In Rehearsing the Parade: Ephemeral Assemblies and Persuasion on the Move, a Design Research Studio (ARC3020) led by Assistant Professor Miles Gertler, Master of Architecture students have spent the semester examining parades, processions, pageantry and other ephemeral events as pragmatic tools for city-building.

“Processions, convoys, assemblies and parades are all about performance,” writes Gertler in the studio description. “They have order and itinerary. Parades affirm a here and a there and, often, a center. Parades are spatial and animate. Parades are wholes made of many parts. They transmit messages, have audiences, and are themselves rehearsals of prospective worlds or realities to come. We could similarly attribute these conditions to architecture, and indeed, parades are designed and behave like so many artifacts shaped by design labor.”

Within the context of the studio, student Jia Chen Mi has been studying Quebec’s Mitis River Salmon Run as a logistical convoy that develops ecosystemic collaboration between humans and fish. Since the damming of the river in 1973, designated stewards of its salmon population have stepped in with various mechanical and vehicular tools to assist the salmon in their annual return upriver.

Jia’s drawings study this situation with a focus on the epigenetic instrumentation that salmon use to navigate their journey, and the sensorial tools that humans and fish use to orient their engagement with the site.

Jia writes: “Every spawning season, in the Mitis River, as in many other rivers in Quebec, salmon are captured and driven past hydroelectric dams to prevent their extinction. The Mitis salmon transportation is a meticulously rehearsed operation. The salmon cage and truck can accommodate only a dozen bodies at a time. A human worker is always on watch, counting, loading, and driving. Inattention can spell death. In this regard, the Mitis salmon run is a delicate parade requiring close inter-species collaboration. It is a waltz of flesh and machines, orchestrated by a myriad of devices. A drive for renewable energy has made the fish dependent on human intervention, yet humans also rely on salmon. For Wolastoqiyik and Mi’gmaq communities of Eastern Quebec and New Brunswick, fishing and eating wild salmon has always been vital for survival—both spiritually and culturally, as well as biologically. For many settler anglers visiting the Mitis River every summer, Atlantic salmon fishing is a way to heal from the strains of urban life. What is the story of the participants in this parade, and what tools do they use to choreograph their mutual survival?”

Lara Sedele’s research into Toronto-based art collective General Idea’s 1971 Miss General Idea Pageant examines how the city and its urban and social infrastructures were instrumentalized toward the construction of an art practice. Lara has enriched her inquiry with archival research at the Art Gallery of Ontario and interviews with AA Bronson, a founding member of General Idea.

Lara writes: “To tell the story of General Idea and the art ecosystem that surrounded them in Toronto, The Miss General Idea Pageant in 1971 takes center stage as a temporal and performative means of challenging the art economy and the value placed on traditional visual art formats.”

Lara’s examination has focused chiefly on three aspects: the mythology crafted by General Idea themselves, the documentary ephemera disseminated through mail, and the financial records of 1971 and 1972, documented by the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Navjot Dhanoa, another student in the studio, has been investigating the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade through the lens of inflation. Navjot has studied how variations in the value of the US dollar track with the scale of the parade's balloons, Macy's revenue, and the value of helium, which is a rare and finite resource.

By studying trans-continental helium infrastructure, recent Macy's store closures across the United States and the locations and audiences of advertisers who participate in the parade, Navjot has developed a nuanced understanding of today's mass consumer market, "where merchandising and spectacle meet."

Rehearsing the Parade: Ephemeral Assemblies and Persuasion on the Move will conclude this semester with a first sketch of a float vehicle or device, and a schematic outline for next term’s focus on thesis, where students may lean into the format of parades or depart from it entirely. Final assignments will be added to a single-issue magazine produced by the studio with this semester's collective research.

Image credits: 1) Banner image: Students participate in a “Speed dating” Typology Workshop in the first part of the studio, which focused on Representation and Language. "BOOMING COMMENTARY" image by Gianlorenzo Giannone and Emilie Tamtik. 2) Student Work: Jia Chen Mi, "Choreographing the Natural: The Mitis Salmon Run" 3) Student Work: Lara Sedele, "The General Idea Behind the Pageant: The 1971 Miss General Idea Pageant Grand Awards Ceremony" 4) Navjot Dhanoa, "Inflating Traditions: The Ballooning Consumption of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" 5) A sample publication spread from the research articles each student has prepared for the single-issue magazine that will collect all of the semester's projects.