Tag Archives: Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation

U of Ottawa & Ingenium (Canada’s museums of science and innovation) team up to make learning fun and foster innovation

This November 4, 2021 University of Ottawa news release (also on EurekAlert and the Ingenium website), seems, borrowing from the movies, to be a teaser rather than a trailer or preview of what is to come.

Today [November 4, 20210], University of Ottawa and Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation – announced a partnership that brings an interactive and educational digital experience to Kanata North. Innovating beyond the walls of its museums, Ingenium has created iOS [formerly iPhone OS {operating system}] and Nintendo Switch games to make learning fun. On site at the University’s Kanata North campus at 535 Legget Drive, visitors can now experience what it is like to fly like a honeybee, go on a mission to Mars, or test their skills as a fighter pilot in WWI.

“The University’s partnership with Ingenium has been a long and productive one, anchored by a common mandate to promote science education and to create environments that foster science and technology innovation,” said Veronica Farmer, Director, Partnerships and Commercialization at uOttawa Kanata North. “The digital games installation reflects this intent and definitely brings an element of fun to our Kanata North campus.”

Opened in 2018, uOttawa’s Kanata North campus has been partnering with Kanata North companies, connecting them to exceptional young talent, valuable education programming, relevant research expertise as well as global networks – all important factors to facilitate innovation. Recently expanded to 8000sqft, uOttawa Kanata North offers a large, dynamic collaborative and training space.

“As a national institution, we know that digital innovation is key to connecting with all Canadians. In partnering with uOttawa, we hope to foster creativity, discovery and innovation [emphasis mine] in the next generation,” said Darcy Ferron, Vice-President, Business Development [emphasis mine] at Ingenium.

This digital experience [emphasis mine] will benefit students, researchers, alumni and partners based in Kanata North. All are welcome to visit the uOttawa Kanata North campus and immerse themselves in an innovative, interactive and educational digital experience through this unique installation dedicated to showcasing that science and technology innovation starts with curiosity and exploration.

“Ingenium has been the place where this has happened for generations and this digital experience offers a reminder to all that visit our Kanata North campus of the deep connection between science and technology education, university training and research, and fulfilling careers in technology,” added Veronica Farmer.

###

The University of Ottawa—A crossroads of cultures and ideas

The University of Ottawa is home to over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing [inadvertent pun] ideas. We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe.

About Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation

Ingenium oversees three national museums of science and innovation in Ottawa – the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum— and the new lngenium Centre, which houses an exceptional collection, research institute, and digital innovation lab. lngenium takes science engagement to the next level by co-creating participatory experiences, acting as community hubs and connectors, helping Canadians contribute to solving global challenges, and creating a collective impact which extends far beyond the physical spaces of our museums. Ingenium is a vital link between science and society. Our engaging digital content, outreach programs, travelling exhibitions, and collaborative spaces help to educate, entertain, and engage audiences across Canada and around the world.

I do have a few questions. Presumably offering these digital experiences will cost money and there’s no mention of how this is being funded. As well, it’s hard to know when this digital experience will be offered since there’s no mention of any proposed start date.

The innovation (in the instance I’ve emphasized, it’s code for business) part of this endeavour is a bit puzzling. Is this University of Ottawa/Ingenium partnership going to act as a lab for Apple and Nintendo games development?

Finally, if an outsider should wish to visit this digital lab/experience at the University’s Kanata North campus at 535 Legget Drive how should they identify it? There doesn’t seem to be a name for it.

Events: COVID-19 Collages and colour, Summer Solstice Celebration of Star Knowledge—Africa and Rapanui (Easter Island), and Tools for Catching Clouds (Biennale Architettura 2021)

I have three events, two of them taking place in Canada on June 9, and June 22 2021 respectively and the third takes place in Venice, Italy.

