Global Campus Studio students exhibit city revitalization projects

As the world continues to open up, so do the possibilities for our re-engagement with the urban environment. It is this promising future that defines the ambitious solutions conceptualized by the students of the Global Campus Studio Showcase 2021 (opens in new window) . The event and online exhibit are a virtual celebration of international collaboration and co-creation that include creative outputs from student collaborations across Toronto, Amsterdam, Santiago, and Seoul.

The Creative School’s Global Campus Studio is an internationally-focused course that provides students and partner institutions around the world the opportunity to collaborate in real-time on original creative projects. This year, students presented interactive prototypes, multi-sensory media experiences, and AR/VR demos around the theme of creating public spaces post-pandemic.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the course has continued to increase in responsiveness to real-world needs and the evolving ways people can work together to shape the future of creativity. 

“Global campus studio is an incredible class — for students and for us as faculty — because it is so uniquely 21st century,” shares Innovation Studio and Global Campus Studio Director Ramona Pringle. “The core learning outcomes include remote creative collaboration and international co-creation. It pushes students to be both strategic problem solvers, as well as more empathic team members, as they tackle issues such as language barriers, time zones, connectivity issues, navigating inside jokes and humor that may not translate all that well across cultures. They are also challenged to research the ways that different populations and demographics engage with media and consume cultural content. The course offers all this in a uniquely hands-on way.”

This fall term’s GCS cohort spanned four continents, across four time zones, with over 100 students from across the globe, collaborating and co-creating together, while bringing a diversity of skills, perspectives and creative approaches to the table.

The success of the program is a testament to the engagement and enthusiasm of its international academic partners, which this semester included the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (external link, opens in new window)  (AMFI), Chile-based Universidad del Desarrollo (external link, opens in new window) , and the Seoul Institute of the Arts (external link, opens in new window) .

The live virtual showcase event took place on December 2 with international student group presentations on projects tackling the complex challenges unique to the creative industries amidst pandemic closures and lock-downs. The projects boldly reimage public engagement through creativity, design and innovation, despite language, distance and time-zone barriers.

Initiatives included Crop-a-thon (external link, opens in new window) , a program that invites the public to take part in a communitarian farm and learn from experienced farmers as a way to re-connect and support sustainable food production; Crwd (external link, opens in new window) , a music app that moves the virtual concert experience beyond the screen with AR and hologram technology for immersive music performances; DGallery (external link, opens in new window) , an online virtual gallery that allows users to curate their own galleries as well as view others; Virtual Movie Theater (external link, opens in new window) , a videogame-like platform for users to safely stream movies as well as enjoy a virtual arcade and food court, facilitating social interactions; Wingmate (external link, opens in new window) , a social networking app that introduces people in cool places, and with local artistry and culture by supporting local businesses and artists in the cities of Toronto and Santiago, among many others.

Not only were students given an opportunity to collaborate together across countries and time-zones, but across disciplines and skill-sets. The project objective to reanimate public spaces and re-engage with the physical environment gave students creative freedom to solve real-world challenges while providing professional, transdisciplinary and international learning experiences that will prepare them for the future of the cultural industries.

Interested in co-creating with international peers in Winter 2022? Enroll into FCD 816: Global Campus Studio for Winter 2022. For more information visit https://bit.ly/GlobalCampusStudio (external link, opens in new window) .

The Creative School at Ryerson University

The Creative School is a dynamic faculty that is making a difference in new, unexplored ways. Made up of Canada’s top professional schools and transdisciplinary hubs in media, communication, design and cultural industries, The Creative School offers students an unparalleled global experience in the heart of downtown Toronto.