Michael J. Prokopow

Associate Professor (Tenured)
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences and School of Interdisciplinary Studies / School of Graduate Studies
OCAD University 100 McCaul Street Toronto, ON CANADA M5T 1W1
mprokopow@faculty.ocadu.ca

Education

1996   Ph.D.   Harvard University
1986   A.M.   Harvard University
1985   M.A.   University of New Brunswick
1982   B.A. (Honors)   University of Victoria

Academic and Affiliated Appointments

2009-present

Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, OCAD University, Toronto, ON
[Sabbatical 01 January – 30 June 2024]

2009-17

Adjunct Faculty, Graduate Program in Communication and Culture, Toronto Metropolitan University [Ryerson University], Toronto, ON

2007

Director, Institute of Contemporary Culture, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON

2003-2009

Assistant Professor, School of Interior Design, Toronto Metropolitan University [Ryerson University] Toronto, ON

2004-2007

Instructor, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

1997-2003

Assistant Professor, Department of History, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC

1992-1997

Instructor, History and Literature Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Guest Teaching Appointments

Jan - Feb 2018 Visiting Professor, National Institute of Design, Bangalore, India

Feb - Aug 2018 Research Fellow, University College, University of London, London, UK

Academic and International Governance Positions

2021

Panel Member, Post-Secondary Education Quality Assurance Board (PEQAB), Sheridan College, BA in Art and Design, Oakville, ON

2020

Reviewer: South African Research Chair Initiative (SARCHi), South Africa Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa

2018

Reviewer, South African Research Council, Grants Program, Pretoria, South Africa

2016-17

Member, Ontario Council of Graduate Studies, Council of Ontario Universities (COU), Toronto, ON

2014

Chair, Post-Secondary Education Quality Assurance Board (PEQAB), School of Fashion, BDes program, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON..

2014-17

Advisory Committee, Haliburton School of the Arts, Haliburton, ON

2004-09

Curriculum Committee, York-Ryerson Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON

2004-09

Curriculum Committee, Department of History, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON

2003-09

Scholarship and Research Awards Committee, Faculty of Communication and Design, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON

2003-07

Curriculum Committee, School of Interior Design, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON

Fellowships

2024

Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT

Research project: Decolonizing museology: curatorial strategies, provenance research and didactics and labels.

2023

Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT [Awarded 2020; postponed by COVID-19 pandemic]

Research project: Arthur Devis, ‘Conversation Pieces’ and Racial Capitalism or the decolonizing of museum didactics.

Prizes and Awards

2023

Historians of British Art Prize: Single author on a contemporary subject: Hurvin Anderson (London: Lund Humphries 2021)

2014

OAAG Curatorial Writing for Out of the Ordinary: An Te Liu and MONO NO MA, Gardiner Museum, Toronto, (2014)

2013

Distinguished Teaching Award, OCAD University, Toronto, ON

External Research Grants and Project Funding Awarded

2023

SSHRC, Ottawa, ON. $193,000.00

“The xDX Project: Documenting, Linking, and Interpreting Canada's Design Heritage” (Dr. Jan Hadlaw, Principle, York University/Toronto, ON and Dr. Michael Windover, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON)
[I assisted in the conceptualization of the project and in the writing of the text for the SSHRC grant application because of my experience as the curator of the Design Exchange between 2004 and 2008].

2016

Museum Assistance Program, Culture, Heritage and sport, Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON.
True Nordic: How Scandinavia influenced design in Canada, Gardiner Museum, Toronto, ON) $125,000.
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Dr. Rachel Gotlieb in applying for this government funding].

Weinbaum Family Foundation, Toronto, ON $30,000.00.
True Nordic (Gardiner Museum, Toronto, ON)
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Dr. Rachel Gotlieb in applying for this private foundation funding].

2012

Canada Council For The Arts, Ottawa, ON $30,000.00.
Meanings in Architecture: The Work of George Baird, Eric Arthur Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, University Toronto, Toronto, ON
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor An Te Liu in applying for this government funding].

City of Toronto, Arts Division, Toronto, ON. $300,000.00.
Museum for the End of the World (Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche Toronto, ON)
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault in applying for this government funding].

Jackman Foundation, Toronto, ON. $20,000.00.
Museum for the End of the World (Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche Toronto, ON)
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault in applying for this government funding].

Creed Family Foundation, Toronto, ON. $1000.00
Museum for the End of the World (Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche Toronto, ON)
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault in applying for this private foundation funding].

2010

Ontario Arts Council Grant, Toronto, ON. $9000.00
Leona Drive Project: Catalogue
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault in applying for this government funding to support the publication of a catalog of the project].

2009

Toronto Arts Council Grant, Toronto, ON. $4000.00
(Leona Drive Project)
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault in applying for this government funding].

Ontario Arts Council Grant $15,000.00
(Leona Drive Project)
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault in applying for this government funding].

Canada Council Arts Grant $15,000.00
(Leona Drive Project)
[I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault in applying for this government funding].

Jackman Foundation Grant $10,000.00
(Leona Drive Project)
I was a co-applicant with my colleague and co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault in applying for this government funding.

2005

Yabu-Pushelberg Foundation, Toronto, ON. $10,000.00
(“By Design”)
[I was the sole applicant for this private funding to support the exhibition].

2004

RBC Foundation / Plastic (Design Exchange, Toronto, ON) $7500.00
[I was the sole applicant for this institutional funding].

