UVic Art History & Visual Studies

AHVS 392 History of World Animation

Course-Related Questions

1. If you were to describe this course in a single sentence, what would you say?

AHVS 392 explores animation as a dynamic art form that moves across technology, entertainment, experimentation and cultural expression.

2. What aspect of this course excites you the most or do you find most rewarding?

What excites me most is that animation allows us to rethink what art can do. It is not only about drawing, storytelling, or visual pleasure; it is also about movement, transformation, imagination, and the creation of entire worlds. I find it especially rewarding to introduce students to animation beyond the most familiar commercial examples, including experimental animation, independent shorts, political animation, internet animation, and global animation traditions. Through these works, students can see animation as both a popular medium and a deeply expressive artistic practice.

3. How do you think this course will shift our perspective on art? What changes do you expect students to experience before and after taking the course?

Many people first encounter animation as childhood entertainment, cartoons, anime, video games, or digital media. This course invites students to reflect on those familiar experiences in depth and to understand animation as part of art history. Before taking the course, students may think of animation mainly as a genre or technique. After taking the course, I hope they will see animation as a way of thinking: a form that can bring drawings to life, transform bodies, question reality, express political ideas, build fictional worlds, and imagine different relationships between humans, technology, animals, machines, and environments.

4. Are there any unique activities or projects in this course that allow students to engage more deeply with art and its creation?

Yes. Students will engage with animation not only by watching and analyzing works, but also by thinking about how animation is made, circulated and experienced. Activities may include character design; short writing responses to weekly screenings; and creative or research-based projects that allow students to examine animation from artistic, cultural, or technological perspectives.

5. If students are interested in expanding their knowledge beyond this course, are there any books, films, or resources you would recommend for further exploration?

For students who want to continue exploring animation, I would encourage them to look beyond the familiar Western canon and approach animation as a truly global art form. Japanese animation is an especially rich field, including the films of Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii, and Makoto Shinkai. I would also recommend exploring Chinese animation, from the Shanghai Animation Film Studio’s ink-wash and paper-cut films to contemporary works that combine mythology, digital technology, and popular culture. Eastern European animation, especially Czech, Polish, Russian, and Yugoslav traditions, offers another powerful alternative to commercial animation, with artists such as Jan Švankmajer, Jiří Trnka, Yuri Norstein, and the Zagreb School of Animation developing distinctive approaches to politics, surrealism, materiality, and visual experimentation.

Students might also look at animation from Iran, Korea, India, Latin America, and Indigenous media practices, where animation is often used to address memory, migration, folklore, colonial history, environmental change, and cultural identity. Rather than treating animation as a single tradition that developed in one place, I hope students will see it as a medium that has been reinvented across different societies, technologies, and artistic communities.

September 9 – December 7, 2026

Thursdays
1:30 PM – 4:20 PM
ONLINE
CRN: 10064
Instructor: Yang Liu

🪩 Join us for an all-ages drag show inspired by the exhibition Family Visits, with performances by beloved local drag artists Persi Flage, Eddi Licious, Bad Shah, and Vivian Vanderpuss.

🔸$15 | General Admission
🔸Free | AGGV Members and SEE ART pass holders, visitors aged 25 and under, all Indigenous Peoples, and support workers accompanying visitors who need assistance (Leisure Assistant Pass holders).
🔸Plus sliding scale and pay-it-forward options!

Register now: 🔗 https://ow.ly/WVbx50ZoFXP

Family Visits runs until September 6, 2026.

Image credit: Persi Flage, Sidney Pride, 2026. Photo by Colin Smith Takes Pics courtesy of the artist.

Legacy Art Gallery Downtown is now closed for the rest of the summer.

We will re-open to the public on Wednesday, September 16 with two new exhibitions: "Wara-Wara" and "DIS - displaced, dispersed, dispossessed."

These exhibitions will be in the gallery from Sept. 16 - Dec. 5, 2026!

Stay tuned to our social media channels for future updates.

While they just graduated in June 2026 with their MFA in Visual Arts, multi-media artist Edith Skeard isn’t quite done with UVic yet. This summer, they are the latest Fine Arts grad student named to the Ocean Networks Canada ArtScience Fellowship program.

Skeard has been spending their summer creating sound works from ONC’s immense data collections. “I’ve been learning from their science team and engaging with the Oceans 3.0 portal,” they explain. “My primary focus has been on the relationship between seismic events and the flora and fauna of the ocean . . . . this is a really lovely opportunity to focus in on sound and the library of hydrophones ONC has.”

Watch for Skeard participating in an 11am-1pm August 16 concert at UVic School of Music — also featuring Distinguished Music Alumna Eve Egoyan plus Valeria Valle, Urano Trincado, Omar Shabbar, Kieran Maraj and Visual Arts professor Joel Ong (a Canada Research Chair in Emergent Digital Art Practices) — each of whom will present their own interpretations of ONC data gleaned during their tenure.

And watch for an exhibition & public talk about Skeard's ONC work at UVic's Audain Gallery coming up in September.

Read more here: https://ow.ly/r5Xx50Zp8cT

🎹 We're hiring! Are you an accomplished pianist and passionate educator? Join us at the UVic School of Music!
The University of Victoria School of Music invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Teaching Professor in Piano.
We're looking for an outstanding pianist & dedicated educator who is passionate about teaching, performance, collaboration & mentoring the next generation of musicians. The successful candidate will teach undergraduate & graduate piano students while contributing to our vibrant & collaborative academic community.
As Canada's only All-Steinway School, UVic Music is home to exceptional faculty, talented students & innovative programs spanning performance, composition, music technology, music education, musicology & sound studies.
📍 Location: Victoria, BC
🗓️ Application deadline: September 6, 2026
🎼 Start date: January 1, 2027 (or as negotiated)
Learn more and apply: https://bit.ly/44ERDRg

Please share this opportunity with pianists and educators in your network!

This spring, we were fortunate to have Heng Wu from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria offer UVic Art History & Visual Studies students the unique opportunity to learn from her experience as a professional curator. Her “Confronting the Object” course brought real-world curatorial insights and experience into the classroom, showing students the professional side of museum work by taking them off campus and behind the scenes at the AGGV and the Royal BC Museum. "Confronting doesn’t mean to argue,” says Wu, who is the AGGV's Curator of Asian Art. “I want students to understand that objects are not neutral at all.”

Read more: https://ow.ly/ZrtG50ZoCPJ

AE 311 – Design Thinking

Looking for a Fall elective? There is still space available in AE 311: Design Thinking!

This in-person course focuses on inquiry guided by the design thinking process, which informs creative problem solving in the art and design context. Studio exploration involves applying the elements and principles of design to art, design, and community challenges.

Course Details
📚 AE 311 – Design Thinking
👩‍🏫 Instructor: Rachel (Continuing Sessional Instructor, Art Education)
📅 Wednesdays
🕤 9:30 AM – 12:20 PM
📍 MacLaurin A193

If you're interested in registering, please do so by Sunday, August 13.