Sabbatical Talk: Dr. Michael Prokopow

Sabbatical Talk with Dr. Michael J. Prokopow

Please join us for a presentation by Dr. Michael Prokopow highlighting the innovative work and research accomplished during his recent sabbatical. 

Michael Prokopow:

Gentility and the Complicity of Objects: A Case Study in 18th Century Material Culture and Refinement

While the study of human made objects has always considered issues of origin, use and meaning, the implications of systems of enforced labor and imperial attitudes in the production and consumption of objects in the eighteenth century Atlantic world not only invites scrutiny, but offers a point of entry into larger questions about changing approaches to the interrogation of material life.  

Biography:

Dr. Michael J. Prokopow is a cultural historian and curator whose areas of expertise include material and visual culture, design history, and critical and cultural theory. His many publications include, most recently, Reside: Contemporary West Coast Houses (Figure 1 Publishing: 2024), Hurvin Anderson (Lund Humphries: 2021) and Smith House II (UBC-SALA Press: 2018). Between 2004 and 2008, he was curator of the Design Exchange, Canada's only museum of 20th century industrial design. In 2016 he co-curated the touring exhibition (and accompanying catalog) True Nordic: How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada. He sits on the boards of the Arthur Erickson Foundation and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale and he is a regular contributor to Studio: Craft and Design in Canada.