Professional Documents
Culture Documents
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Design Studio 2 focuses on the subject of Landscape and Culture with specific emphasis on
decolonial cultural narratives and practices. The context for the entire term is the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada and related 94 Calls to Action. Among these are calls
for transformation in education and the accountability of institutions. The University of Toronto, along
with many universities across Canada, developed its own 34 calls to action in response to the TRC;
these will provide the framework for discussion and design exploration. In particular, students will be
asked to address the ways in which First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, histories, languages,
cultural practices, values, knowledges, and the transmission of knowledges are represented and
included in the public realm of the U of T campus.
The second in a sequence of four required design studios, this course builds on the ideas and
representations that were introduced in the previous term related to Landscape and Site as
complex and layered materialities, dynamic processes, and contextual spaces – spatially,
functionally and historically. The design methodology in this course is rooted in a
multidisciplinary research practice, which draws on critical, decolonial, and aesthetic practices in
architectural design, critical theory, art history, literature, cultural studies, and visual art. In
concert with parallel required courses (Plants in Design, History-Theory-Criticism, Visual
Communication, and Site Engineering) the collective learning this term is intended to form a
socially critical and inclusive practice.
COURES STRUCTURE:
The course is divided into three parts:
Part 1 January 11 – Feb 1 focuses on the topic of the Memory, Counter Monument and Counter
Ceremony. Individual visual research and written interpretations of 27 precedent projects will
form a shared discussion on the dilemmas, aesthetics and places of counter memorials and
monuments relative to memory, loss, healing, narratives, protest, accountability, and prospect.
Part 2 Feb 4 – March 8 focuses on Re-storying Plants and Relations – Indigenous Botanical
Teachings, including principles of relationality, kindship, responsibility, storytelling
methodologies, naming, and regeneration. Student will produce mappings and botanical
representations of the U of T Campus that embody these histories, philosophies, and bodies of
knowledge. Students work in pairs.
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
2
Part 3 March 11 – April 8 focuses on the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action –
Indigenous Spaces at the U of T. Students will draws upon the first two to develop design
proposals that address the calls for the representation and inclusion of First Peoples histories,
languages, cultural practices, values, knowledges, and the transmission of knowledges in the public
realm of the U of T campus. Students work in pairs and concentrate on the west campus, which
includes St. George (E), Ursula Franklin (S), Spadina (W), Hardbord (N) streets.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
• Develop critical, theoretical, and creative skills.
• Enhance technical drawing precision and model making skills.
• Enhance verbal as well as digital multi-media presentation skills.
• Build on knowledge and methods acquired in complimentary courses.
• Link inquiry into scholarly writing and conceptual framing with drawing techniques.
• Deepen conceptual thinking and link with technical skills.
• Add to inventory of design / art precedents and related scholarship.
• Enhance capacity to participate in discourse on art, design, and culture.
• Explore themes of landscape and culture, histories, narratives, and decolonial work.
• Develop awareness of Indigenous histories, knowledges, philosophies and practices.
• Develop awareness of Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action and consider how these
may change present and future practice in the field of Landscape Architecture.
SCHEDULE:
Overview:
Wk 1 jan 11 / 14 intro #1
Wk 2 jan 18 / 21
Wk 3 jan 25 / 28
Wk 4 feb 1 / 4 review #1 / intro #2
Wk 5 feb 8 / 11
Wk 6 feb 15-19 reading week
Wk 7 feb 22 / 25
Wk 8 mar 1 / 4
Wk 9 mar 8 / 11 review #2/ intro #3
Wk 10 mar 15 / 18
Wk 11 mar 22 / 25
Wk 12 mar 29 / apr 1
Wk 13 apr 5 / 8
Wk 14 apr 12-16 final review
Week 1
M 1.11 9am-11am
Introduction, course objectives, schedule, logistics
Introduction to Assignment 1
11am-6pm
Individual work
TH 1.14 9am-1pm
Individual student meetings
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
3
Week 2
M 1.18 9am-10am
All-Class Discussion
10am-11am
Guest Lecture
Marc Ryan, Public Work - National Holocaust Memorial + other works
1pm-6pm
Individual student meetings
Required Reading
• Young, James, E. “The Memorial’s Vernacular Arc Between Berlin’s
Denkmal and New York City’s 9/11 Memorial” in The Stages of
Memory: Reflection on Memorial Art, Loss, and the Spaces in
Between. University of Massachusetts Press, 2016, 1-17.
