The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto is excited to present its Winter 2025 Public Program. 

This semester’s program highlights the work of leading global thinkers and practitioners who are shaping the future of our built and natural environments. Through a dynamic series of lectures, book talks, discussions and more, they’ll explore such themes as extractivism, scarcity, landscape heritage and mosques as sites of contemporary architectural innovation, examining the role of our disciplines in addressing urgent challenges at home and across the globe.  

From the evolving relationship between the built world and the natural one to the ways in which architecture can foster social and environmental innovation, the Daniels Faculty’s Winter 2025 Public Program aims to provoke dialogue across timelines and geographies. 

All events in the series are free and open to the public. Register in advance and consult the calendar for up-to-date details here. Many events will be live-streamed and available on the Daniels Faculty’s YouTube channel. 

Register

January 23, 6:30 p.m.  
The Dominion of Flowers: North American Book Launch 
Featuring Mark Laird (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) in conversation with Therese O’Malley 

January 30, 6:30 p.m. 
The Legacy of Claude Cormier: Film Screening & Panel Discussion 
This event is being held as part of DesignTO Festival 2025 and in partnership with the Toronto Society of Architects, The Cultural Landscape Foundation and the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. 

February 6, 6:30 p.m.  
An Alternative Urbanism: The Culture of Self-organising Systems 
Featuring Tosin Oshinowo (Studio Oshinowo) 

February 7, 6:00 p.m. 
Lewerentz Divine Darkness: Film Screening 
Featuring Sven Blume, Director 

February 11, 6:30 p.m.  
Common Mud and Flooded Pits 
MVS Proseminar Artist Talk
Featuring Cooking Sections 

February 13-14 
Mosque Architecture Now: Public Spaces for Social, Technical & Environmental Innovation 
Organized by Aziza Chaouni (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) and Ruba Kana’an (University of Toronto)
This event has been cancelled. 

March 6, 6:30 p.m.  
‘One clover, and a bee’ 
Featuring Shirley Blumberg (KPMB Architects) 

March 13, 6:30 p.m. 
NEW EVENT It is about time
Featuring Stefano Pujatti (ELASTICOFarm)

Jeffrey Cook Memorial Lecture: A Measure of Architecture
Featuring Amin Taha (GROUPWORK), Pierre Bidaud (The Stonemasonry Company) and Steve Webb (Webb Yates) 
This event has been postponed until Fall 2025.

March 20, 6:30 p.m. 
Placeknowing
Featuring Theodore Jojola (University of New Mexico) 

Volume 1 of Scaffold* Journal, created and published by the student-run SHIFT* Collective, has been released. 

It’s the first print edition of the rebooted publication, which evolved out Shift Magazine, a previous Daniels publication.

Shift Magazine, an undergraduate risograph journal, was released nine times between 2014 and 2019. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all Shift operations until 2022, when they were revived by the members of the SHIFT* Collective. 

Since 2022, the collective has published four additional risograph zines while planning the reimagined Scaffold* Journal. Its members consist of students from across all years and programs within the Daniels undergraduate cohort.

“Our current team created Scaffold* in response to a gap that we had perceived in access to research within our academic context,” says the collective. “All of the research we had seen was perfect, it was pedestaled, and we wanted to provide a clearer path through which students could pitch themselves into the pits of scholarship.” 

Their goal with the new publication, team members add, was “a process-oriented research journal platforming the work of emerging scholars in disciplines of the built environment.” To that end, the editing team met “prolifically” with student contributors and faculty advisers “to understand their practices and our responsibility in representing them.”

Volume 1 of the journal, whose contributions include students and faculty members across programs, contains “a multitude of disparate perspectives that all fall under the constructed-environment umbrella.” According to its creators, the edition explores methodologies ranging from collage and board gaming to junk appropriation and speculative fabulation.