2007

Research support, Faculty of Communication and Design, Toronto
Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), Toronto, ON,
$1500.00

Books

Reside: West Coast Architectural Responses, (Vancouver, BC: Figure I Press, 2024).

Hurvin Anderson, Contemporary Painters, edited by Barry Schwabsky, (London, England: Lund Humphries, 2021)

Smith House II, West Coast Modern House Series, edited by Leslie van Duzer, (San Francisco: ORO Editions/ SALA-UBC Press: 2017)

An Te Liu: MONO NO MA, preface by Rachel Gotlieb, (Toronto: Gardiner Ceramic Museum, 2013)

Chapters in Books

“’Out of the Woods’” or the nature of identity, the identity of nature and the complexities of contemporary Canadian design” in Transatlantic Discourse in Nordic Design, editors Astrid Skjerven and Rachel Gotlieb (London, England: Bloomsbury, 2024).

“’To have a New World’ or Contingent Modernisms, Colonialisms, and rethinking the Histories of Design and Culture in British Columbia,” Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia, editors Daina Augaitus, Allan Collier, and Stephanie Rebick, (Vancouver BC: Figure1Press, 2020).

“Ubiquity or the power of the ordinary in the work of Thomas J. Price”, Ordinary Men, (Toronto, ON: The Power Plant, 2020), 61-74.

“Everything Cold is New Again: Culture, the Circumpolar and Identity in Canadian Design, 1964-present” in Cabin Fever, edited by Jennifer M. Volland, Brucer Grenville and Stephanie Rebick, (Vancouver BC: Information Office, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2018) 135-139.

“Everything Cold is New Again: Culture, the Circumpolar and Identity in Canadian Design, 1964-present” in True Nordic: How Scandinavia influenced Design in Canada, editors Michael Prokopow and Rachel Gotlieb, (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2016), 25-35.

“Coupland’s True North Strong and Free,” in Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything, edited by Daina Augaitus, (London and Vancouver, BC: Black Dog Publishing / Vancouver Art Gallery, 2014), 46-67.

“Flea Market,” in American Icons: An Encyclopedia of the People, Places, and Things that have Shaped Our Culture [Volume One] editors Dennis R. Hall and Susan Grove Hall, (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2006), 233-241.

“Daigner être moderne: le gout du Canada pour le style scandinave dans les années soixante,” in Fabrique au Canada: Métiers D’art et Design dans les Années Soixante, sous la direction de Alan C. Elder, (Montreal and London: McGill Queen’s Press, 2005), 93-105.

“Deign to Be Modern: Canada’s Taste for Scandinavian Design in the Sixties,” in Made in Canada: Craft and Design in the Sixties, edited by Alan C. Elder, (Montreal and London: McGill Queen’s Press, 2005), 93-105.

Books Edited

True Nordic: How Scandinavia influenced Design in Canada, editors Michael Prokopow and Rachel Gotlieb, (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2016).

True Nordique: L'influence du Design Scandinave Au Canada, editeurs Michael Prokopow and Rachel Gotlieb, (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2016).

Articles in Academic Journals

Janine Marchessault and Michael Prokopow, “The Leona Drive Project: A Public Access + L.O.T. Project,” in Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts, 15 (June 2011), 164-169.

Steven Logan, Janine Marchessault and Michael Prokopow, “Suburbs: Dwelling in Transition / Historical Dossier,” Public 43: Suburbs (2011), 10-21.

Book Reviews in Academic Journals

Viviane Gosselin and Phaedra Livingstone, eds. Museums and the Past: Constructing Historical Consciousness, (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2016) in RACAR, 42(2017) 1: 27-29.

Dag Widman, Karin Winter, Nina Stritzler-Levine, Bruno Mathsson: Architect and Designer, Bokfloraget Arena / Bard Graduate Center Yale University Press, 2007, in Winterthur Portfolio, 44 (Spring 2010), 134-136.

Jane L. Cook, Coalescence of Styles: The Ethnic Heritage of St John River Valley Regional Furniture, 1763-1851, (Montreal: Queen’s University Press, 2001), in Winterthur Portfolio, 36 (Fall 2002), 251-254.

David Nye, Narratives and Spaces: Technology and the Construction of American Culture, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), in Canadian

Exhibition Reviews in Academic Journals

“Material Truths: The Quilts of Gee’s Bend at the Whitney Museum of Art: An Exhibition Review,” Winterthur Portfolio, (Spring 2004), 57-66.

“Examining Erickson,” Building, (August/September 2006), 18.

Academic Journals Edited

2011 Co-editor (with Janine Marchessault and Steven Logan), Public 43: Suburbs, (August)

Editorial and Academic Board Appointments

2019

Reviewer, History Division, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON

2013-present

International Program Committee, ISEA, (International Society of Electronic Arts), University for the Arts, UK.

