Gregory Gan, CV
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Education
PhD, Anthropology. University of British Columbia. Vancouver, Canada.
PhD Dissertation: Russia Outside Russia: Transnational Mobility and Imagination amongst Russian Migrants to Paris, Berlin, and New York. Supplementary interactive media installation: Still Life with a Suitcase (2018, 82 minutes).
MA, Anthropology. Memorial University of Newfoundland. St. John’s, Canada.
MA Thesis: To Our Hopeless Affair: A Visual Anthropology Study of Women of the Russian Intelligentsia in the Post-Soviet era. Supplementary film: Turning Back the Waves(2010, 96 minutes).
HBA, Anthropology. University of Toronto. Toronto, Canada.
Major in anthropology; minors in philosophy and music.
Professional Appointments
Postdoctoral Fellow. “Picturing Postsocialism: A Visual Anthropology Study on the Affective
Dimensions of ‘Renovation’ of Five-Storey Panel Homes in Moscow and Berlin.” May 2021-April 2023. SSHRC-funded position hosted by CRC 1171: Affective Societies, Freie Universität, Berlin.
Docent. CityLab:Berlin (satellite campus of Norwich University, US), Berlin, Germany.
Publications
In press: “Panel block: Engineering dreams in three-dimensional space.” Forthcoming in Encyclopedia of Mobilities. Peter Adey, Weiqiang Lin, Kaya Barry, eds. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK.
2023 “Space shapes a person; constraints free the soul”: Watercolour sketches of Moscow panel-block apartments on the eve of demolition." Streetnotes 30, “Sketchbook: Drawing the City,” Volume 30, 2023.
2019 “‘And with me, my Russia / I bring along in a traveling bag’: Literary and ethnographic narratives of Russian exile and emigration, past and present.” Revolutionary Russia. May 2019.
2015 “Soaring to dizzying heights: Christ the Saviour Cathedral as a historical arena for the persecution of Pussy Riot.” Critique of Anthropology, Vol. 35(2), 166-186. May 2015.
Conference proceedings
2017 “The trope of the suitcase: Narratives of mobile identities amongst transnational Russian migrants.” Heritages of Migration: Moving Stories, Objects and Home. Buenos Aires, Argentina. July 6-10.
Film & Media
2019 Still Life with a Suitcase. Photograph. Brick: A Literary Journal. Forthcoming, Winter.
2017 Still Life with a Suitcase. Interactive installation on transnational Russian migration. Variable duration. World premiere: Digital Anthropologies Film Festival, Paris, France.
2015 Phantom Couriers: Ghost in the Machine. 7 minutes. Short film on bicycle messengers in Vancouver, Canada. World premiere: Filmed by Bike. Portland, United States.
2014 The Theory of Happiness. 82 minutes. Ethnographic film on a radical Ukrainian mathematical sect. World premiere: Hot Docs International Film Festival, Toronto, Canada.
2008 Turning Back the Waves. 96 minutes. Ethnographic film on Soviet women’s life histories. Library and Archives Canada/Bibliothèque et Archives Canada.
2011 Make a Wise Wish Now. 33 minutes. Ethnographic film on magic ritual and performance.
Translations
2014 Khudozhestvenniy Zhurnal (Moscow Art Magazine), 2007-2014. Maier: Moscow (Russian to English).
2012 Dmitry Tsvetkov: The State. Maier: Moscow (Russian to English).
2012 TOTART: Natalia Abalakova, Anatoly Zhigalov. Maier: Moscow (Russian to English).
2011 Impossible Community. Moscow Museum of Modern Art: Moscow (Russian to English).
Non-refereed
2010 “Sobachie schastie: Gorod solntsa v Kharkovskoy oblasti” (“A dog’s happiness: A city of the sun in the Khiarkov region.” In Russian.). Smena, October, Vol. 1753(2): 66-71.
Conference Participation
Panel Organizer
2022 “Artist’s Block: Collective collaborations on post-Soviet panel-block apartment aesthetics in virtual space.” Virtual Otherwise: Joint SCA-SVA conference, June 2-4, 2022.
Film & media:
2018 Still Life with a Suitcase. Variable duration. CASCA-Cuba: Contrapunteo-Counterpoints. Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. May 16-20.
Papers:
2022 “Horizontal Histories: Representing socialist panel-block apartments in art and scholarship in times of war.” The City of Silence(ing) and Refusal; Warning the Cities, November 25-26, Berlin.
2022 “Great plans: paper architecture and utopian reconstruction projects in Moscow and Berlin circa 1955.” Linking Art Worlds, Traveling Research Seminar. Budapest, September 13-18.
2017 “And with me, my Russia / I bring along in a traveling bag”: Literary and ethnographic narratives of Russian exile and emigration, past and present.” Young Researchers Conference: Centennial, Commemoration, Catastrophe: 1917-2017 as Past and Present in Russia and Beyond. Cuma, Italy. June 13-16.