“Scaffold* only attempts to represent the diversity of work that goes on within disciplines of architecture, art and the built environment. Ultimately, it is a testimony to what we, as a community within the Daniels Faculty and beyond, have learned and continue to learn from each other.”

With the first print edition of Scaffold* now complete, the SHIFT* Collective is already at work on Volume 2, submissions for which “will open soon.”

Print copies of Volume 1 are currently available for purchase at Cafe 059 in the Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent. A digital version can also be accessed at theshiftcollective.net.

Above: Contributors and faculty recently joined members of the SHIFT* Collective to mark the launch of Scaffold* Journal’s first print edition. Scaffold* is a new iteration of Shift Magazine, a previous Daniels publication.

The annual Eyeball exhibition showcasing recent artwork by the Daniels Faculty’s undergraduate students in Visual Studies is currently on view at 1 Spadina Crescent.

The 2024 exhibition features works by more than 30 students, the yearly survey will be on display in the Daniels Building's Larry Wayne Richards Gallery into the new year.

Students represented include: Karooni Ahmed, Selina Al Madanat, Nicholas Aoki, Juanita Arango Corchuelo, Evan Bulloch, Ariel Clipperton, Julian Gentile, Athen Go, Eli Guan, Helia Honarmandi, Gaven Jin, Ashlyn Kent, Amber Kwok, Alaya (Phuong Anh) Le, Lucy Lin, Nusha Naziri, Sandy Nguyen, Mitsuko Noguchi, Hadassah Okebugwu, Megan Price, Salma Ragheb, Line Sato Bouziri, Angie Song, Ella Spitzer-Stephan, Gillian Stam, Junjing Sun, Kara Tsenov, Auden Tura, Kara Tsenov, Jennifer Wang, Olive Wei and Songzi Zhou.

The exhibition encompasses a range of media, including painted works on paper and canvas, film and video pieces and mixed-media installations.

An opening celebration will be held in the LWR Gallery on Thursday, November 21, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. All artists, supporters, Visual Studies faculty and Daniels Faculty staff are invited to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.

Angel Levac (Brant), a first-year student in the Faculty’s Bachelor of Arts in Visual Studies (BAVS) program, has been featured on the Hart House website in relation the Talking Walls exhibition she has curated. Called United Goals: Empowering Climate Justice and Indigenous Ways of Knowing, it’s currently on view at 7 Hart House Circle until February 28, 2025.

Talking Walls provides a venue for socially conscious, thought-provoking artwork, which Levac’s exhibition—a celebration of Indigenous youth standing at the forefront of the fight against land and resource exploitation as well as climate change—highlights through myriad images.

Born to the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and adopted by Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Levac has been working with Indigenous artists to create a zine that shares the experiences of Indigenous youth through artistic expression. The publication also discusses divestment in relation to land, rights, sovereignty and climate action.

Levac hopes that the United Goals exhibition will raise awareness of and spur young Indigenous people and U of T students to get involved in climate action.  

“Being an ally and an advocate for Indigenous youth really does set a standard for the future in terms of mutual support,” Levac says in the Hart House interview. “I’m looking forward to having Indigenous youth present and seeing themselves as part of the school, the community and the city. It’s going to be a beautiful experience.”

Read the full interview by Megan Wykes on the Hart House blog and visit the Talking Walls show on the first floor of Hart House.

Internships are a vital part of the educational journey for Master of Visual Studies (MVS) students at the Daniels Faculty. This summer,  Lauren Warrington and Lina Wu, both now in their second year of the MVS Studio Art program, took on unique internships to further their artistic research.  

Lina worked at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, delving into the archive to explore themes of desire, sexuality and art, while Lauren divided her time between artist Karen Tam’s Montreal studio and the Chung Collection at the University of British Columbia’s Rare Books and Special Collections, focusing on early Chinese Canadian immigration.  

The MVS program emphasizes interdisciplinary exchange and mentorship, allowing students to connect theory with practice. In this interview, Lina and Lauren share how their experiences have impacted their studies—providing insights into the practical applications on their artistic practice and the importance of hands-on experience in their research. 

