Sydney Hart

Sessional Faculty

Availability:

Education:


Bio

Sydney Hart has a PhD in Cultural Studies from Queen’s and an MA in Aesthetics and Art Theory from the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (London, UK). Previously, he studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (London, UK) and Concordia University (Montréal, QC). Originally from Tiohtià:ke / Montréal, he is now based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

Websites:


Research Interests

Sydney Hart's research interests focus on a re-examination of modernist legacies through the contemporary, aesthetic dimensions of data and information. His critical writing on art and digital media has appeared in magazines including C Magazine, ESPACE art actuel, and Esse arts + opinions, and in journals including Synoptique, PUBLIC, and Intermediality. He has worked in various editorial roles, notably co-editing the journal livedspace and the book Weaving Histories. Sydney has presented on art and data visualization in venues including the Universities Art Association Conference and the Vector Festival. His recent artworks incorporate elements of geometric abstraction, photographic imagery and data visualization.

24/25 Courses

Course Name Department Course Code Term
Writing WRTG 300 26/SP

Description

Art criticism has increasingly come to shape not only public perception, but art practice itself. This is a pragmatic course which will help students develop the skills necessary for writing about art. The course will also examine the evolution of written criticism and some of its underlying cultural assumptions. It is an opportunity to assess the state of contemporary art criticism in order to develop the analytical and presentational skills necessary to participate actively in the current public written discourse about art and design.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.

Humanities HUMN 101 26/SP

Description

Continuing with the development of modes of literacy and visual/textual analysis initiated in HUMN 100: Academic Core I, this course will prioritize how representation makes meaning, and how art, media, design, and textual practices participate in a broader social and political sphere. Analysis of both visual images/objects and texts from a variety of historical periods, from the 16th century to the present day, will be emphasized through shared case studies (from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas), keywords, and themes. Throughout, an integrated approach to the humanities will be prioritized, involving the development of critical thinking, writing skills, and class participation and engagement. Combining weekly lectures and smaller breakout seminar sessions for art, design and media, students will be exposed to the specificities of a Humanities curriculum (drawing from Art Media + Design History, Visual Culture, English, Composition and Rhetoric, and Cultural and Media Studies), and to the conceptual and practical skills necessary for further courses in Critical + Cultural Studies, as well as their subsequent studies as a whole. As students persist in building the skill set necessary for critical and contextual inquiry, emphasis will be placed on processes of visual perception, the cultural meaning of images and objects, and their many intersections with knowledge, power, and technology. Throughout, students will be encouraged to situate their own practice in relation to a broader history of representation, in order to articulate their own perspective on what it means to participate in cultural production.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.