University of Lethbridge Theses

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https://opus.uleth.ca/handle/10133/298

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Browsing University of Lethbridge Theses by Author "2Bears, Jackson"

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    Landscape is my Sir: performing a confluence of perversity, nature and kitsch
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Department of Art, 2019) Solís, Migueltzinta C.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Fine Arts; 2Bears, Jackson
    This body of work and research aims to construct a cosmology of desire and perversity, which functions to unsettle existing narratives of power and landscape. A composite immersive experience built of performances, installations, videos and weavings, the work performs a collision of rural, colonial and queer imaginaries. Through this coupling of imaginaries, I unpack ideas of land and gender, western expansion and the imaging of colonially occupied territory. The work creates new visual languages with which to better comprehend cultural hybridity and the queering and unsettling of rural cultural paradigms. Using built and found sites, the work introduces a performance persona, Chico California, a homosexual leatherman seeking to engage in erotic relationships with space, site and inanimate objects. Chico California, a mysterious semi-feral misanthrope, makes his provocative, problematic and un-procreative advances on Nature and Landscape discoverable, presenting the onlooker with opportunities to encounter him in his habits of desire.
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    Western attraction: theming the postcolonial dark ride
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Art, 2023) Solís, Migueltzinta C.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Fine Arts; 2Bears, Jackson
    This project involves the conceptualization, design, construction and staging of -tzintlán, the world’s first postcolonial theme park. This support paper provides a broad understanding of the core concepts, theories, material considerations and historical background for the project. The paper hybridizes academic writing forms with second-person narrative, itself an immersive experience that transforms the paper into a ride. In this way the paper reflects its own content, demonstrating how story, narrative and thought are embodied, affective, sensory, and somatic experiences. This approach allows for a critical examination of theming, immersive technologies, and multi-layered spaces, for the purpose of developing decolonial, Indigenous/Chicanx futurist strategies for worldbuilding and self-conceptualizing. The paper addresses -tzintlán as a space-maker for the exhibiting of site-specific works, a blend between artistic and curatorial practice. The paper guides the reader through questions of fidelity, time, ephemeral, liminal, inverted, and subverted spaces as they pertain to the construction of -tzintlán. Attention is given to major influences on the thinking behind the park, including Disneyland and Aztlán, two multilayered territories which have shaped the artist’s own worldviews, imaginaries, and cultural spheres. It also provides examples of other art-centered carnivals and theme parks which have influenced -tzintlán. Details on the process of designing and creating -tzintlán are given, along with information on each component within the park.`