What drew you to your selected internships this past summer? 

Lina Wu: I was talking to faculty member Jean-Paul Kelly about Austin Osman Spare's collection of drawings, Psychopathia Sexualis, and he mentioned that the folio is housed at the Kinsey Institute. These drawings immediately caught my interest and I decided to reach out to the Institute because they have a huge collection of both contemporary and historical art and artifacts. My own research and artistic practice is very much about drawing desire and sexuality so I thought it would be a good fit. 

Lauren Warrington: I was hoping to gain experience working in a professional studio and to also spend time at an archive related to my research, which focuses with the early Chinese Canadian immigration and the Chinese diaspora of the Canadian Prairies.  

Tell us about your experiences. What were you working on? Any favourite memories? 

Lina: Half of my time at the Kinsey Institute was spent cataloguing the work of John Schacht (1938-2009), a gay artist who was based in Chicago, Iowa, and Indiana working primarily in drawing and painting. It was fascinating getting to know his life story and charting his artistic development through his journals, sketchbooks, and correspondences. The other half of my time was spent looking through the archives for my own research. My work is very much grounded in zines and cartooning, so I think my favourite moments were spent looking through their punk zine collection. They also house underground comix artist Lyn Chevli's artist files, and I loved browsing through her work and her comics collection.  

Images courtesy Lina Wu taken at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University.

Lauren: I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to assist Karen Tam with the production of work for the Toronto Biennial, her solo show Sea of Clouds at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery in Calgary, and a group exhibition at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver. I have admired Karen Tam’s work since 2008, when she created a restaurant installation in my hometown’s Chinatown at a Chinese restaurant that had been turned into an artist-run space. Having the chance to learn from her felt surreal in many ways. In addition to assisting her with production, I also had the opportunity to discuss my research. We spoke about our shared areas of study, creating work from family narratives, and how she mobilizes information from archives to create work. On the practical side, she also shared research tips specific to UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections. 

The day after I returned from Montreal, I flew to Vancouver to visit the Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and began my work under the supervision of archivist Claire Malek. I went with the goal of learning about the conditions in which my maternal ancestors immigrated. The first of which was during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the second during Head Tax, and the third following the end of Head Tax.  

How will your internship experience impact your studies?  

Lina: Working at the Kinsey Institute has allowed me to explore the use of kink and BDSM imagery in my drawing practice. Not to mention it's exposed me to so many diverse and influential queer and feminist artistic practices, each with their own methods of working which I'll be turning to for inspiration.  

Lauren: Although I was there (the Chung Collection) for only a week, I managed to take approximately 5,000 photos. From this material, I created a research log that will anchor my work for this year. Leaving the archive, I felt immense gratitude for the Chung Collection, a collection rooted in community rather than institution, for having preserved so many documents that are often discarded. Having the opportunity to engage with these materials, filling gaps in my family’s story, was deeply generative. It’s difficult to express how meaningful it was to think with so many new objects and documents, several of which provided unexpected rabbit holes to explore, in addition to the context I was initially seeking.  

Do you have any advice for other students considering an internship? 

Lauren: My advice to students looking for an internship is to reach out to faculty for guidance and to not be afraid to contact the people or places you most desire to work with.  

Lina: Don't be afraid to advocate for your own research interests when finding an internship. Even if you think your interests are niche or unique, there is definitely an intellectual community out there that can help you further your thinking. Also, don't be afraid of asking questions. I'm always self-conscious because I feel like I have too many questions, but there were so many experts at the Kinsey Institute whose institutional knowledge I wouldn't have otherwise been able to access.  

Banner: (left) portrait of Lauren Warrington by Carey Shaw; (right) portrait of Lina Wu by Carson Van Vliet.