2013-17

Editorial Board, Multi: The Journal of Responsible Architecture and Design University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

2012-present

Editorial Board, Studio Magazine: Craft and Design in Canada, Craft Ontario: Toronto, ON

Invited Conference Papers

2022

“Shelved: The rise and fall of The Design Exchange, Canada’s Museum of Industrial Design”, Design History Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, September 2022, with Dr. Rachel Gotlieb and Dr. Elise Hodson. (Accepted but not presented)

2019

“It Cost the Earth: Design and the End of the World”, Design History Conference, Newcastle, UK [not presented]

2014

"Into the Sunset: Popular Advice, Self-Reliance, and the (homemade) American Dream,” Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association, Chicago, IL

2013

“Regina Redux: New Victorianisms in the Design Culture of Contemporary Canada”, Towards Global Histories of Design: Postcolonial Perspectives, Design History Society/ National Institute of Design Ahmedabad, India

2012

“Affairs of the Art: The Many Lives and Many Loves of Pinkie and Blue Boy”, Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association, Boston, MA

2011

“Vitrines for Living: Self fashioning and the Architecture of display in Contemporary North America”, Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association, San Antonio, TX

2010

“The Making and Meaning of Leona Drive”, (with Professor Janine Marchessault) Performing Publics Conference, Toronto, ON

2009

“Lost in America:” Loyalism, Possessions, and the Presence of Absence”, Society of Early Americanists Conference, Hamilton, Bermuda

“A Case for Design: Thoughts on Curatorial Practice”, invited discussant at “Design on Design: Exploring How Museums Exhibit Designed Objects,” Chair: Marianne Lamonaca, College Art Association Conference, Los Angeles, CA.

2007

“Pride of Place or the Edge at the Centre: Canada and Great Exhibition of 1851”, Imperial Curiosity Conference, University of Tasmania, Centre for Colonialism and Its Aftermath, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

2005

“History’s Bargains: Material Culture and the status of the post-consumer artifact”, Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association, San Diego, CA.

2004

“Modernity’s Grand Gesture” Vision, Benevolent Statism and the Promise of Simon Fraser University in 1963”, DOCOMOMO Conference, New York, NY.

A Particular Taste for Monarchy or Decorum and Decoration in the Royal Visit of the Prince of Wales to New Brunswick, British North America in 1860”, Rethinking Decorative Arts Conference, Winterthur, University of Delaware, Newark DE.

"Robert's Rules: The Photography of Michael Chambers”, The Black Body Revisited Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, IL.

“Kitsch and Tell: Reflections on a Collection of 1960s Japanese Coffee Mugs or the Autobiographical Narratives of Collecting”, Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association, San Antonio, TX

“’Canada made an admirable show’: Imperial Duties, Provincialism and the Material Cultures of colonialism at the Great Exhibition of 1851”, Nineteenth Century Studies Association Meeting, St. Louis, MO

2003

“‘The Art of Man’: Identity, Culture, and the International Aesthetics in the Architecture of Arthur Erickson, 1950-1970”, The Sixties in Canada Conference, McCord Museum/McGill University, Montreal, QC

Invited Keynote Addresses

2022

“‘The B.C. Idiom’ Revisited: Contemporary Residential Architecture in the Age of Upheaval”, The Barry Downs Lecture in Architecture and Architectural History, West Vancouver Art Gallery, West Vancouver, BC

2018

"History's Future / Future Histories: The Ideological and Ethical Implications of Design Creativity in Late Capitalism", Newfoundland Association of Interior Architects and Interior Designers, St, Johns, NL

2017

"The Ethics of Making and the Making of Ethics", Commencement Address, Sheridan College, Mississauga, ON

"Appropriate /əˈprəʊprɪət/ - Appropriate /əˈprəʊprɪeɪt/: The Design of the State and the State of Design (A Contemplation on the Implications -- Historical and Contemporary -- of Power, White supremacy, Materialism and National Identity in Canada)," Canada 150 Lecture, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC

2016

“Cabinets of Virtuosity: Neo-Kings, Confounding Things and Hyper-Luxury in the Contemporary Frame”, Maloof Symposium, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Invited lectures

2024

“Complicity: imperialism, racial capitalism and the study of material life,” A Coincidence of Wants, The Shape of Value: A symposium on Kapwani Kiwanga’s “Trinket” at the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, presented by The National Gallery of Canada, The Wexner Center for the Arts, at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, Venice, IT

“The Relativity of Value: A consideration of the historical, cultural and market value of objects”, International Society of Appraisers, Montreal QC

“Paper trails: provenance, disclosure,, institutional responsibility and the return of patrimony”, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University, New Haven CT

2023

“Beyond Allyship: or By Way of Autobiographical Anecdotes, Reflections on History, Culture, Decolonization and the urgency of Disrupting Settler Knowledge Systems” KPMB Lab, KPMB Architects, Toronto ON

“Out of the Woods: Trees, design and culture in settler Canada”, Northumberland Learning Connection, Cobourg, ON

2021

“These are a few of my favorite things: A Phenomenological and Personal consideration of material life”, Selected Topics in Architecture: Casting, Professor An Te Liu, The Daniel’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

“Monster Trucks as studies in taste: Disruptive exhibition strategies as mechanisms in the dismantling of social bias”, Diploma 12, Professors Manijeh Verghese and Inigo Mimms, The Architectural Association, London, UK

“Material Culture and the Study of History”, Canadian Society for the Decorative Arts, Toronto, ON

2020

“Out of the Woods: National identity and the question of design in Canada”, Design and Cultural Exchange, Conference Pt II, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

2019

“Post Consumption and the Study of Material Culture”, “Lab Talks,” KPMB Architects Toronto, ON

“All Objects Tell a Story: Social History and the Artifact Record”, Toronto Friends of the Decorative Arts, Toronto, ON

“Tangible Modernity: The Form and Function of Utilitarian Design”, Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, CT

2018

"The Built Environment as Material Culture: A Methodological Consideration", Diploma 12, The Architectural Association, London UK

"Collecting, Archives and Knowledge in the Public Realm”, and "In Conversation with Niall Hobhouse", Hauser and Wirth, London, UK

2017

“Arthur Erickson, Regional Modernism and the cultural synthesis: The making of the Second Gordon and Marion Smith House”, UBC-SALA Lecture Series, Vancouver, BC

"Design History and Exhibition Making: 'True Nordic' as a Case Study", Drammens Museum of Art and Cultural History, Drammens, Norway.

