ARTH 450 - Advanced Seminar in the History of Art and Architecture: Remembering Expo 67
- M - 15:00-17:30
- EV-3.760
- INSTRUCTOR: DR. JOHANNE SLOAN
2017 is the 50th anniversary of Expo 67, the world’s fair held in Montreal during the summer of 1967. This glittering spectacle enchanted both Canadians and international visitors, while it can be argued that Expo 67 has over the years remained lodged in Montreal’s “urban imaginary” (to use Andreas Huyssen’s vocabulary.) This seminar sets out to assess the impact of Expo 67 from a range of perspectives. We will address the history of world’s fairs, particularly the internationalism and rhetoric of global unity. We will examine Expo 67 in relation to both Canadian and Québécois nationalism, as well as its particular meaning for Montreal. We will then study examples of Expo 67’s art, architecture, design, expanded cinema experiments, and other aspects of its visual and material culture. Since a number of Montreal museums and galleries are holding commemorative exhibitions related to Expo 67, we will also visit some of these, to ask how they set out to invoke and remember the event 50 years later.