Covid19 Collage Project on June 9, 2021

A June 7, 2019 Art/Sci Salon announcement (received via email) included this image to illustrate Ilene Sova’s COVID collages,

Pink Ruffle Credit: Ilene Sova

Here’s more from the Colour Research Society of Canada’s (CRSC) Kaleidoscope Lecture: Covid19 Collage Project by OCAD Professor Ilene Sova event page,

In this unique colour-focused artist talk, Sova will explore her Covid19 Collage Project created in direct response to the pandemic. She will take the audience through an analysis of how she utilizes the precise symbolic and aesthetic qualities of colour-choice to reflect her psychological response to our current times and amplify the intent in her artist statement: ‘Former eyes have been replaced, and the curtain pulled back on the inequities that we didn’t fully see before. Newsfeeds are full of surreal deaths and devastating condolences. Different eyes; metallic and shiny. Eyes that no longer know how to ‘look to our future” for hope and possibilities. Our Instagram lives and our vitriolic materialism now laid bare. We are left to self-reflect, face ourselves, slow down, and toss and turn at night with vivid crackling dreams alive with messages screaming from our subconscious. We thought we were separate from nature, but now we know we are one. Sequestered in our homes, our minds begin to change, fracture with confusion. We float in a sea of unknowns, covering our faces with psychological and real masks. In a sparkly shiny isolated dreamy space; how will we prophesize our new future and manifest in a new uncertain one?

Bio: Ilene Sova holds the position of Ada Slaight Chair of Contemporary Drawing and Painting in the Faculty of Art at Ontario College of Art and Design University [OCAD University]. She identifies as Mixed Race, with a white settler, Afro-Caribbean, and Black Seminole ancestry. She is also an artist who lives with the disability of Epilepsy. As such, she passionately identifies with the tenets of intersectional feminism and has dedicated her creative career to art and activism. Ilene Sova is also the founder of the Feminist Art Collective and Blank Canvases, an in-school creative arts programme for elementary school students. She holds an Honours BFA from the University of Ottawa in Painting and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Windsor. With extensive solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad, Sova’s work has most notably been shown at Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and Mutuo Centro de Arte in Barcelona. Sova’s artwork has been featured internationally in the Journal of Psychology and Counselling, the Nigerian Arts Journal, Tabula and the Italian feminist journal, Woman’O’Clock. In her academic career, Sova has been invited to speak on diversity and equity in arts curriculum at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Pratt University and the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design conference in Los Angeles. A passionate public speaker, Sova was chosen to speak at the first TEDx Women event in Toronto, and Southern University New York where she gave an all University Lecture on Art and Social Change. Additionally, Sova was invited to deliver the Arthur C. Danto Memorial Keynote Lecture at the 76th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Aesthetics (ASA). Sova’s exhibitions and advocacy in education have been featured on Global Television, CBC Radio, the Toronto Star, Canada AM, The Metro, National Post, Canadian Art, and MSN News.

Register here on eventbrite

Date and time

Wed, June 9, 2021

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PDT

A Zoom link will be emailed to registered participants approximately 1 hour before the talk, and posted on our CRSC webpage.

Summer Solstice Celebration of Star Knowledge—Africa and Rapanui (Easter Island) on June 22, 2021

Ingenium’s* Indigenous Star Knowledge Symposia series was first mentioned here in a September 18, 2020 posting: Casting your eyes upon the night heavens in advance of the Autumnal (Fall) Equinox celebration, the first in the series.

With the Summer Solstice, we have the fourth and, I believe, the last in the series. From the Summer Solstice, Celebration of Star Knowledge from Africa and Rapanui (Easter Island) event page,

June 22, 2021. 3 p.m. Eastern.

Featured Speakers: Edmundo Edwards Eastman (Rapanui) and Jarita Holbrook (African culture)

Welcome from: Anita Tenasco, Kitigan Zibi, Quebec (Algonquin)

Opening Prayer: Wilfred Buck, Manitoba (Ininew)

Moderated by: Yasmin Catricheo, Chile (Mapuche)

Presentation #1: Cosmovision of the Polynesia and Rapanui. 

Featured Speaker: Edmundo Edwards Eastman. Archeoastronomy. President Fundación
Planetario Rapanui

Abstract: Some 3,500 years ago, the ancestors of the Polynesians led the speediest human expansion of the pre-historic world, guided by nothing more than their complex astronomical observations and an understanding of natural signs. This knowledge, coupled with tremendous navigational skills and human ingenuity, allowed the Polynesians to explore the vast Pacific Ocean and develop highly sophisticated cultures on thousands of different islands.  