"National Identity and Design Culture: The influence of Scandinavia in Canada, 1960- 1990", Design and Cultural Exchange, Conference, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

2015

“Site Specific Curatorial Work: Nuit Blanche, Toronto as a Case Study”, and Publics and the Critical Display of Cultural Products at Curating Conversations, Royal College of Art, British Arts Council and Autograph Gallery, London and Bristol, UK

“The work of historians and methodologies for understanding the present,” Making Sense of Now, Northumberland Learning Connection, Port Hope, ON

2014

“Design and National Identity”, Perimeter Series, [panelists: Vanessa Eckstein, Todd Falkowsky and Catherine Osborne] The Design Exchange, Toronto, ON

“Contemporary Art and the Legacies of the Postmodern Turn”, Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, ON

“The Future of the Future: An Evening of Ideas”, [with Sophia Al Maria, Douglas Coupland, William Gibson, James Gleick, Michael Stipe] Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

“Mike Nelson and Created Memories”, Sunday Scene, The Power Plant, Toronto, ON

2012

“Prescriptions for Living: Decorating Guide and Advice Manuals, 1950-1970”, Northumberland Connection Adult Learning, Port Hope, ON

“The Matter of Taste: Design in the Home”, Northumberland Connection Adult Learning, Port Hope, ON

“Site Specific Art and Curation: THE MUSEUM FOR THE END OF THE WORLD (Nuit Blanche 2012) and “The Leona Drive Project” (2009) as Case Studies,” (FA/VISA: Research and Practice in Art, Professor Nina Levitt), York University, Toronto, ON

“Things, Taxonomies and the Conundrums of Contemporary Craft”, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON

2011

“Surfing to the Happy City or Digital Freedom and the Self”, BMW/Guggenheim City Lab, New York City, NY

Taste, Duty and the Material Promise of 'Good Design' in Canada after 1945”, [Exhibition Lecture: The Modern Eye – Craft and Design in Canada, 1940-1980], Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC

“Labels, Hybrids and the Order of Things (or musings on the contemporary world of creativity", Division of Art History, School of Art & Design and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Alfred University, Alfred, NY

“The Leona Drive Project and Site-specific Curatorial Practice”, (FA/VISA Research and Practice in Art, Professor Nina Levitt), York University, Toronto, ON

2010

“The Making and Meaning of Leona Drive”, Performing Publics’ Conference, Toronto, ON

“Site Specificity in Curatorial Practice: The Leona Drive Project”, Institute Without Boundaries, George Brown College, Toronto, ON

2008

“The Past with a Future: Class, Aesthetics and historicism in the making of Middle Class Taste in North America, 1940-1970”, Department of History, NSCAD University, Halifax, NS

“Craft in the Context of Post Modernity: Affect and the Self”, [Closing address] Craft Pioneers / New Traditions conference Symposium, Harbourfront Toronto, ON

“Politics of the Weft” Woven Ties and Post War Culture in Canada, 1950-1970”, A Season of Canada Lecture Series, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON

“A Personal Thing: The Autobiographical impulse of Post-Modern Craft”, Crafting New Traditions: Canadian Innovators and Influences Symposium, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON

2007

“The Designing Subaltern: Post-Colonialism and the Crafting of Autonomy”, Mass-clusivity: Symposium: New Models of Viable Design and Craft Collaborations in the Developing World, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON

“From Hand to Mouth: Talking about Craft and its Meanings (a personal reflection)”, Craft Now Lecture Series, New Gallery, Toronto, ON

“In the Eyes of the Beholders: The Social Construction of Beauty”, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON

“Identity, Survival and Improvisation: Patterns in the Material Culture of the African Diaspora in the New World?”, [Symposium: The African Diaspora and the Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Slave Trade] National Film Board of Canada, Toronto, ON

“Authenticity and the Cultures of the Copy”, Trend Talk, The Interior Design Show, Toronto, ON

“Donald Buchanan and the Good Design Movement in Canada”, Ourtopias Conference, Design Exchange, Toronto, ON

“I Need That: Consumer Culture and the Impulses to Shopping”, The Consuming Craze: Is There a Biological Urge to Buy”? Ontario Science Center Lecture Series, Toronto, ON

“The Work of Craft in the Age of Computer Aided Design: A Consideration of the Role of Technology in Artisanal Making”, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON

2006

“First Past the Post: Colonial and Contemporary Themes in Canadian Design,” School of Architecture, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB

“Method and Meaning: The Historical Antecedents of Contemporary Trends in Canadian Design”, Art and Design Now Series. Faculty of Art, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge AB

Papers in conference proceedings

2004

Michael Prokopow and Ruth Sandwell, “Deference to Difference: Multiculturalism and Diversity in Canada, 1763-2003,” in Grazhdahskoe obshchestvo: opyt Zapada I Votoska/ Civil Society: The Experience of the West edited by G.A. Kazachun, (Vladivostock, Russia, 2004), 193-203.

