About
About
The Critical Media Lab (CML) provides resources for faculty and students working in documentary arts and multimodal anthropology.
The Critical Media Lab (CML) provides resources for faculty and students working in documentary arts and multimodal anthropology.
Housed in McGill University’s Department of Anthropology, and part of the Leadership for the Ecozoic network, the CML offers classes in sensory and sonic ethnography, practical workshops in video, film, and sound, audiovisual equipment, screenings, artist talks and round-table discussions for members of the McGill community wishing to incorporate practice-based approaches into their teaching and research. Committed to fostering innovative pedagogical approaches and strategies for knowledge production and dissemination, the CML’s programming and training engages students and faculty in thinking critically about media, questioning traditional means of representation, and searching for more effective ways to convey the pressing ecological, ethical and political problems of our historical moment.
Housed in McGill University’s Department of Anthropology, and part of the Leadership for the Ecozoic network, the CML offers classes in sensory and sonic ethnography, practical workshops in video, film, and sound, audiovisual equipment, screenings, artist talks and round-table discussions for members of the McGill community wishing to incorporate practice-based approaches into their teaching and research. Committed to fostering innovative pedagogical approaches and strategies for knowledge production and dissemination, the CML’s programming and training engages students and faculty in thinking critically about media, questioning traditional means of representation, and searching for more effective ways to convey the pressing ecological, ethical and political problems of our historical moment.
PEOPLE
PEOPLE
The CML was founded by co-directors Lisa Stevenson and Diana Allan. Julian Flavin acts as the lab’s Associate Director and Multimedia Trainer.
The CML was founded by co-directors Lisa Stevenson and Diana Allan. Julian Flavin acts as the lab’s Associate Director and Multimedia Trainer.
Lisa Stevenson, co-director
Lisa Stevenson, co-director
Lisa Stevenson is co-director of the Critical Media Lab. She is a filmmaker and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology. A central focus of her work has been the question of what it means to think in images. As an anthropologist she has attempted to trace and describe such imagistic forms of thought in the everyday worlds of people in situations of violence—among the Inuit in the Canadian Arctic and among Colombian refugees in Ecuador. She is the author of “Life Beside Itself: Imagining Care in the Canadian Arctic” (University of California Press, 2014) and her films include “Into Unknown Parts.” Stevenson is currently a Mellon New Directions Fellow, and a William Dawson scholar.
Lisa Stevenson is co-director of the Critical Media Lab. She is a filmmaker and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology. A central focus of her work has been the question of what it means to think in images. As an anthropologist she has attempted to trace and describe such imagistic forms of thought in the everyday worlds of people in situations of violence—among the Inuit in the Canadian Arctic and among Colombian refugees in Ecuador. She is the author of “Life Beside Itself: Imagining Care in the Canadian Arctic” (University of California Press, 2014) and her films include “Into Unknown Parts.” Stevenson is currently a Mellon New Directions Fellow, and a William Dawson scholar.
Diana Allan, co-director
Diana Allan, co-director
Diana Allan is a filmmaker and associate professor of anthropology, and co-founder of the Nakba Archive, which has documented histories of Palestinian exile in Lebanon. She is the author of Refugees of the Revolution: Experiences of Palestinian Exile (2014), Voices of the Nakba: A Living History of Palestine (2021), and her films include Still Life (2007), Terrace of the Sea (2010), So Dear, So Lovely (2018) and Partition (forthcoming). She holds a Canada Research Chair in the anthropology of living archives.
Diana Allan is a filmmaker and associate professor of anthropology, and co-founder of the Nakba Archive, which has documented histories of Palestinian exile in Lebanon. She is the author of Refugees of the Revolution: Experiences of Palestinian Exile (2014), Voices of the Nakba: A Living History of Palestine (2021), and her films include Still Life (2007), Terrace of the Sea (2010), So Dear, So Lovely (2018) and Partition (forthcoming). She holds a Canada Research Chair in the anthropology of living archives.
