Office: CJ 4.329
Phone: (514) 848-2424 ext. 2542
E-mail:
Office Hours:

Tue - 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM


And by appointment.

Courses

Fall

COMS684 – Media Research Lab

Winter

COMS413 – Cultures of Production

Year

COMS374 – Intermedia II

Links

The Korsakow System
In July 2009 we launched version 5 of the Korsakow System, an easy-to-use software application for creating database narratives. Korsakow is open source and was invented by Berlin-based artist Florian Thalhofer. The showcase section of the website features several k-films, including my own Almost Architecture, a database documentary about highrise signs in Montreal. With the participation of Comm Studies grad students Ryan Cadrette and Irene Serrano, and undergrad alum Gabriel Gosselin.

Farine Five Roses art project
A participatory art project centring on the Farine Five Roses neon sign in Montreal. Love it or hate it, it’s been a feature of the city’s skyline for over 60 years and its days are numbered.

Montreal Signs Project
An outcome of my earlier research/creation initiative Logo Cities, the Montreal Signs Project focuses on the cultural histories associated with, or sparked by, old signs, for example: fabrication technologies, media, labour, language, immigration, ethnicity. The MSP includes a permanent exhibition of five signs from local enterprises: Bens Restaurant, Monsieur Hotdog, Monkland Taverne, Warshaw Supermarket, Paramount Cinema.

Matt Soar

Associate Professor

BSc, Building, Nottingham Trent University

MA, Communication, Simon Fraser University

PhD, Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst


My page on the dynamic new Research @ Concordia portal.

My scholarly background is in media and cultural studies; I am also an intermedia artist, graphic designer and writer. My research/ creation activities centre on design, visual culture, cultural production, the politics of representation, and media literacy.

Latest News I visited New York in early September for this year’s Open Video Conference, where the entire Korsakow development team presented a workshop on Database-driven Narratives. I am Principal Investigator on a new SSHRC Research/Creation in the Fine Arts grant titled Proof in Process: An iterative approach to experimental film and video in the age of transmedia. My teammate is Monika Kin Gagnon, and our collaborators are Florian Thalhofer, Phil Hoffman, and Midi Onodera. The CINER-G-sponsored event Database | Narrative | Archive, an international symposium on digital nonlinear storytelling, was held at Concordia in May 2011; we are now planning a post-symposium publication. The Montréal Signs Project has a new acquisition.

Digital media and interactivity I recently completed an audiobook recording of Jack London’s 1908 novel The Iron Heel which is now available on Librivox, and have overseen a complete redesign of the Canadian Journal of Communication. I am a collaborator on a FQRSC grant called Writing Complex: New Models for Computational Typography, New Genres of Digital Writing. The Principal Investigator is Professor Jason Lewis (Design & Computation Arts). From 2007 to 2011 I was Principal Investigator on a FQRSC-funded project exploring the creative possibilities of interactive narrative in the digital humanities and applied arts. Dubbed CINER-G (the Concordia Interactive Narrative Experimentation and Research Group – pronounced “synergy”), the team comprised: Monika Kin Gagnon and Tim Schwab (Comm Studies), Jason Lewis (Design & Computation Arts), and Elena Razlogova (History). In July 2009, we launched version 5 of the Korsakow System. We have led Korsakow workshops at Visible Evidence in NYC and LA, and at Concordia (three times).

Graphic design In March 2010 I wrote a brief review of the new animated short Logorama for Eye magazine. I recently guest-edited a special issue of Design and Culture, titled ‘Signs and the City’. An unedited version of my rather polemical review of Kalle Lasn’s book Design Anarchy for Eye magazine is available right here.

Last update: January 09, 2012 – 17:15