Curated exhibitions

2014

“MASTERFUL: Selected Graduate Student Work” / Grad-Ex OCAD University, Toronto, ON

2013

"Here/Now," OCAD University at the Toronto International Art Fair (TIAF), Toronto, ON

“Craft Ontario and the Domestic Sphere” Interior Design Expo, Toronto, ON

2012

“Meanings in Architecture: The Early Works of George Baird”, Eric Arthur Gallery, The Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

2007

“Canada in the Making,” The Design Exchange, Toronto, ON

2006

“Circa 1955 / 2005: Domestic Landscapes in Modern and Contemporary Canada,” Royal Ontario. Museum and the Design Exchange, Home Pavilion, Canadian National Exhibition. Toronto, ON

“Circa 1955 / 2005: Domestic Landscapes in Modern and Contemporary Canada,” Royal Ontario Museum and the Design Exchange, Pearson Airport Exhibition Program, Toronto, ON

2005

“By Design: Historic and Contemporary Objects from Canadian Collections”, The Design Exchange, Toronto, ON

2004

“Plastic: Chemistry, Commerce and Culture in Canada, 1945-present.” The Design Exchange, Toronto, ON

Co-curated exhibitions

2024

“A Refuge: Arthur Erickson”, West Vancouver Art Museum, West Vancouver, BC
I was a co-curator with museum director Dr. Hillary Letwin and architect Clinton Cuddington of an exhibition as part of the centenary of the birth of Arthur Erickson. The project - a recreation of the architect’s living room in his West Point Grey house - took inspiration from a series of photographs taken in 1972 by the acclaimed Vancouver artist Selwyin Pullen, showing Mr. Erickson sitting amidst his works of art, porcelains and buddhist sculptures. The exhibition was collaborative, with Dr. Letwin, Mr. Cuddington, and I developing the idea of exploring the private world of Mr. Erickson who, at the time, was internationally famous and who returned to Vancouver and what he called his oasis.

2017

“True Nordic: How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada,”
(with Rachel Gotlieb) Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

“True Nordic: How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada,”
(with Rachel Gotlieb) New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, NB

2016

“True Nordic: How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada,”
(with Rachel Gotlieb) Gardiner Museum, Toronto, ON
As historians of material life in Canada, Dr. Rachel Gotlieb and I formulated an exhibition that examined the long and enduring influence of Scandinavian aesthetics on Canadian makers and modes of making, examining the legacies of migration, stylistic adoption and the national search for a fitting aesthetic language.

“Oblivion” Nuit Blanche / Monumental Project: Toronto City Hall and Nathan Philips Square, Toronto, ON with Professor Janine Marchessault, York University, Toronto, ON
Dr. Marchessault and I were invited by the City of Toronto to curate an exhibition of the work of Floria Sigismondi and Director X. The work of assisting the artist in the realization of their vision was collaborative, and resulted in a powerful consideration of life and the cosmos.

2012

“Museum for the End of the World,” Scotiabank Nuit Blanche / Monumental Project
with Professor Janine Marchessault, York University, Toronto, ON
The organizers of Nuit Blanche (a night of art) at the City of Toronto, having known about the Leona Drive Project, invited Dr. Marchessault and I to propose a curatorial project for what was called the Monumental site (the plaza in front of City Hall). Dr. Marchessault shared her thoughts about the anniversary of the Mayan Doomsday calendar; I shared my thoughts about the modernist and Cold war architecture of the city hall complex. Our compatible visions resulted in the curatorial premise of a museum “for” and not “of” the end of the world. The project, housed on the plaza and, importantly in the underground parking garage and the council chamber, included artists such as Douglas Coupland, Tania Moraud, An Te Liu, Christine Davis and Jean-Michel Crettaz. Theorist Slavoj Žižek spoke emphatically and performatively about the end of capitalism, and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale - an organization that sings the African diasporic songbook - performed a song cycle that moved from mourning to jubilation. The event was hugely successful, with the city estimating that four hundred thousand people saw the installation.

2009

“The Leona Drive Project” with co-curator Professor Janine Marchessault, York University, Toronto, ON
As members of a reading and writing group, Dr. Marchessault and I spoke often about our respective research projects. At the time I was working on a study of suburban culture and material life. She was putting together a site specific project in Willowdale Ontario, (an inner city suburb of Toronto). The project was an initiative of LOT: Experiments in Urban Research housed at York University was in the planning stages. Dr. Marchessault invited me to join her as a co-curator. My contributions were consequential: I recommended artists for the project, worked on the preparation of the site, the installation, and the refinement of the curatorial vision.

Curatorial and Museum Advisory Appointments

2023-

Design Collection / Reinstallation Advisory Committee, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, QC

2021

Collection assessment and furniture de-accessioning strategy, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB

2020

“Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia”, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC, curated by Daina Augaitus, Allan Collier and Stephanie Rebick

2017

“Streamline Modernism”, curated by Nicholas Bell, Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, CT

2011

“STITCHES: Suzhou Fast Forward”, Professor Larry Richards curator, WORK/shop, Toronto, ON

Invited Moderator, Invited Interviewer and Panel Participant

2024

“A Refuge: Arthur Erickson”, panel discussion with Curators Dr. Hillary Letwin, Director West Vancouver Art Museum, Clinton Cuddington and Michael Prokopow, West Vancouver Art Museum, West Vancouver, BC

2020

“Thoughts on Fordite and Neo-minerology: Michael Prokopow in conversation with Douglas Coupland”, Paradise Theatre, Toronto, ON