2017 “Burning bridges: Ambivalent metaphors of Russian state power as seen through the symbolism of bridges as contentious political spaces.” BRIDGE: The Heritages of Connecting Places and Cultures. Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, UK. July 6-10.
2017 “The Trope of the Suitcase: Narratives of Mobile Identities amongst Transnational Russian Migrants.” Heritages of Migration: Moving Stories, Objects and Home. Buenos Aires, Argentina. April 6-10.
2013 “Soaring to dizzying heights: Christ the Saviour Cathedral as a historical arena for the persecution of Pussy Riot.” Victoria, Canada. May 8-11.
2009 “Negotiating belonging: women of the Russian intelligentsia in post-Soviet Russia.” American Anthropological Association’s Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, United States. December 2-6.
Awards and Honours
2021 Winner of the “Artwork on Mobility” Art Competition, UBC Centre for Migration Studies.
2019 Outstanding Graduating Anthropology Student Awards, Canadian Anthropology Society.
2017 Anthropology PhD Dissertation Writing Awards, The University of British Columbia.
2016 Public Scholars Initiative Award, The University of British Columbia.
2015 Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada – Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC – CGS).
2014 Nominee for Best Canadian Documentary, Hot Docs International Film Festival.
2014 Arts Research Graduate Award, The University of British Columbia.
2013 Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada – Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC – CGS).
2012 Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship for PhD Students, The University of British Columbia.
2011 Professional Development Grant, Salt Spring Island Art Council.
2010 Professional Projects Grant, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.
2008 Master’s Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada – Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC – CGS).
2008 Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
2007 Master’s Fellowship and Merit Awards, School of Graduate Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Artist Residencies
2020 Closer to Home: Dwelling Places as Social Entities. Kunstnarhuset Messen. Ålvik, Norway. March - May.
Exhibitions
Solo
2020 A Brush with Nature: Hardangerfjord in Transparent Watercolor. Hardangergalleri. Grimo, Norway. August 12 - September 12.
2019 Still Life with a Suitcase: a multimedia installation and linoprints of imagined places. Charles Street Video at the Toronto Media Arts Centre. Toronto. July 25 - August 9.
Group
2020 KHMessen Open Studio. Ålvik, Norway. March 26.
2020 KHMessen Open Studio. Ålvik, Norway. May 30.
Invited Talks
2022 We are where we dwell”: Experiences of home-making in an uncertain terrain.” Institute for Social Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin. Master’s and Undergraduate seminars. December 14.
2020 “Unsynched: How to start, reinvent, or finish your film in a time of unprecedented change.” Charles Street Video at the Toronto Media Arts Centre. May 25 and 29.
2015 “Visual anthropology: An interdisciplinary approach towards the interpretation of the structure of image, symbol, and imagination” (in Russian). Moscow University of Psychology and Sociology (MPSU). Briansk, Russia. December 6.
2012 Preview screening and discussion of The Theory of Happiness. Eurasia Research Group. The University of British Columbia (prior to admission). April 27.
Invited Media Screenings and Film Festivals
Still Life with a Suitcase (installation with video-mapped videos of variable duration; “smart” ceramic objects; suitcase). 2017
2019 Anthropology Graduate Student Association. The University of British Columbia. Vancouver. January 10.
2017 CityLab: Berlin. Norwich University. Berlin. December 1.
2017 Digital Anthropologies/Anthropologies Numériques (World Premiere). Paris. November 15-19.
The Theory of Happiness (feature film). 96 minutes. 2014.
2019 Viscult-NAFA Ethnographic Documentary Film Festival. Joensuu, Finland. October 25.
2019 Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität. Münster, Germany. April 11.
2019 Days of Ethnographic Film. Ljubljana, Slovenia. March 8.
2015 Beursschowburg. Brussels, Belgium. December 10.
2015 PANDA Theater. Berlin, Germany. October 7.
2015 Dum Národnostníh Menšin (House of Minorities). Prague, Czech Republic. September 30.
2014 Hot Docs International Film Festival (World Premiere). Toronto, Canada. April 26.
Phantom Couriers: Ghost in the Machine. 7 minutes. 2015.
2019 Filmed by Bike. Portland. United States.
2015 Main Film: Cinéma Expérimentale. Montréal.
Negative Space. 6 minutes. 2007.
2007 Innis College Town Hall. University of Toronto. Toronto.
Teaching Experience
Course development & instruction
Writing the Thesis. HMKW Hochschule für Medien, Kommunikation und Wirtschaft, Berlin.
Gradutate seminar for the M.A. Visual and Media Anthropology program. Summers 2022, 2021.
(Dis)placed: Representing Ethnographic Field Sites. Freie Univeristät, Berlin.
M.A. Visual and Media Anthropology program. March, 2020.
Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. CityLab: Berlin, Norwich University, VT.
