THOUGHT AND CULTURE

WINTER 2026

ART HISTORY: POSTMODERNISM. Instructor: Gwen Baddely

Postmodern refers to a time-period more so than to a cohesive aesthetic or approach: to three decades of multiplicity flourishing in the face of the homogeneity of modernism.

Weekly Breakdown:
Pop Art is about so much more than what meets the eye, beyond the bright colours and popular culture references – we’ll explore how pop artists addressed, embraced and challenged mass production, American capitalism and the commodification of art!
Minimalism & Conceptual Art – Just like Pop art, these movements emerged in almost direct response/reaction to
Abstract Expressionism – we’ll look at the different ways artists used materials, medium, and technique to push artistic boundaries and pursue the ongoing rejection of skill and technique as markers of value.
Land Art – this movement shares a kinship with Conceptual art,  land artists sought to create work that was not bound by walls or institutions, nor easily commodified. We’ll explore ideas and artworks related to entropy, ephemeral art, environmentalism and sustainability.
Performance Art – the movement comes into being in the 1960s and shares some of the goals of land art and conceptual art, seeking to eschew the art market. Intertwined with feminism and body politics, performance art relies on the body as medium – we’ll examine different ways artists used a medium that is as universal as it is unique and personal.
Video Art – video became a new medium that artists could use to express their ideas, this new medium gave artist agency over the production and dissemination of their work. We’ll discover how, just like most Postmodern movements, video art provided an alternative to the dominant discourse and continued the ongoing rejection of academic traditions.
Installation Art – began in the 1980s but really took off in the 1990s, women were particularly drawn to this artistic approach, wherein location and context are often built into a work’s meaning. We’ll explore the way installation art combines all mediums and made possible the creation of immersive and site-specific experiences.

CANADIAN SHORT FICTION. Instructor: Harold Hoefle

There is no simple way to explain what happens in a Canadian short story. The whole world lives here; people have emigrated from all nations, and that means our writers bring layers of family history with them—history, living in our present-day towns and cities. So, this course showcases six of our best writers: all alive, all walking the streets that we do. In this course, we’ll study short fiction by Souvankham Thammavongsa, Madeleine Thien, Alexander MacLeod, Sheila Heti, David Adams Richards, and Anuja Varghese.

CLASSICAL COMPOSERS. Instructor: Roxanne Martel

This course is continuing with the series of classes on composers in alphabetical order.  It will take a look at the music of classical composers in greater depth than previous sessions.  We will explore a greater variety of music from well-known, and some lesser-known composers. 
Each composer has left a body of work, and the plan is to go beyond the “popular” repertoire and listen to a broader choice of works including symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and chamber works.
We will continue to explore composers whose names begin with T and then start on the end of the alphabet. Composers starting with T include Tartini, Tavener, Tchaikovsky, Tippett, to name a few.  
During the last class we will listen to a large work by a prominent composer in its entirety, with a brief look at the structure, style and compositional elements of that work in closer detail.

THE HISTORY OF WOOL. Instructor: Beverley Ann Lee

In our most recent Art History course on the Northern Renaissance, Lillian brought up the importance of wool in the 14th and 15th centuries. With that in mind, we thought it would be à-propos to bring back the fascinating course on wool,  which you can sit back and enjoy with your second cup of coffee!

It is astonishing to realize how complex and significant the role of wool has been throughout its existence.
This lecture series will look at wool since its discovery and evolution over 8000 years ago, and how it has shaped not only the very lives of people, but also how it has shaped social, cultural and religious identities.
Apart from domestic use and international trade, wool has been central to shifting political and economic entities, with significant implications in all wars and conflicts throughout the world.
Over six weeks, this lecture series will look at all aspects of wool and how it has infiltrated and influenced migration, art, literature, symbolism, trade and commerce, and especially the lives of all our ancestors who were involved in its production.

MCLL ON THE ROAD Various speakers

This is a series of 5 2-hour lectures that are completely independent of one another. Each topic is unique and presented but a different speaker.
You do not have to take them all. You can select the ones you want individually. 