“A New Model for Public Art: Michael Prokopow in conversation Thomas J. Price”, Architectural Association, London, UK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyswOd1ewRg

2018

“Michael Prokopow in conversation with Sarah Angelucci and Deborah Samuel", CONTACT: Contemporary Art Panel Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON

“'In his own words': Michael Prokopow in conversation with Isaac Julien”, Royal Ontario Museum", Toronto, ON

2016

“Contemplating Culture: Ruth Cuthand, Chris Millar, Ryan Quast, Brendan Tang, moderated by Michael Prokopow”, SOLO Salon Talk: Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, ON

Invited Critic

2024

ADV9706 MDES Open Project: “Revisiting the Space of Appearance and the Implication of the Self,” Professor Elisa Silva, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

2023

Diploma 12, The Architectural Association, London, UK

2022

Diploma 12, The Architectural Association, London, UK

2021

Diploma 12, The Architectural Association, London, UK

2019

Diploma 12, The Architectural Association, London, UK

M. Arch, Studio midterm reviews. Daniels Faculty of Landscape, Architecture and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

M. Arch, Studio Final Reviews, Daniels Faculty of Landscape, Architecture and Design, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

Diploma 12, The Architectural Association, London, UK

Chapters in Exhibition Catalogs

“Autonomous Table", in Gord Peteran Furniture, (Guelph, ON: University of Guelph Art Gallery, 2018) 32-34.

“Angelo Mangiarotti,” “Philippe Starck,” “Karim Rashid,” “Cini Boeri and Tomu Katayanagi,” “Tejo Remy, “Fabio Novembre,” in Decorative Arts and Design: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Collection, Volume II, editors Rosiland Pepall and Diane Charbonneau, (New York: Harry Abrams, 2013), 76-79.

“Object Lessons: Craft, Creativity, and Boundlessness in the Contemporary Field,” in 40 Under 40: Craft Futures, editor Nicholas R. Bell, (Washington DC and New Haven: The Smithsonian Institution / Yale University Press, 2012), 60-72.

Exhibition Essays in Gallery Publications

2024

“Threads of Meaning: The work of Isabelle D”, Galerie Nosco, Brussels, Belgium

2023

“Foreword: Bogdan Mihai Radu” in Bogdan Mihai Radu, Stages Press, London, UK

2018

"Unleashed" The Photography of Megan Plunkett, Emalin Gallery: London, UK

2017

“’Sie und Sie’, (her and her pronouns)” [Iris Hauessler], in All the Names, curated by Rui Mateus Amaral, Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, ON

“This is it with it as it is,” for Details in the Landscape, curator Wil Aballe, Audain Gallery of Art History and Visual Culture, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

“Introduction” OPINE Exhibition [National Student Exhibition] edited by Heba Kandil and Robert Mitchell, Material Art and Design, OCAD University, Toronto, ON

2011

“Decoding Douglas Coupland,” Trepannier Baer Gallery, Calgary, AB

2009

“Introduction,” Radiant Dark/ Elegant Corruptions, MADE Gallery, Toronto, ON

2006

“Stuff to Think About” Thick 20 / Lateral Architecture,” YYZ Gallery, Toronto, ON

Articles in Professional Journals and Magazines

“History in the Making: Makers and the Markers of Time,” Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, vol 19, no 1, (Spring/Summer 2024), 52-55, online, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w37kNIf4c-2NNPRsi6fVfBC8mOU9wUOi/view

“Power in the Making”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2023-24), 40-43, online, https://www.studiomagazine.ca/issues/2023/vol-17-no-2

“The Work of Things”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2023) vol 18, no 1: (online), https://www.studiomagazine.ca/articles/2023/1/the-work-of-things

“A determined pleasure”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2022-23), 34-37: https://www.studiomagazine.ca/issues/2022/vol-17-no-2

“In the Absence of the Object (Research in a Pandemic)”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2021): online, https://www.studiomagazine.ca/issues/2021/vol-16-no-1

“What’s in a Name? Indigenous Knowledge and Ways of Making Sense of the World”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2020), online https://www.studiomagazine.ca/issues/2019/vol- 15-no-2

“Route Cause: Maps and Making Sense of the World,” Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2020) %202020.pdffile:///Users/michaelprokopow/Downloads/Studio%20SSO

“Everything Old is New Again (or what comes around should come around again”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2019): https://www.studiomagazine.ca/articles/2019/did-you-know/everything-old-is-new

"Living Heritage", Studio: Craft and Design in Canada (Spring/Summer 2018), 51-52.

“Taking without Asking”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter, 2017-2018), 50-51.

“Reconciliation”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, Spring/Summer 2017), 52-53.

"Foundations of Democracy: Vice Regal Mansions in Canada", Ornamentum: Decorative Arts in Canada, (June 2016), 17-19.

“Bid Thee Well: Etsy and the digital marketplace for craft,” Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2016), 43-45.

“Wish You Were Here: Postcards of the Guild of All Arts”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2016), 46-48.

“Holding Meaning”, Ornamentum: Decorative Arts in Canada, (Volume 32 Number 3-4) Fall/Winter 2015, 25.

“Symbol of the Realm”, Ornamentum: Decorative Arts in Canada, (Volume 32 Number 3-4) Fall/Winter 2015, 20.

“Current Thinking: Fogo Island and Shorefast Foundation”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2015, 48-49.