Bio: Edmundo’s passion for archaeology started when he was 12 years old and discovered a pre-Incan site in northern Chile, yet it was after visiting Rapa Nui in 1957, that he became enthralled by Rapanui culture and returned to the island in 1960 with archaeologist William Mulloy.  Edmundo has lived and worked in Polynesia ever since. In 1977 he co-founded the Centro de Estudios de Isla de Pascua where he carried out archaeological and ethnographic studies for the University of Chile until 1985. He then left for Tahiti, conducting archaeological surveys and leading restoration work in the Society, Marquesas, and Austral Islands until he returned to Rapa Nui in 1994. Edmundo has since then devoted himself to the scientific study and preservation of the archaeology and culture of the Pacific islands.  He is the co-founder of the Pacific Islands Research Institute (PIRI) and co-owner of Archaeological Travel Service (ATS). Edmundo is an active member of the Explorers Club and in 2011 he was honored with the Lowell Thomas Award for his exceptional contribution to human knowledge through his valuable research and discoveries in Polynesia, and in 2016 he received the Citation of Merit.

Presentation #2: Celestial Africa

Featured Speaker: Jarita Holbrook

Abstract: The continent of Africa is large and has thousands of ethnic groups living in over 50 countries. Though home to some of the biggest astronomical telescopes in the world, there remains the perception that Africans have little awareness of the celestial realm. In reality, African indigenous astronomy is rich with many cultural connections to the sky as well as many practical uses of the sky. Holbrook will share some of the African legacy of rich skylore, artistic works, and practices connected to the sky.

Bio: Jarita Holbrook is a Marie Skłowdowska Curie Fellow in Science, Technology & Innovation Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Holbrook has successfully navigated the physical science and the social sciences. Upon moving to South Africa in 2013 to the Physics department at the University of the Western Cape, Holbrook was engaged in indigenous astronomy, studying the sociocultural aspects of astrophysics education in South Africa, and making a film about the social issues connected to building the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope. Using interview based inquiry, Holbrook researches the practices of inclusion and exclusion through analyzing socioeconomic class, gender, and ethnicity among database-driven astrophysics collaborations. Holbrook’s current project, ASTROMOVES, explores these in the context of career decision making among astrophysicists.

Panellists:

Anita Tenasco is an Anishinabeg from Kitigan Zibi. She has a Bachelor’s degree in history and teaching from the University of Ottawa, as well as a First Nations leadership certificate from Saint Paul’s University, in Ottawa. She has also taken courses in public administration at ENAP (The University of Public Administration). In Kitigan Zibi, she has held various positions in the field of education and, since 2005, is director of education in her community.

Anita was an active participant in the Honouring Our Ancestors project, in which the Anishinabeg Nation of Kitigan Zibi, under Gilbert Whiteduck’s direction, was successful in the restitution of the remains of ancestors conserved at the Canadian Museum of History, in Gatineau. Anita also participated in the organizing of a conference on repatriation, in Kitigan Zibi, in 2005. She plays an important role in this research project.

http://nikanishk.ca/en/blog/project-participants/anita-tenasco-2/

Wilfred Buck is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. He obtained his B.Ed. & Post Bacc. from the University of Manitoba.

As an educator Wilfred has had the opportunity and good fortune to travel to South and Central America as well as Europe and met, shared and listened to Indigenous people from all over the world.

He is a husband, father of four, son, uncle, brother, nephew, story-teller, mad scientist, teacher, singer, pipe-carrier, sweat lodge keeper, old person and sun dance leader. Researching Ininew star stories Wilfred found a host of information which had to be interpreted and analyzed to identify if the stories were referring to the stars. The journey began… The easiest way to go about doing this, he was told, was to look up. 

“The greatest teaching that was ever given to me, other than my wife and children, is the ability to see the humor in the world”…Wilfred Buck

https://acakwuskwun.com/

Yasmin Catricheo is the STEM Education Scholar at AUI’s Office of Education and Public Engagement. She is a physics educator from Chile, and of Mapuche origin. Yasmin is passionate about the teaching of science and more recently has focused in the area of astronomy and STEM. In her professional training she has taken a range of courses in science and science education, and researched the benefits of scientific argumentation in the physics classroom, earning a master’s degree in education from the University of Bío-Bío. Yasmín is also a member of the indigenous group “Mapu Trafun”, and she works closely with the Mapuche community to recover the culture and communicate the message of the Mapuche Worldview. In 2018 Yasmín was selected as the Chilean representative for Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassador Program (ACEAP) founded by NSF.