Winter, 2017; Fall, 2018; Winter, 2018.
Structures of Power: Germany 1500 to the Present. CityLab: Berlin, Norwich University, VT.
Winter, 2017; Fall, 2018; Winter, 2018.
Introduction to Anthropology. Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s.
Summer, 2011.
Teaching assistantships
Anthropology of Media. Teaching Assistant, The University of British Columbia. Fall, 2012.
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Teaching Assistant, The University of British Columbia.
Winter, 2013.
Greek Art and Architecture. Teaching Assistant, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Fall, 2007.
Intermediate Russian. Teaching Assistant, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Winter, 2008.
Research Experience
2013 International Migration into Russia. Research Assistantship. A research project led by Dr. Alexia Bloch,
Dept. of Anthropology, University of British Columbia. Summer, 2013.
2008 History of the Volga Germans in Russia. Research Assistantship. A research project led by Dr. Erwin
Warkentin. Dept. of German and Russian, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Winter, 2008.
2008 Archivist. Translation and annotation of library holdings at the Dept. of German and Russian,
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Spring, 2008.
University Events and Presentations
2014 “Moving Pictures: Representing Migration in Ethnographic Film.” Paper presented as part of a roundtable, Beyond Borders: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Migration, organized by the Migration Network at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, The University of British Columbia. November 26.
2013 “The World in a Suitcase: Experience of Migration through Literature, Objects and Film,” Ethnography of Eurasia. Dept. of Anthropology, The University of British Columbia. November 19.
2011 “Where do you place on the Pyramid of Happiness? Notes of a filmmaker/participant in a radical Ukrainian sect.” Dept. of Anthropology, Memorial University of Newfoundland. February 15.
2011 “‘The Theory of Happiness,’ or: How I learned to stop worrying about being a participant-observer in a radical Ukrainian sect.” Cultural Geography. Memorial University of Newfoundland. February 18.
2010 “Collaborative Filmmaking and Cinema as a Fascist Art.” Visual Anthropology. Memorial University of Newfoundland. March 19.
2010 Film Presentation and discussion, “Turning Back the Waves.” Inco Innovation Center. Memorial University of Newfoundland. March 5.
2009 Post-fieldwork presentation, “Turning Back the Waves: Women of the Russian Intelligentsia During Perestroika.” Dept. of Anthropology. Memorial University of Newfoundland. February 19.
2008 “Make a Wise Wish Now: an Ethnographic Exploration of Magic.” Visual Anthropology Unit Film Screening, Dept. of Anthropology, Memorial University of Newfoundland. April 20.
Additional Education
2021 Drawing Nature, Science, and Culture: Natural History Illustration.
Certificate course, The University of Newcastle, Australia.
2019 Programming Fundamentals using “C”.
Seneca College. Toronto, Canada.
2019 Drawing Fundamentals.
George Brown College. Toronto, Canada.
2011 Master Class in Ethnographic Filmmaking.
SoundImageCulture. Brussels, Belgium.
Nine-month artistic training program in ethnographic filmmaking resulting in the production of a feature-length film, The Theory of Happiness (2014, 82 minutes).
2007 Film Studies.
Ryerson University. Toronto, Canada.
Courses in film production, directing, and editing.
Professional and Research Affiliations
2020 Co-organizer. Artist Support Network: Virtual Artist Support Seminars during the Coronavirus Crisis.
2017-2020 Co-founder. Fragile Matters: An International Media-Arts Collective.
2016-2018 Public Scholar. Public Scholars Initiative, The University of British Columbia.
2014-2018 Liu Scholar. Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia.
2018, 2013 Student Member. Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA).
2014 Chair, Migration Network. Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia.
2009 Student Member. American Anthropological Association (AAA).
Language and Digital Media Skills
Full fluency in English and Russian.
Excellent conversation and comprehension skills in French.
Intermediate conversation and comprehension skills in German and Spanish.
Proficiency in the use of digital- and film-based camera and sound recording equipment.
Proficiency in non-linear video-editing platforms, such as Final Cut Pro, Avid, and Premiere.
Proficiency in 3D animation (Blender; Maya) and video-mapping software (Resolume).
Understanding of website development tools (HTML; CSS) and basic understanding of coding languages (C; Python).
Referees
Postdoctoral Supervisor 2021-2023
Dr. Prof. Dr. Birgitt Röttger-Rössler
Institut für Social- und Kulturanthropologie
Freie Universität Berlin
Postaladresse: Landoltweg 9-11
Büroadresse: Thielallee 52, Raum E-006. 14195 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 838 57847
Birgitt.Roettger-Roessler@fu-berlin.de
Doctoral Dissertation Supervisor, 2012-2018
Prof. Alexia Bloch
Department of Anthropology
The University of British Columbia
6303 NW Marine Drive
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1
Tel: +1 604 822 4635
abloch@mail.ubc.ca