“Shelf Life: Museums Collecting Craft and Design (Part II)”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2014), 54-57.

“Douglas Coupland and the Crafting of Ideas” Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/ Winter 2014), 46-47.

“The Life They Planned for You”, (photographs by Christoph Geilen), Hazlitt, 2(Summer 2014), 174-177.

“Life, Death and Things In Between,” in ‘Douglas Coupland: Six Views on a Hometown Hero’, Vancouver Magazine, (June 2014), 44.

“Shelf Life: Museums, Mission and the Issues of Collecting Craft and Design, (Part I)”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2014), 40-44.

“Paramparik Karigar”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2014), 51-53.

“Bill Reid - Walking Forward into the Past”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/ Winter 2013-2014), 50-51.

“Wefi Surfboards”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2013), 51.

“Old Can Be New Again”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2012-2013), 49.

“Alan Fleming”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2012), 53.

“Lotte Lamps,” Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2011-2012) 43.

“Carl Poul Petersen”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2011), 59.

“Collaborative Innovation: The Deichmanns’ Ceramics Studio”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Fall/Winter 2010) 49.

“Canadian Knit Ties”, Studio: Craft and Design in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2010), 53.

“Museums, Commerce and the Design of Shopping,” Ornamentum: Decorative Arts in Canada, (Spring/Summer 2010), 28-30.

“A Scenic Tour: A remembrance of Arthur Erickson”, Canadian Architect, 54 (October 2009), 30/34.

“From Hand to Mouth: Talking about Craft and its meanings (a personal reflection),” Craft+Idea = New Ideas, editors Lily Yung and Anne Barros, (New Views, Toronto, ON, 2007), 17-20.

“Less an Elegy More a call to action,” Building, 56 (October 2006), 52.

Book Reviews in Professional Journals

Alice Rawshorn, Hello World: Where Design Meets Life, (Hamish Hamilton, London, 2013) in AZURE, (May 2014), 100.

Guliana Bruno, Public Intimacy: Architecture and the Visual Arts, introduction by Anthony Vidler (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2007), in AZURE, (March/April 2008), 132.

University Service

OCAD University, Toronto, ON, Canada

2023 VSC: Thesis Prize review

2021-present FAS Sessional Hiring Committee : Summer / Fall 2023

2018-22 IAMD Admissions Committee

2018-22 CRCP and CADN Admissions Committee

2018-present FAS Curriculum Committee

Visual Culture Studies (VCS) Undergraduate Program Committee

Criticism and Curatorial Practice (CCP) Undergraduate Program and Curriculum Committee

2016-17 Interim Dean, Graduate Studies

2015-17 Academic Plan Steering Committee

2015-17 Graduate Studies Curriculum Committee, Graduate Supervision Working Group (Chair)

2014-16 Associate Dean, Graduate Studies

2014-17 Onsite Gallery Advisory Programming Sub-Committee

2014-17 Information Technology Steering Committee, Education and Employment Equity Committee

Annual Graduation Exhibition [“Grad Ex”] Co-Chair

2013-15 Faculty Colleague, Council of Ontario Universities

2013-17 Senate Academic Standards Committee

Assurance Committee

Senate Academic Policy and Planning Committee

Accessibility Sub-Committee

Graduate Scholarship Committee (Chair)

2011-13 Graduate Program Director, Criticism and Curatorial Practice Program

2011-13 Graduate Program Director, Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories

2010-19 Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design Graduate Program Committee

2010-18 Contemporary Art, Media and Design Graduate Program Committee

Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies Program Committee

Criticism and Curatorial Practice (CCP) Undergraduate Program and Curriculum Committee

Visual Culture Studies (VCS) Undergraduate Program Committee

2010-17 Senate Graduate Studies Committee

Graduate supervisions: OCAD University, Toronto, ON

MFA in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design / Principal Advisor

2024 Jiyeon Hong, Anatomy of the Material Self: An Investigation of Selfhood and the Material Lifeworld.

2022 Natasha Vasiljevic, When Tito Went on Vacation (re-imagining nostalgia).

2019 Jeffrey Garcia, HWILDSON: An Experimental Preservation Practice Visualizing Data as Code, Object, and Architecture.

2017 Qendrim Hoti, Supertoys Last All Summer Long.

2015 Phillip Cote, The Tecumseh Project.

2014 Nicholas Sweetman, Digital Adaptations: Possibility in Representation Beyond the Frame.

2013 Rebecca Baird, ’Why Don’t You Just Drop This Indian Stuff?’: The Living Legacy of Indigenous Selfhood.

2012 Julian Higuerey Nunez, The Promise of Making.

2011 Lisa Visser, Animals in the Room.

MA in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design / Secondary Advisor

2020 Jesse Holmes, Sentimental Debris

2015 Jason King, The Ascetic’s Cave

2011 Joseph Clement, Collecting Tasker

2010 Sarah Beck, Currency.

MFA Criticism and Curatorial Practice / Principal Advisor

2016 Jielu Zhang, Wearable or Not?: Experiencing Contemporary Jewelry.

2015 Rui Mateus Amaral, The Author-Curator as Auto-ethnographer.

2014

Simone Rojas-Pick, Street Museum Without Walls: a curatorial mediation on the convergence of street art and digital culture.