Associated Universities Inc.

Register for the Webinar

Note: You can also find the information on Ingenium’s French language event page: Solstice d’été : une célébration des connaissances stellaires de l’Afrique et de Rapa Nui (l’île de Pâques).

*Ingenium is the name for Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, which acts as an umbrella organization for the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

Tools for Catching Clouds at Venice’s Biennale Architettura 2021

This information comes from a June 8, 2021 email received from the artist himself, Lanfranco Aceti,

Tools for Catching Clouds is a new series of works of art by Lanfranco Aceti. They are a segment of Preferring Sinking to Surrender — the artist’s installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale, 2021. The installation is comprised of drawings, sculptures, paintings, videos, performances, and a vegetable garden. 

Curated by Alessandro Melis for the Italian Pavilion, Preferring Sinking to Surrender is a progression and accumulation of works of art that will be developed throughout the duration of the Venice Architecture Biennale, from May 21, 2021, to November 21, 2021. 

The artist reimagines the future in matriarchal terms and bypasses social upheavals and legacies of environmental disasters through a series of aesthetic approaches that navigate melancholia, anger, and hope. The works of art retrace the legacies of the past — back to the Italic tribes that populated the Apennines before the founding of Rome and the arrival of Greeks in southern Italy.  

The worship of the Magna Mater — or the Great Black Mediterranean Mother — by the Italic tribes is a necessary rediscovery to understand the resilience of matriarchy and its values of acceptance and inclusion within societies that have become patriarchal in nature and, de facto, hierarchical and exclusionary. Nevertheless, these values resist and persist, and have empowered entire generations who were considered ‘outsiders’ and who have found, in the embrace of the ‘Mamma Schiavona’ (another name for the Magna Mater), their strength, networks of solidarity, and empowerment. 

Aceti’s research in gender issues and alternative structures to patriarchy, developed during a one year affiliation at Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) @ MIT, inspired a continued analysis of pre-Roman matriarchal societies. This led to the conception of Preferring Sinking to Surrender as an alternative space and narrative to current capitalistic cultural frameworks. 

“I have to say that it is a pleasure working with Alessandro Melis,” said Aceti. “Not every curator is fond of process based art. For me it is particularly rewarding to have found a curator that is both empowering and supportive.” 

For more information and images of Tools for Catching Clouds, click here

About the Artist

Lanfranco Aceti is known for his extensive career as artist, curator, and academic. He has exhibited numerous personal projects including Car Park, a public performance in the UK at the John Hansard Gallery; Who The People?, an installation artwork acquired in its entirety by the Chetham’s Library and Museum in Manchester; Sowing and Reaping, installation artworks acquired in their entirety by the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Cyprus; Hope Coming On, a site-specific choral performance he designed for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and realized in front of Turner’s Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On); Shimmer, a series of sculptural, photographic, and painting works curated by Irini Papadimitriou (V&A) at the Tobazi Mansion in Hydra; a large choral performance titled Accursed for the Thessaloniki Biennial in Greece; and Knock, Knock, Knocking a public space installation in the Mediterranean Garden Pavilion of the New Sea Waterfront of Thessaloniki. Currently, he is developing a large international project, Preferring Sinking to Surrender for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021, which includes performances in major cities around the world. 

About The Studium

The Studium is Lanfranco Aceti’s artistic studio. It has partnered with public and private organizations as well as with individuals to realize the artist’s works and to develop fora for the discussion of aesthetic approaches to public space, the role of contemporary art in the social political landscape, and themes of social and environmental justice.

For questions or information and materials, please contact The Studium’s Marketing Director, John Francescutti.

The Venice Architecture Biennale (or Biennale Architettura 2021), from May 21, 2021, to November 21, 2021.

Ingenium increases Canada’s Museum of Science and Technology’s virtual outreach?

Something hopeful was in my email box this morning (August 27, 2020), it’s a survey from Ingenium, the portmanteau for the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

Have you ever asked yourself how the Canada Science and Technology Museum might improve its outreach to those of us outside Ottawa and the southern regions of Ontario and Québec? (To be fair, they do have an online presence with some activities and information.)

