Frontmatter

CMA Journal
Issue Two: Territory

Letter from the Editors

One year and numerous challenges later, we, the founding members of the Journal of Comparative Media Arts Editorial Committee, are proud to present you with Issue Two: Territory. From its inception, the journal has grown out of a collective desire to critically engage members of a rapidly expanding and exciting community of artist-researchers, scholars, and creative instigators. It has been an exercise in cultivating and curating an environment that promotes immersion into media studies, humanities research and visual culture, presenting diverse responses to our calls and themes.

Developing out of a reciprocal relationship, the Comparative Media Arts Master degree program at Simon Fraser University was the nexus for the context of the Journal, and in turn, the Journal showcases in this issue the outcome of our cohort’s graduate research. The CMA Journal has become a territory in itself, a stimulating commons where critical and inventive ideas are shared.

We are thrilled to present this very special issue, bridging together the CMA Journal and the final Symposium of the MA graduate students. In this issue, the Journal presents a synopsis of the research we, together with our cohort, have been doing for the last 16 months. Intersections, the title of the supplement, shows the unique interdisciplinary of the MA program in Comparative Media Arts and the variety of expertise that we bring together as a group. As we complete our degrees, and this issues, we now entrust our positions to another generation of students and Editors. We selected “Territory” as the theme for the second issue of the Journal of Comparative Media Arts for its potential to access discursive and even antithetical perspectives of its meaning. On these pages, territory emerges through the primacy of the human body – serving as a locus for knowledge, memory and perception, it appears as a desire to frame and define – seen in elaborate installations that stimulate feelings of nostalgia and security. Territory is unpacked through electro-acoustic interrogations of the urban and rural, and through creative reimagining of past encounters.

Of course, charting territory is rarely a solo adventure. Our volunteer-run graduate journal relies on a network of sponsors, supporters and volunteers. Their generous support has helped create a journal we can be proud of. We happily extend our gratitude to: Dr, Laura U. Marks, Dr. Denise Oleksijczuk and our MA and MFA classmates for their continual guidance and support; Simon Fraser University’s Graduate Student Society, Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology, the School for the Contemporary Arts as well as our Graduate Student Caucus for their financial assistance; our team of peer reviewers for their immeasurable assistance assessing submissions; and Steve Webb of Metropol Industries, for donating his time and resources.

The Editorial Committee,

Molly Jane Grant, Kristina Fiedrich, Carolina Bergonzoni, and Jorma Kujala.