About

We are living in critical times, invoked less by concrete threats of destruction than by the feeling of something to come, or something that is happening but that we cannot quite get a grasp of. Nervous anticipation, buoyed by real time political events on social media, creates a charged atmosphere where 240 characters or click-bait memes overwhelm fact, and evoke an intensity of responses. Information drowns out meaning and thoughtfulness, generating the “sensation” of anticipation – a feeling-cluster of circulating forces that accumulate: the sensations implicit in  turning a corner, in hope, reverie, or of impending dread. Sensations of anxiety and trepidation swirl, as we navigate social, political and economic turbulence that seems infinitely deferred.

Structures of Anticipation is a 4-day symposium involving artists, researchers and academics that culminates in a public exhibition of works structured around the word/image relation. The participants who come from US & Canada will be responding to the idea that anticipation is as much a social phenomenon as it is a psychological one.

Structures of Anticipation is organized by Dr. Craig Campbell (University of Texas at Austin), Dr. Karen Engle (University of Windsor), and Dr. Yoke-Sum Wong (Alberta University of the Arts), with assistance from Dominic Pinney (MFA), Imogen Clendinning (MFA), and Czarina Mendoza. We would like to acknowledge support from SSHRC, the University of Windsor, In/Terminus, McGill-Queen’s University Press, SB Contemporary, and the Arts Council of Windsor and Region.