2013 Stefan Orri Hancherow, Brand New Aura.

MFA in Criticism and Curatorial Practice / Secondary Advisor

2021 Alexander Rondeau, Mud, Hay, Plywood, Pheasants: Towards a Rurally Embodied Queer Curatorial Practice.

2013 Penelope Smart, Time to Start Over.

MA in Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories / Principal Advisor

2017 Sophie Ratcliffe, Luxury, Decoration and Contemporary Design.

2015 Brittany Higgens, “Jeff Koons and the Hyperreal: A Match ‘Made in Heaven’.

2014 Terry Jenkins Bricel, A Gallery of Culture in Our Times: Julia Peyton-Jones and the Serpentine Pavilions.

2013 Jessica Li, Crafting Modern China: The Revival of Yixing Pottery.

MA in Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories / Secondary Advisor

2021

Lucia Wallace, Drop my heart like an urn; melt my skin like it’s clay: Dichotomies of Destruction and Creation, the Material and the Intangible.

2014

Behnaz Djabarouti, Cultural Displacement: Gender and the design of identity of the Iranian Diaspora, from Iran to Toronto - 1979 to 2013.

2015 William Fraser, Allison Schulnik’s Hobo Clown and the Grotesque Imagination.

2014 Erik Munoz, The Crucifixion in the Work of Joel-Peter Witkin.

MDes in Digital Futures / Secondary Advisor

2020 Peiheng Zhao, Mixed reality technology for representing and facilitating intercultural dialogue in museums.

Directed Reading Courses / Graduate Studies

2023 Jiyeon Hong, IAMD MA candidate

2021 Natasha Vasiljevic, MFA candidate, IAMD

Alexander Rondeau, MFA candidate, CRCP

2019 Jessie Holmes, MFA candidate, IAMD

2017 Qendrim Hoti, MFA candidate, IAMD

2013 Faraz Anoushah Pour, MFA candidate, IAMD

Ryan Ferko, MFA candidate, IAMD

Marjan Verstappen, MFA candidate, IAMD

Martha Griffith, MFA candidate, IAMD

2012 Jennifer Simaitis, MFA candidate CRCP

2011 Rita Camacho, MFA candidate, IAMD

Graduate supervisions: Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON

Program in Communication and Culture / Doctoral Supervisory Committee

2015

Iona Pelovska, Poetry and Pornography: Means and Meanings of the Moving Image. Supervisor: Professor Caitlin Fisher, Member: Professor Michael Zyrd.

2013

Aysegul Koc, Technological Displacement: The Coat Check InteractiveAugmented Reality Installation in Perspective, Supervisor: Professor Caitlin Fisher Member: Professor Michael Zyrd.

Eva Nessleroth Wozybun, Dematerializing Digital Objects: Denial, Decay, Detritus and Other Matters of Fact. Supervisor: Professor Janine Marchessault, Member: Professor Steven Bailey.

Program in Communication and Culture / MA Supervisor

2007 Sarah Drummond, Representations of Female Obesity in Contemporary Cinema.

2006 Truc Nguyen, Beyond Commerce: The Fashion Magazine as Art and Theory.

Program in Communication and Culture / MA Supervisory Committee

2009

Catherine Ishino, Does Modernizing Mean Westernizing: Western Views of New China’s Graphic Design, 1998-2008. Supervisor: Professor Wendy Wong.

Graduate supervisions: York University, Toronto, ON

Program in Communication and Culture / Doctoral Committee Membership

2019

Elise Hodson, Global Design Processes and Products: The Production-Circulation-Consumption of Everyday Consumer Goods. Supervisor: Professor Jan Hadlaw, Member: Professor Colin Mooers.

2016

Gordon Thompson (ABD) The Pretensions of Craft: Cultural Form and Social Status. Supervisor: Professor Alan Blum, Member: Professor Kevin Dowler.

2015

Lynn Chalmers, The Subtle Revolution – Women and change in office Environments 1960-1990. Supervisor: Professor Janine Marchessault, Member: Professor George Kapelos.

Geoffrey Alan Rhodes (ABD) The Electric image, New Live Media. Supervisor: Professor Caitlin Fisher, Member: Professor Michael Zyrd.

2014

Sabine Lebel, Materiality, Form, and Container Technologies: Personal Computers and the Environment. Supervisor: Professor Jody Berland, Member: Professor Fitzpatrick.

2013

Trevor Cunnington, Schadenfreude, Villainy and Empathy: The Ideological Life of Media Representations of ‘White Trash’. Supervisor: Professor John McCullough, Member: Professor Scott Forsyth.

2010

Susan Asheley, Museum Renaissance? Revisioning ‘publicness’ at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. Supervisor: Professor Joy Constaedt, Member: Professor Colin Mooers.

Program in Communication and Culture / MA Supervisory Committee

2010

Olukayode Ayankojo, Diasporic Community, Cultural Identity and the Internet: A Case Study of Nigerians in Toronto. Supervisor: Professor Alan Blum.

Program in Interdisciplinary Studies / MA Supervisory Committee

2013

Tim McCormack, The Digital Romantic Landscape: From the Sublime to the Cool. Supervisor: Professor David Armstrong, Member: Professor Jen Jenson.

Graduate supervisions: M.Arch Program, Daniel’s Faculty of Architecture, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

2012

Matt Morgan, THE OBSERVER & THE SPECTACLE: The Cameron Voir, “Design Archive. Supervisor: Professor An Te Liu, Member: Professor George Baird.

External examiner: MA thesis, Communication and Culture MA Program, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON

2024

Barbara Hambly, Staging Canada: Propaganda and White Settler Nation-building, 1896-1929