• Stevens, Quentin, et al. “Counter Monuments the Anti-Monumental
and the Dialogic,” The Journal of Arch. Volume 17, Number 6, 1-22.
• Bailey, Stephanie and Mark Woytiuk “Remembering What is Not
Gone: Towards a Feminist Counter Monument” in The Site Magazine.
2018 (38), 53-59.
W 1.20 9am-10am
Tutorial on Cargo and GIF by TAs
TH 1.21 9am-1pm
Individual student meetings
Week 3
M 1.25 9am-11am
All-Class Discussion
11am-6pm
Individual student meetings
Required Reading
• Young, James E. “The Contemporary Arts of Memory in the Works of
Esther Shalev-Gerz, Miroslaw Balka, Tobi Kahn, and Komar and
Melamid” in The Stages of Memory: Reflection on Memorial Art, Loss,
and the Spaces in Between. 155-183
• Bryan-Wilson, Julia. “Rebecca Belmore: Material Relations” in
Afterall, A Journal of Art Context and Enquiry, 2018 (45), 43-49.
• Turions, Cheyanne. “Picking Up a Long Line” in Afterall, A Journal of
Art Context and Enquiry, 2018 (45), 51-57.
Recommended Listening / Viewing:
Monuments, Movements, and the Photography of Jeff Thomas,
Discussion between Mikinaak Migwans (Curator of Indigenous Art at
the UofT Art Museum and Maria Hupfield (UTM, Assistant Professor
Indigenous Digital Arts and Performance Canadian Research Chair
Transdisciplinary Indigenous Arts
https://artmuseum.utoronto.ca/virtual-spotlight/monuments-
movements-and-the-photography-of-jeff-thomas/
TH 1.28 9am-1pm
Individual student meetings
Week 4
M 2.01 9am-6pm
>> Final Review, Assignment 1
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
4
Week 4
TH 2.04 9am-11am
Introduction Assignment 2 and All-Class Discussion
11am-1pm
Student pairs work together
Required Listening / Viewing
• Robin Wall Kimmerer - TedX - The Honourable Harvest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz1vgfZ3etE
• Robin Wall Kimmerer - The Teaching of Plants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAH_pqVMZ0Q
• Joseph Pitawanakwat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br-
2Y2A_nXE
Week 5
M 2.08 9am-10am
All-Class Discussion
10am-11pm
Guest Lecture
Danijela Puric-Mladenovic, UofT Prof. of Forestry and Landscape
Architecture, Forest Cover in Southern Ontario from pre-European
settlement to present day + evaluation of UofT Campus Canopy.
12pm-1pm
Guest Lecture
Wendy Makoons Geniusz, author of Our Knowledge Is Not Primitive:
Decolonizing Botanical Anishinaabe Teachings, editor of Plants Have
So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical
Teachings.
2pm-6pm
Individual group meetings
Required Listening / Viewing
• Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – As We Have Always Done:
Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duidxcdBqw0&feature=youtu.be
• Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - Biidaaban (The Dawn
Comes) Short Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWjnYKyiUB8&feature=youtu.be
Skawennati – She Falls For Ages, a machinima, Short Animation
https://artmuseum.utoronto.ca/virtual-spotlight/greetings-from-
skyworld/
TH 2.11 9am-10am
10am-1pm
Individual group meetings
Week 6
2.15-19 Reading Week – No Class
Required Reading
Joseph, Bob. 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act.
Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a
Reality. Indigenous Relations Press. 2018.
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
5
Week 7
M 2.22 9am-10am
All-Class Discussion
9am-10am
Lecture
Terence Radford, Trophic Design – Rain garden and stormwater
design in urban areas
11am-6pm
Individual group meetings
TH 2.25 9am-1pm
Individual group meetings
Week 8
M 3.01 9am-10am
All-Class Discussion
10am-6pm
Individual group meetings
Required Reading
• Geniusz, Wendy Makoons. Our Knowledge is not Primitive:
Decolonizing Botanical Anishinaabe Teachings. Syracuse University
Press, 2009, XX-XX.