Julian Flavin, Associate Director
& Multimedia Trainer
Julian Flavin, Associate Director & Multimedia Trainer
Julian Flavin is a Canadian artist and educator who works as the Associate Director of McGill University’s Critical Media Lab. His projects spanning music, documentary filmmaking, installation, and writing have been featured at SXSW, Osheaga Music Festival, The Tinguely Museum, Chicago Artists Coalition, The University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art, and NYU’s Gallatin Galleries among others. Films and installations featuring his post-production sound work have screened at the Viennale, DOK Leipzig, RIDM, Gallery 400, Union Docs, Visions du Réel, and Art of The Real among others. He has taught courses at Northwestern University, McGill University, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Julian Flavin is a Canadian artist and educator who works as the Associate Director of McGill University’s Critical Media Lab. His projects spanning music, documentary filmmaking, installation, and writing have been featured at SXSW, Osheaga Music Festival, The Tinguely Museum, Chicago Artists Coalition, The University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art, and NYU’s Gallatin Galleries among others. Films and installations featuring his post-production sound work have screened at the Viennale, DOK Leipzig, RIDM, Gallery 400, Union Docs, Visions du Réel, and Art of The Real among others. He has taught courses at Northwestern University, McGill University, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Jasmine Pisapia, Post-doc
Jasmine Pisapia, Post-doc
Jasmine Pisapia is a postdoctoral fellow affiliated with McGill’s Critical Media Lab. She holds a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from Columbia University and is an active collaborator of the independent theater company New York City Players (with Richard Maxwell and Katiana Gonçales Rangel). She co-founded colletivo epidemia, a research collective and independent magazine invested in political ecology, art, and grassroots organizations mobilized around food and agroecological practices in Italy. Her work has appeared in Intermédialités/Intermediality, Visual Ethnography, INCITE: Journal of Experimental Media, SCAPEGOAT: Architecture | Landscape | Political Economy, Antropologia, and Curare: Journal of Medical Anthropology.
Jasmine Pisapia is a postdoctoral fellow affiliated with McGill’s Critical Media Lab. She holds a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from Columbia University and is an active collaborator of the independent theater company New York City Players (with Richard Maxwell and Katiana Gonçales Rangel). She co-founded colletivo epidemia, a research collective and independent magazine invested in political ecology, art, and grassroots organizations mobilized around food and agroecological practices in Italy. Her work has appeared in Intermédialités/Intermediality, Visual Ethnography, INCITE: Journal of Experimental Media, SCAPEGOAT: Architecture | Landscape | Political Economy, Antropologia, and Curare: Journal of Medical Anthropology.
Alejandra Melian-Morse, Coordination Assistant
Alejandra Melian-Morse, Coordination Assistant
Alejandra Melian-Morse is a coordination assistant for the Critical Media Lab. She is a PhD Candidate in anthropology at McGill University. Her work sits at the intersection of environmental and media anthropology, focusing specifically on the natural history film industry. Her work deals with mainstream media corporations and examines the historical, institutional, aesthetic, and relational factors that impact the industry's representation of nature. She asks what kind of nature is being presented to audiences, and unpacks the colonial histories of natural history storytelling alongside future representative possibilities.
Alejandra Melian-Morse is a coordination assistant for the Critical Media Lab. She is a PhD Candidate in anthropology at McGill University. Her work sits at the intersection of environmental and media anthropology, focusing specifically on the natural history film industry. Her work deals with mainstream media corporations and examines the historical, institutional, aesthetic, and relational factors that impact the industry's representation of nature. She asks what kind of nature is being presented to audiences, and unpacks the colonial histories of natural history storytelling alongside future representative possibilities.
Thalia Danielson, Research Assistant
Thalia Danielson,
Research Assistant
Thalia Danielson is a Research assistant for the Critical Media Lab. She is currently a Master’s student in Anthropology at McGill University. Working with street circus performers in Palermo, Italy, her research inquires into questions of rhythm, narrative, semiotics, and the senses. She is currently producing a sensory ethnographic film that explores how street circus performers weave and invite audiences into rhythms, and how these rhythms transform social relations.
Thalia Danielson is a Research assistant for the Critical Media Lab. She is currently a Master’s student in Anthropology at McGill University. Working with street circus performers in Palermo, Italy, her research inquires into questions of rhythm, narrative, semiotics, and the senses. She is currently producing a sensory ethnographic film that explores how street circus performers weave and invite audiences into rhythms, and how these rhythms transform social relations.
