Novelist, artist and cultural organizer Ashok Mathur will explore the possibilities of interdisciplinary art practices within the rubric of academic study during his reading and presentation today.
The Canada Research Chair in Cultural & Artistic Inquiry at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, Mathur will present "Mixing it Up: The Art of Distillation" at 5:30pm at 214 Calumet College, Keele campus.
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He will talk about transforming his novel, A Little Distillery in Nowgong (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2009), into a collaborative art installation that built on both the manuscript and the labour of research. This presentation will also engage the various models of research-creation in a landscape of exploratory possibility.
At Thompson Rivers University, Mathur directs the Centre for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada, a site for artistic research through residencies, retreats and think-tanks that engages the intersections of critical and creative research. His work spans the theories of critical pedagogy and anti-racist research as well as the politics of race and writing in Canada. He is also involved in curatorial and artistic projects that involve social justice and a politics of socio-political engagement.