Welcome to the start of the 2024-2025 academic year! Whether you’re a returning student at Daniels or this term is your first, I hope that your time at the Faculty is a happy and productive one. Our school is a special place at the University of Toronto and within the city of Toronto, and we want you to reap as much from your experience here as possible.

Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll look forward to connecting with as many of you as I can. If you have any questions or concerns now or throughout the coming year, please reach out to either the Office of the Dean (daniels-dean@daniels.utoronto.ca) or the Office of the Registrar and Student Services (registrar@daniels.utoronto.ca) at any time. 

This year as in previous ones, your coursework will be complemented by an exciting roster of extracurricular offerings. Launching this month, our Fall 2024 Public Program series includes lectures and presentations by some of the leading designers and thinkers in their fields. 

Among them this term are Chris T Cornelius of Wisconsin-based studio:indigenous (September 26), multidisciplinary artist Pio Abad (November 4) and Canadian architect Omar Gandhi (November 21). The series will kick off next week, on September 12, with a lecture by this year’s holders of the Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design: Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg of New York practice SO-IL. 

In addition, look out for the staging of two new exhibitions at 1 Spadina this term—Urban Domesticity (opening September 12 in the Larry Wayne Richards Gallery on the ground floor of the Daniels Building) and Shaping Atmospheres (in the lower-level Architecture and Design Gallery starting October 2)—as well as a range of year-round activities planned around the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Black History Month and other noteworthy dates. 

Your schoolwork, of course, will keep you very busy, but I urge you to attend and to take in as many of these inspiring and illuminating events as you can. The Public Program at Daniels is a valuable resource available to our entire community and we hope that you’ll take advantage of it to the fullest. 

Have a great first semester!

Robert Levit (he/him)
Acting Dean
John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto is excited to present its Fall 2024 Public Program. 

Through a curated series of lectures, exhibitions, book talks, discussions, and symposia, this semester’s program raises questions and delves into contemporary issues facing the built and natural environment. From housing typologies and modern legacies to Indigenous storytelling and the intersection of climate science, geopolitics, and artistic perspectives, we explore a diverse range of topics aimed at fostering dialogue and exchange across our disciplines. 

All events are free and open to the public. Register on Eventbrite in advance and consult the events calendar for up-to-date details. Many events will be live-streamed and available on the Daniels Faculty’s YouTube channel. 

Register

September 12, 6:30 p.m. 
Gehry Chair Lecture: Urban Domesticity 
Featuring Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg (SO–IL) 

September 12-October 25 
Exhibition: Urban Domesticity 
Larry Wayne Richards Gallery 

September 26, 6:30 p.m.
Future Ancestor 
Featuring Chris T Cornelius (Oneida) (University of New Mexico; studio:indigenous) 

October 17, 6:30 p.m. 
Architecture of Health: The Annual Zeidler-Evans Lecture
Designing for Older Persons in a Transforming World 
Featuring Dr. Diana Anderson, Molly Chan (NSDA Architects) and Stephen Verderber (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) 

October 18, 12:30 p.m.
Radio-Activities: Architecture and Broadcasting 
Featuring Alfredo Thiermann (EPFL) 

October 24, 6:30 p.m.
George Baird Lecture
Housing_Medium Please! 
Featuring Elizabeth Whittaker (Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; MERGE Architects)  

November 4, 6:30 p.m.
MVS Proseminar Artist Talk 
Featuring Pio Abad 

November 7-8 
Shaping Atmospheres  
Symposium organized by Ala Roushan (OCAD University) and Charles Stankievech (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) with support from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) 

November 7, 6:30 p.m.
Symposium Keynote: Shaping Atmospheres
Featuring Holly Jean Buck (University at Buffalo) and David Keith (University of Chicago) 

October 2-December 21 
Exhibition: Shaping Atmospheres 
Architecture + Design Gallery 

November 21, 6:30 p.m.
Where the Wild Things Are 
Featuring Omar Gandhi (Omar Gandhi Architects) 

November 22-23 
Preservation? Modernist Heritage and Modern Toronto 
Symposium organized by Aziza Chaouni and Robert Levit (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) 

November 22, 6:30 p.m. 
Preservation? Modernist Heritage and Modern Toronto 
Keynote Presentations and Discussion

The annual Master of Visual Studies Proseminar at the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design offers graduate students in curatorial studies and studio art the opportunity to connect and exchange with field-leading international and local artists, curators, writers, theorists and other scholarly practitioners and researchers.   