Well, it seems that now COVID-19 has constrained their attendance numbers, the folks at the museum are looking at livestreaming some of their Curiosity on Stage presentations and making them available for viewing afterwards.

The survey I saw this morning (August 27, 2020) is designed to gauge interest. Here’s more from the August 26, 2020 Ingenium notice,

Calling all museum lovers!

Would you have 3 minutes to help the Canada Science and Technology Museum develop activities, events, and experiences for young and old? You just need to complete a short set of questions in our online survey conducted with Quorus Consulting.

To complete this short survey please click on the following link (if the link is inactive, please copy and paste the URL into your browser to access the survey): Take the Survey

Please complete your survey by August 30, 2020.  

If you have any technical difficulties with the survey, please contact the team at Quorus at discussions@quorusconsulting.com. If you would like to contact someone at Ingenium regarding this study, you can reach Lisa Leblanc by email at: lleblanc@ingeniumcanada.org.

We appreciate your assistance.  

Sincerely,

Christina Tessier
President and CEO of Ingenium

P.S. As a reminder, your participation is voluntary. All your answers will remain completely confidential and anonymous; no individual respondents will be identified as part of the analysis and, in accordance with the Privacy Act, no one will contact you as a result of your answers to this survey without your express consent

—–

Appel aux amateurs de musées!

Auriez-vous trois minutes pour aider le Musée des sciences et de la technologie du Canada à développer des activités, des événements et des expériences pour petits et grands? Vous n’aurez qu’à répondre aux quelques questions de notre sondage en ligne réalisé conjointement avec le groupe-conseil Quorus.

Pour remplir ce court sondage, veuillez cliquer sur le lien suivant (si le lien est inactif, veuillez copier et coller l’URL dans votre navigateur pour accéder au sondage): Participer à l’enquête

Veuillez remplir le sondage d’ici le 30 août 2020

Si vous éprouvez des difficultés techniques avec le sondage, veuillez communiquer avec l’équipe de Quorus à discussions@quorusconsulting.com. Si vous souhaitez parler à quelqu’un chez Ingenium concernant cette étude, vous pouvez communiquer avec Lisa Leblanc par courriel à lleblanc@ingeniumcanada.org.

Votre aide nous est précieuse

Cordialement,

Christina Tessier
Présidente et chef de la direction d’Ingenium

P.S. Nous souhaitons vous rappeler que, votre participation se fait sur une base volontaire. Vos réponses seront entièrement confidentielles et anonymes. Aucune personne interrogée ne sera identifiée dans le cadre de l’analyse et, conformément à la Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnels, personne ne communiquera avec vous à la suite de ce sondage, et ce, sans votre consentement explicite

For anyone not familiar with ‘Curiosity on Stage’, here’s a description of a couple of the presentations and what they’re hoping to do (from the survey, which really did take me about 3 minutes),

email survey

During the 2019-2020 season, the Canada Science and Technology Museum hosted Curiosity on Stage, live evenings of talks and discussions with scientific leaders from private industry, academia and government. Topics were aimed at the future of innovation in science and technology and its applications for building a better society. 

Titles of previous events include:

  • “Can Artificial Intelligence Tackle Climate Change: exploring the potential of AI to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help Canada lead in the clean tech economy”, and
  • “When Your City is Smarter than You: exploring the future of cities in an increasingly algorithmic world”.

Given the challenges of hosting live events during COVID-19, Curiosity on Stage will have a different format this fall, as follows:

  • Digital instead of in-person discussions hosted through an online platform (i.e. YouTube, Zoom, or Crowdcast).
  • Available to anyone at no cost.
  • Recordings of the lectures available to those who cannot attend the virtual events live.
  • Fully bilingual through simultaneous translation.
  • Those who watch the event “live” will have the opportunity to ask questions to the experts through a live chat box and comments section.

Hopefully you can use this link,, Take the Survey or this one, Participer à l’enquête.

BTW, I wasn’t sure how to answer the question later in the survey about what time of day I would like to watch a livestream. Whoever designed the survey doesn’t seem to have taken timezones into account. I answered from the perspective of someone on the West Coast.