TH 3.04 9am-1pm
Individual group meetings
Week 9
M 3.08 9am-6pm
>> Final Review, Assignment 2
Week 9
TH 3.11 9am-11am
Introduction to Assignment 3 and All-Class Discussion
11am-12pm
Ceremony
Elder Whabagoon, Lac Seul First Nation, First People Leadership
Advisor to the Daniels Faculty Dean, Co-Founder Nikibii Dawadinna
Giigwag, Indigenous Youth Program – Anishinaabe Teachings
12pm-1pm
Students pairs work together
Required Reading
• Joseph, Bob. 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act.
Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a
Reality. Indigenous Relations Press. 2018.
• Wecheehetowin / Answering the Call: Final Report of the Steering
Committee for the University of Toronto Response to the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada. January 2017.
• Wagamese, Richard. Introduction and Beginnings in One Drum:
Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet, 15-44.
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
6
Week 10
M 3.15 9am-10am
All-Class Discussion
10am-6pm
Individual group meetings
Required Listening
• The R.K. Teetzel Lecture in Art by Kent Monkman held in conjunction with
the exhibition: Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience, for Canada’s
150th, 2017 https://vimeo.com/209440458
Required Reading
King, Thomas. “You’re not the Indian I had in mind” in The Truth About
Stories: A Native Narrative. CBC Massey Lectures. House of Anasi Press,
2003, 31-60.
TH 3.18 9am-1pm
Individual group meetings
Week 11
M 3.22 9am-10am
All-Class Discussion
10am-11am
Lecture
Elise Shelley, GH3 – Surface Materiality
11am-6pm
Individual group meetings
Required Listening
• Hart House Centennial Art Commission at the University of Toronto
Artist Talk with Rebecca Belmore and Osvaldo Yero, 2019
https://vimeo.com/390358705
TH 3.25 9am-1pm
In-studio work, desk critiques
Week 12
M 3.29 9am-6pm
Individual group meetings
TH 4.01 9am-1pm
Individual group meetings
Week 13
M 4.05 9am-6pm
>> Pre-Final Review, Assignment 3
TH 4.08 9am-1pm
Individual group meetings
Week 14
TBD 4.12-16 9am-6pm
>> Final Review, Assignment 3
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
7
Important Dates:
Winter 2021
First day of S classes/ Y classes resume Monday, January 11, 2021
Last day to enroll in S classes on Acorn Monday, January 18, 2021 TBC – may be
pushed by one week
Family Day Holiday- University Closed Monday, February 15, 2021
Winter Reading Week (No Classes) Monday February 15, 2021 to Friday,
*potential MFC field course February 19, 2021
Last day to cancel or S/Y section courses Monday, February 22, 2021 TBC may be
without academic penalty pushed by one week
Good Friday Holiday- University Closed Friday, April 2, 2021
Last day of S/Y session classes Thursday, April 9, 2021
April 13 – 30, 2021
Final exam/assessment period
(including Saturday and/or Sundays)
Conflicts with religious observances should be brought to the attention of the course instructor
and the Office of the Registrar and Student Services no later than the second week of classes.
For more information, please see the Policy on Scheduling of Classes and Examinations and
Other Accommodations for Religious Observances.
EVALUATION:
Evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the University Assessment and Grading
Practices Policy. Please refer to the policy located on the governing council website.
http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/Governing_Council/policies.htm#G
* Students are evaluated on participation in all-class discussions, guest lectures, and all-class
student presentations (pin ups, mid reviews, final reviews).
The graduate grading scale is listed as letter grades. The graduate grading scale is included
below for your reference:
Graduate
*FZ=Fail
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
8
Please refer to the University of Toronto Grading Practices Policy for additional information:
http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/Assets/Governing+Council+Digital+Assets/Policies/PD
F/grading.pdf.
LATE WORK:
All assignments are due in class at the specified time and date. Late submission will result in a
5% deduction (of each assignment’s total grade) per day (excluding weekends). In the case of
illness or other special circumstance, notification should be given to the Instructors and the
Registrar as soon as possible and before the deadline in question; where required, the official
University of Toronto Verification of Student Illness or Injury form must be submitted. Additional
information is available on the Verification of Illness or Injury is available online:
http://www.illnessverification.utoronto.ca/Frequently-Asked-Questions.php
Effective Communication:
Students are advised to contact their professors in advance of a deadline, where possible.