The 2024/2025 MVS Proseminar Series examines how contemporary art intersects with societal contexts, from exploring identity and cultural memory to challenging conventional narratives. Through studio visits, masterclasses and workshops with our students, alongside public evening lectures, our invited practitioners spark interdisciplinary dialogue and prompt inquiry among our community.  

This group of speakers was brought together to reflect the diverse practices and research interests of our graduate students. The guests will speak from their experiences and research in various subject areas, such as repressed historical events and the creation of counter-narratives; counter-publics and the imagining of new social futures; weather and Indigenous cultural practices; food and extractivism; various forms of visual and social transformation; artists-moving image and bad animation; and curatorial politics and representation. 

The 2024/2025 MVS Proseminar is curated by Assistant Professor Gareth Long, Director of the Faculty's Visual Studies Programs. All events take place in Main Hall at the Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent. Registration is not required.  

Fall 2024 

September 10, 5:30pm ET  
Erika Balsom 
Scholar and critic 

October 3, 6:30pm ET 
Prem Krishnamurthy 
Designer and curator 

October 8, 6:30pm ET  
Tanya Lukin Linklater 
Artist and choreographer 

November 4, 6:30pm ET  
Pio Abad 
Artist 

November 19, 6:30pm ET 
James McAnally 
Curator, critic, and editor 

The Winter Series features Shanay Jhaveri (Head of Visual Arts at the Barbican, London), Cooking Sections (the multidisciplinary practice of Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe) and Jamillah James (Manilow Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago), and others. Dates will be announced on the Daniels Faculty website in the fall.  

About the Master of Visual Studies (MVS) Program

The Master of Visual Studies (MVS) is an intimate, two-year program in either Studio Art or Curatorial Studies. These two streams of study operate at a field-leading intersection of liberal-arts academic research, studio and curatorial professional practices and methodologies, and a unique program identity grounded in a critical approach to discursive practices in exhibition. 

The artistic research and scholarship that emerges from both program pathways reflects increasingly complex modes of art and exhibition-making, filtered through philosophy, cultural theory, criticism and diverse material practices. Situated within one of the world’s leading research institutions, the MVS programs focus on art and its presentation as research, fostering interdisciplinary exchange within the greater Daniels Faculty and across the University of Toronto. 

Image credits: 

1) Pio Abad, To Those Sitting in Darkness. Exhibition view, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2024. Image courtesy Pio Abad.

2) Tanya Lukin Linklater with Tiffany Shaw, Indigenous geometries, 2019, cold rolled steel, laminate ash, paint, matte polyurethane, hardware, 84 x 107 x 107 in. (213 x 272 x 272 cm). Installation view, Inner blades of grass (soft) / inner blades of grass (cured) / inner blades of grass (bruised by the weather), Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, USA, 2024. Photo: Luke Stettner. Courtesy Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver.

3) Black Quantum Futurism, SLOWER-THAN-LIGHT SHRINE: IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD commissioned by James McAnally for Counterpublic 2023. Image courtesy of Chris Bauer. 

4) Image courtesy Prem Krishnamurthy.

From Paleolithic caves to spiritual temples like the Panthenon, medieval cathedrals and mosques to modernist planetariums, domed architecture has served as a pivotal space for human reflection. In his new book, The Desert Turned to Glass, acclaimed artist and Associate Professor Charles Stankievech explores the evolution of the planetarium as it relates to the origins of life, consciousness and art. 

