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Louis Kaplan

Professor

University of Toronto Mississauga, Department of Visual Studies

  • Professor
    University of Toronto Mississauga, Department of Visual Studies
  • 905-828-5411 (Work)
  • 905-569-4646 (Mobile)
  • University of Toronto, Department of Visual Studies, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Toronto, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada

BIO

Louis Kaplan is a Professor of History and Theory of Photography and New Media at the University of Toronto. He is recognized internationally for his innovative historical and theoretical contributions to the field of photography studies in such areas as spirit photography, photography and community, photographic humour, the New Vision, and photography theory. His wide-ranging research interests include 20th and 21st century European and North American art and visual culture; film and media culture; deconstruction; contemporary Jewish art and visual culture; humour studies; and new media art practices (especially augmented reality). Kaplan has published eleven books, three exhibition catalogues, and over eighty scholarly essays and articles. He holds cross-appointments or affiliations with the Cinema Studies Institute, the Centre for Jewish Studies, the Centre for the Study of the United States, and the Knowledge Media Design Institute. He has collaborated with the artist Melissa Shiff on research-creation projects incorporating new media including the highly acclaimed augmented reality exploration, Mapping Ararat, and, more recently, the virtual reality project, The Imaginary Jewish Homelands of I.N. Steinberg.

Louis Kaplan has been awarded a Standard Research Grant as well as both Insight and Insight Development Grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His research appointments include Visiting Scholar at the Center for Jewish History in New York (2013-2014), Faculty Research Fellow at the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto (2014-2015), and Getty Library Research Fellow at the Getty Research Institute in the summer of 2018. His undergraduate teaching appointment is in the Department of Visual Studies at the Mississauga campus where he served as the inaugural Chair.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Professor
    University of Toronto, Toronto, CanadaJul 2014 - present
  • Chancellor Jackman Humanities Institute Faculty Research Fellow
    University of Toronto, Toronto, CanadaJul 2014 - Jun 2015
  • Professor and Founding Chair
    University of Toronto, Department of Visual Studies, Toronto, CanadaJul 2010 - Jun 2014
  • Professor
    University of Toronto, Graduate Department of Art, Toronto, CanadaJul 2010 - present
  • Director
    University of Toronto, Toronto, CanadaJan 2006 - Jun 2010
  • Acting Director
    University of Toronto, Centre for Visual and Media Culture, Toronto, CanadaJul 2007 - Dec 2007
  • Associate Professor
    University of Toronto, Centre for Visual and Media Culture, Toronto, CanadaJul 2005 - Jun 2010
  • Assistant Professor
    University of Toronto, Centre for Visual and Media Culture, Toronto, CanadaJul 2003 - Jun 2005
  • Founding Program Coordinator and Faculty Advisor
    University of Toronto, Centre for Visual and Media Culture, Toronto, CanadaJul 2003 - Jun 2006
  • Member
    University of Toronto, Knowledge Media Design Institute, Toronto, Canada2006 - present
  • Associate Faculty Member
    University of Toronto, Centre for Jewish Studies and Collaborative Doctoral Program in Jewish Studies, Toronto, CanadaApr 2004 - present
  • Assistant Professor of Photography Studies
    Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Department of Cinema and Photography, Carbondale, United StatesAug 2000 - Jun 2002
  • Visiting Professor of Modern Art
    Tufts University, Department of Art and Art History, Medford, United States1999 - 2000
  • Lecturer of Modern Art
    Tufts University, Department of Art and Art History, Medford, United States1998 - 1999
  • Lecturer of Modern Art and Judaic Studies
    Tufts University, Medford, United States1997 - 1998
  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Modern Art
    Tufts University, Medford, United States1996 - 1997
  • Lecturer of Modern Art
    Tufts University, Medford, United States1996 - 1996
  • Lecturer
    Tufts University, Department of German Language and Literatures, Medford, United States1996 - 1996
  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Modern Art
    Tufts University, Medford, United States1995 - 1995
  • Guest Professor
    Höger Institut fur Schöne Kunsten, Belgium2002 - 2002
  • Lecturer
    Stanford Berlin Study Center, Berlin, Germany1991 - 1991
  • Lecturer
    Kansas City Art Institute, Department of Liberal Arts, Kansas City, United States1988 - 1988
  • Lecturer
    Columbia College Chicago, Department of Liberal Studies, Chicago, United States1987 - 1987

DEGREES

  • PhD, Intellectual History
    University of Chicago, Chicago, United States1988
  • MA, Intellectual History
    University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
  • AB, Social Studies
    Harvard University, Cambridge, United States1981

POSTGRADUATE TRAINING

  • Post Doctoral Fellowship
    Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel1993 - 1995
    Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • Walter Rathenau Post-Doctoral Fellow
    Verbund für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Germany1989 - 1990
    Postdoctoral Fellowship

LANGUAGES

  • English
  • German

AVAILABILITY

  • Masters Research or PhD student supervision
  • Media enquiries

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