Those students registered with Accessibility services should provide a letter from their advisor
that confirms their registration and indicates their required accommodations. Please speak with
Andrea McGee in the ORSS if you have any questions or concerns regarding their letter of
accommodation and how to interpret the information. Otherwise, students should present you
with a Verification of Illness or Injury form (VOI). Without any documentation, or where notice
was not given, the ultimate decision is at the instructor’s discretion.
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
9
PREPAREDNESS AT UOFT:
Students are advised to register for UTAlert, the University’s alert system, at
http://alert.utoronto.ca/. UTAlert sends important messages to registrants via text, email, and
phone.
ACCESSIBILITY NEEDS:
The University provides academic accommodations for students with disabilities in accordance
with the terms of the Ontario Human Rights Code. This occurs through a collaborative process
that acknowledges a collective obligation to develop an accessible learning environment that
both meets the needs of students and preserves the essential academic requirements of the
University’s courses and programs.
If you are a student who identifies with one or more of the broad categories below, we
encourage you to register with Accessibility Services:
https://studentlife.utoronto.ca/department/accessibility-services/.
For any questions or assistance, please see the staff in the Office of the Registrar and Student
Services.
The Writing Centre at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
(http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/resources/writing-program) is a resource for Daniels students
seeking assistance with academic writing through tutorials and individual consultations.
Academic writing carries with it certain expectations about properly citing, quoting, and
referencing source material. Your research must be conveyed in a language commonly shared
by others in the discipline. The style guidelines preferred by the Daniels Faculty are put forth in
the Chicago Manual of Style and can be found here:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/contents.html
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/chicago_style_i
ntroduction.html
The Centre for International Experience (CIE) English Language Support is also available to
support students: https://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/cie/els
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Academic integrity is essential to the pursuit of learning and scholarship in a university, and to
ensuring that a degree from the University of Toronto is a strong signal of each student’s
individual academic achievement. As a result, the University treats cases of cheating and
plagiarism very seriously. The University of Toronto’s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
10
All suspected cases of academic dishonesty will be investigated following procedures outlined in
the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. If you have questions or concerns about what
constitutes appropriate academic behaviour or appropriate research and citation methods, you
are expected to seek out additional information on academic integrity from your instructor or
from other institutional resources. For information about academic integrity at the University of
Toronto, please see https://www.academicintegrity.utoronto.ca/.
REFERENCES:
Belcourt, Christi. Medicines to Help Us: Traditional Métis Plant Use. Gabriel Dumont Institute of
Native Studies and Applied Research, 2007.
Geniusz, Mary Siisip. Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have To Do is Ask: Anishinaabe
Botanical Teachings. University of Minnesota Press, 2015.
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038
11
Geniusz, Wendy Makoons. Our Knowledge is Not Primitive: Decolonizing Botanical Anishinaabe
Teachings, Syracuse University Press, 2009.
Joseph, Bob. 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act. Helping Canadians Make
Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality. Indigenous Relations Press. 2018.
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scietific Knowledge, and the
Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2013.
King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: a native narrative. House of Anansi Press Inc. 2003.
Murdoch, Isaac. The Trail of Nenaboozhoo and Other Creation Stories. Kegedonce Press, 2020.
Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake. As We Have Always Done: Indigenous freedom through radical
resistance. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
Young, James E. The Stages of Memory: Reflection on Memorial Art, Loss, and the Spaces in
Between. University of Massachusetts Press, 2016
Wagamese, Richard. One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet. Douglas & McIntyre, 2019.
Geniusz, Mary Siisip. Ojibwe Plant Name Glossary. Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have
To Do is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings. University of Minnesota Press, 2015, 339-355.
Geniusz, Wendy Makoons. Glossary in Our Knowledge is Not Primitive: Decolonizing Botanical
Anishinaabe Teachings, Syracuse University Press, 2009, 189-196.
1 Spadina Cres.
Toronto, ON M5S 2J5
Canada
416-978-5038