ROUND TABLE / THE WORLD OF SPORT – ETHICAL AND AESTHETIC ISSUES
JEAN-MARC ADJIZIAN – ALAIN DENEAULT – JEAN-FRANÇOIS PROST
This summer, as the City of Sherbrooke hosts the Canada Games, Sporobole is holding a roundtable discussion on the place of sport in our cities and in the broader culture. Through the words of three speakers from the fields of art and architecture, philosophy, sociology and geography, the event seeks to explore some of the major issues that characterize the relationship between the world of sport and the population.
Jean-Marc Adjizian holds a master’s degree in geography from the Université du Québec à Montréal and is pursuing a doctorate in physical activity and sports science at the University of Ottawa. He was responsible for research on the mobilizing and integrating effects of the outdoor skating rink of the Bleu, Blanc, Bouge project in Montréal-Nord conducted by UQÀM’s Groupe de recherche sur les espaces festifs (GREF).
As part of his presentation, Mr Adjizian will discuss the impacts of local sports facilities on local populations and the urban landscape as a whole.
Alain Deneault holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Paris-VIII and teaches critical thinking in the Department of Political Science at the Université de Montréal. He is the author of Noir Canada, Offshore, Faire l’économie de la haine (Écosociété) and Gouvernance: le management totalitaire (Lux).
Mr. Deneault will present an analysis of the mass sports spectacle as an ideological support. The first step will be to present the sports stadium as a vast reality TV studio and to analyse the images produced. These images and the global imagination that the sports show engages will appear to be the bearers of a large number of controversial proposals, which are magnified by the figure of the athlete and the stories of victory.
Jean-François Prost is an artist who graduated in architecture from Carleton University in Ottawa and in environmental design from UQÀM. Combining urban interventions, installations and manoeuvres, he pursues a critical reflection on our relationship with space.
The All Aboard action (AA41) initiated in the context of the London component of the AA platform (Adaptive Actions) and carried out in collaboration with the East London SPACE Art Centre will be addressed by Mr. Prost. In September 2007, as the authorities surrounded the London 2012 Olympic Games site with an 18 km long blue wall, repainting daily any attempt at visual expression or protest, Adaptive Actions created extensions to the Olympic wall, painting objects found around the site.