The book reflects over a decade of Stankievech’s research, pairing visual documentation of his cinematic installations with newly commissioned essays by geologists, exobiologists, philosophers and archeologists. The book’s title is inspired by Stankievech’s time spent in the desert during an artist residency in Marfa, Texas, “where both meteorites and the first atomic explosion melted the desert sand into glass.”  

The book opens with a newly translated 1923 Walter Benjamin text that discusses the inauguration of the first planetarium and humanity’s search for a cosmic connection during a period of technological progress and post-World War I reflection. This historical context frames the subsequent essays by editors Ala Roushan, Dehlia Hannah and Nadim Samman. 

Originally commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the planetarium, a central part of the publication documents Stankievech’s exhibition The Desert Turned to Glass, first mounted at Calgary Contemporary. The cinematic installation Eye of Silence blends footage of atmospheric phenomena, volcanic landscapes and meteorite craters to depict the Earth’s evolution and provoke reflections on creation and transformation.  

Additional essays by physicist Karen Barad and archaeologist David Lewis-Williams explore cosmological questions from a deep-time perspective. Further interviews with experts, including renowned architect Douglas Cardinal, who serves as Decanal Advisor on Indigenous Knowledge at the Daniels Faculty, offer insights into geoscience, meteorites, architecture, Zen Buddhism and Artificial Life. 

The book also includes a final section on Stankievech’s methodology, featuring a discussion with primary collaborator Roushan. 

“With this closing dialogue weaving together the book’s themes, I hope we have established a new realm of connections, resonances and relationships,” Stankievech writes. 

The Desert Turned to Glass is available for checkout at the Eberhard Zeidler Library in the Daniels Building and for purchase online through Hatje Cantz. The related body of work will be exhibited at Oakville Galleries and internationally in Germany, Prague and Denmark this fall. 

Banner image: The Eye of Silence, 2023. 6K video 30mins with 7.1 audio. Installation View at Contemporary Calgary Planetarium Dome.

Congratulations on your admission to the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design—an unparalleled centre for learning and research offering graduate programs in architecture, landscape architecture, forestry, urban design and visual studies, as well as unique undergraduate programs that use architecture and design as bases for pursuing a broader education.     

When you choose to join us at Daniels, you’ll be a part of and have access to:  

•   The No. 1 university in Canada, the most sustainable university in the world, plus the fourth-best public university in North America and 12th worldwide 
• A dynamic downtown campus in the heart of Canada’s largest and most diverse city 
• Unparalleled extracurricular opportunities, including varsity athletics, clubs, international exchange programs and leadership/mentorship  
• Canada’s No. 1 university for graduate employability and top 20 globally 
• The highest scholarship and financial funding amongst all Canadian universities 

At the Daniels Faculty, the environment in which our students learn and congregate is as unique as our program offerings. Our hub at 1 Spadina Crescent—the Daniels Building—is a bold work of architecture and landscape on a prominent urban site between U of T’s St. George campus and the vibrant centre of Toronto. Across Spadina Crescent, the North and South Borden buildings (home to our visual studies programs) and the Earth Sciences Centre (HQ for forestry studies) complete the Faculty’s trifecta of sites. 

Whether you’re travelling to Canada to begin your studies, navigating a move to Toronto, or choosing our Faculty to continue your academic journey—we’re here to support you in all the steps ahead.   

So, what comes next?

Visit the Newly Admitted Students section of the Daniels website for resources, key contacts and important dates. 

• New Undergraduate Students (BAAS, BAVS) 
• New Graduate Students (MARC, MLA, MFC, MUD, MVS) 
• New Research Stream Students (MScF and PhD programs)

Have a question? Get in touch with us!

Please feel free to contact the Office of the Registrar and Student Services.

• undergraduate@daniels.utoronto.ca
• graduate@daniels.utoronto.ca
• researchstream@daniels.utoronto.ca