January 15th – Ceramic Tile Portraits in Montreal, a Unique Innovation – speaker Archie Fineberg

January 22nd – Literary Montrealers – Past and Present – speaker Christopher Neal

February 5th – Hearing Loss – What You Need to Know – Dale Bonnycastle

February 12th – Trump – The Impact on Canada

February 19th – What Can We Do About Loneliness – Prithu Mukhopadhyay

MOVIE MATINEE

This selection of movies is so diverse featuring the likes of George Clooney, Robert Redford, Hugh Grant, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep just to name a few.
We are sure you will find most of them to your liking – at least, that is our hope!
1. The Hours – 2002 – romance/drama
2. Nomadland – 2020 – western
3. Burn after Reading – 2008 – comedy
4. Three Days of the Condor – 1975 - thriller
5. The Big Sick – 2017 – romance/drama
6. Four Weddings and a Funeral – 1994 – British comedy

THE SHIFTING WORLD ORDER AND THE ROLE OF LATIN AMERICA. Instructor: F.X. Charet

A good deal of interest in the issues related to the shifting balance of political, economic and military power has focused on the US, Russia and China.
Yet, there are also other regions of the world that are undergoing their own realignments related to these three peer competitors that have largely been ignored in the media.
One of the most significant of these regions is that of Latin America.
This series will examine Latin America and its role in the emerging new world order.

STORIES IN STONE. Instructor: Ingrid Birker

Monday, Jan. 12, 2026– The Centre for the Great War and Maison Forget. Guided tour and workshop with Curator Ada Chan. Additional fee $10/participant payable on site. Meet at Maison Forget, 1195 Rue Sherbrooke O, Montréal, QC H3A 1H9.
Monday, Jan. 19, 2026 – The stories in stone from Drummond and Crescent Street – many of these were private residences built with unusual style and materials during the late Victorian era. This includes Mckibbin’s pub, the former home of Canada's first female doctor: Grace Octavia Ritchie (1868-1948) which opens at 11h30 so we can share lunch together. We will meet and end at McKibbins pub located at 1426 Bishop Street.
Monday, Jan. 26, 2026 - Fossils, rocks and organs. Check out the architecture and fossils in the Le Château Apartments and in the walls of the Musee des Beaux Arts. We finish with refreshments and a guided tour of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul’s organs. Meet at the 1321 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1J4.
Monday, Feb. 2, 2026 - Ancient Sea snails and guided tour of the Mount Royal Club. Meet at Mount Royal Club, 1175 Rue Sherbrooke O, Montréal, QC H3A 1H9.
Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 – Stones and medicine at McGill University. Indoor guided visit to the Maude Abbott Medical Museum. The fee $7/person payable on site.
Monday, Feb. 16, 2026 –Fossil plants at McGill University. Guided visit to the McGill University Archives with Jean-Marc Tremblay (Archivist & Records Management Administrator) to see the Dawson Teaching sheets. These teaching sheets are a rare and important piece of Canadian scientific history, that is rarely exhibited because of the fragility of textile archives. They are a valuable resource for researchers studying the history of science and education in Canada.

SOCIAL HISTORY PART I. Instructor: Bruno Paul Stenson

NOTE: Despite what you remember from high school, this course proves that History can be fun.
Unlike military or political histories, social history is the history of common folk and their daily lives. This course covers inventions, transportation, superstitions and other elements that touch us all. 
 
Week 1) Weird Inventions of the Victorian and Edwardian Eras
 From clockwork fans to safety goggles for chickens.
 Week 2) 19 th -Century Transportation
The invention of mechanical means of transportation and its often very entertaining results.
Week 3) Old Age
 What it was like to be “old” through history. 
Week 4) Death
 Death and its rituals through time and around the world, including the odd (e.g. pickled corpse kept sitting on a chair in the living room for a year) and the hilarious (e.g. the Darwin Awards).
Week 5) Superstition
 Superstitions including why Friday the 13 th , black cats, and opening umbrellas indoors are unlucky, and why your lecturer, declared dead in 2014, is destined to live 10 years longer than originally planned. 
Week 6) Historical Myths
The fake news of history.