzani
Gabriel Payant
Jean-Denis Milette
Marius Senneville
Maya Lamothe-Katrapani

Presented as part of the Hexagram Network Garden at the Ars Electronica Festival 2021
Launch of EMERGENCE/Y : Rencontres interdisciplinaire Hexagram 2021-2022

Discover | Découvrez
Les Rencontres Interdisciplinaires Hexagram

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Reclaiming the Planet

Discover | Découvrez
Les Rencontres Interdisciplinaires Hexagram

Cyclical Matters - Bioplastique à l'artichaut

Outer Space and the City: Provocations for the Urbanization of Space Technology

Reclaiming the Planet

2022
EMERGENCE/Y

2020
SYMPOIÉTIQUES

HEXAGRAM
WEBSITE

ARS ELECTRONICA
FESTIVAL

À Propos | ABOUT EMERGENCE/Y À Propos | ABOUT EMERGENCE/Y À Propos | ABOUT EMERGENCE/Y À Propos | ABOUT EMERGENCE/Y À Propos | ABOUT EMERGENCE/Y À Propos | ABOUT EMERGENCE/Y

LAUNCH OF HEXAGRAM INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMMING OF 2021-2022 EMERGENCE/Y @ ARS ELECTRONICA 2021 - Sept 8 to 12

About the theme EMERGENCE/Y - Arts and Sciences for Troubled Times

Rencontres Interdisciplinaires : Launch at Ars Electronica 2021 - September 8 to 12.

Reclaiming the Planet

Discover | DécouvrezLes Rencontres Interdisciplinaires Hexagram

Cyclical Matters - Bioplastique à l'artichaut

Outer Space and the City: Provocations for the Urbanization of Space Technology

Reclaiming the Planet

2022EMERGENCE/Y

2020SYMPOIÉTIQUES

HEXAGRAMWEBSITE

ARS ELECTRONICAFESTIVAL

Discover | Découvrez
Les Rencontres Interdisciplinaires Hexagram

2022
EMERGENCE/Y

2020
SYMPOIÉTIQUES

HEXAGRAM
WEBSITE

ARS ELECTRONICA
FESTIVAL