Field Trip Recap: Critical Play Lab Takes on asses.masses
On Sunday, November 16th, Critical Play Lab Director Biz Nijdam and two Critical Play Fellows set out on an epic, joy-filled adventure to Vancouver Island for Impulse Theatre’s production of asses.masses by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim. After the panicked search of multiple inboxes for the e-tickets and a little too much caffeine, the team […]
The Pop Culture Cluster & UBC Film Society Go Global with International Horror Festival
It’s our second collab with the UBC Film Society on the Annual Horror Film Festival for Arts Multilingual Week! The Global Horror Film Festival ran from Oct. 27-30 and was free to attend at The Normand Bouchard Memorial Theatre.
Call for Indigenous Cartoonists: Seabird Island Comics: Bringing the Stories of Sq’éwqel to Life
Call for Indigenous Cartoonists: Seabird Island Comics: Bringing the Stories of Sq’éwqel to Life Project Title: “Seabird Island Stories” Graphic Novel Project About the Project Sq’éwqel (Seabird Island) is home to stories that carry the spirit, history, and lived experiences of the Stó:lō people. In her final years, Elder Ts’ats’elexwot (Elizabeth Herrling), shared her memories […]
Icelandic Scholar Visit and The Day Iceland Stood Still
From October 22-25, 2025 we hosted three scholars from the University of Iceland at UBC for a range of activities including a guest lecture in a Nordic literature class, a public talk on Romani comics, relationship-building activities with faculty from Nordic Studies, and a public panel discussion following a screening of the 2024 documentary The Day Iceland Stood Still on the 50th anniversary of the Icelandic Women’s Strike on October 24, 1975. Panelists reflected on their own personal experiences related to the strike, its legacy, and the necessary work that carries forward in the strike’s wake.
Video Games and the Pornography of Death (Nov. 26 @ 12 PM + Lunch)
The Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice Noted Scholars Series and Critical Play Lab present: Video Games and the Pornography of Death with Dr. Amanda Phillips WHEN & WHERE Wednesday, November 26th, 12-1pm Buchanan Tower, Room 323 Please RSVP below in advance A light lunch will be served at 1:00 PM Amanda […]
Comics Talk: Romani Literary History & the Role of Comics and Graphic Narratives
Thursday, October 23 12:30 – 2 PM BuTo 997, CENES Seminar Room & Online The talk will discuss graphic narrative production in the context of the historical developments of Romani literature, with examples from Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe. As with other forms of Romani literary production, various factors intersect in the creation of graphic […]
Comics Talks events with Dr. José Alaniz
José Alaniz, professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Department of Cinema and Media Studies (adjunct) at the University of Washington, Seattle, has published the monographs Komiks: Comic Art in Russia (University Press of Mississippi, 2010); Death, Disability and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond (UPM, 2014); Resurrection: Comics in Post-Soviet Russia (OSU Press, 2022); and Comics […]
Viking Games Night Recap
Viking Games Night was immensely successful! With over 30 attendees, last Wednesday we saw students and faculty from different disciplines across UBC gathered for a fun night of learning more about, and how to play ‘Viking Board Games.’ Games played were, Tablut or tafl and Merels, also known as Nine Men’s Morris. A special thank […]
Facebook & Cross-Border Memory Work with Dr. Avishek Ray + Lunch (Oct 16 @ 12:30 PM)
Please join the CMS Narratives Group and the UBC Pop Culture Cluster for a hybrid event with Dr. Avishek Ray, who will be joining us via Zoom on Thursday, October 16th @ 12:30 PM. The event will take place in person in BuTo 1112 and online via Zoom, and a catered lunch from Delhi 6 […]
New Critical Play Lab Questions the Politics of Play
The Ubyssey recently interviewed Dr. Biz Nijdam about the UBC Pop Culture Cluster and its new Critical Play Lab, “an interdisciplinary forum and a constellation and collection of people from various disciplines across UBC and beyond” aimed at supporting critical play scholarship, game design, and practice.