Some photos of the people power projectors installations that were part of the Media Art Matters! forum.

people came together and planned

projectors were installed around 401 Richmond

using the architectural features of the building

starting outside the front entrance

greeted by provocative dialogue from Reel Asian

running The “gauntlet of projectors” from LIFT

following Clive Robertson’s statement through the halls

walking through light beams from Pleasure Dome

and chancing upon the message from ImagineNative

IFCO puts films on film in the elevator

SAW Video doesn’t take freedom for granted

VTape finds beauty in their medium

the medium is the message

over 300 people experienced the messages projected by media artists

Some photos of the panel that was part of the Media Art Matters! forum. Audio transcript coming soon.

Clive Robertson begins his keyhole address

setting a thoughtful tone

talking about artist run culture

that many in the audience were part of

so cultural policy mattered

the panelists provided diverse perspectives

Vera Frenkel eloquently makes a point

Caroline Langill offers her perspective

Steve Loft listens intently to Richard Fung

Dot Tuer begins the discussion

more of the audience soon jump in

the room was packed with over 120 people

and many stayed to the end.

CALL FOR ONTARIO MEDIA ARTISTS TO PARTICIPATE!

(photos of this event can be found here)

people power projectors
Saturday, April 12, 2008, 9-11pm
Images Festival closing party
401 Richmond St West, Toronto

The Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) of Ontario invites you and your organization to make a statement as part of the Media Art Matters! programme of the Images Festival. We all know that media art matters but how can we show it?

Let’s project and provoke, party and shake! … Free Expression … Art Kills … Save Film … Visualize, Galvanize, Mobilize, Realize …! Use a short phrase and a projector to proclaim your activism and aspirations. Create a slogan, motto, riddle, joke, palindrome or enigmatic phrase that expresses the power of media art. Come up with a quick and dirty projection scenario using any form of light projection: film (any gauge), video, overhead projector, slides, LED panel, lite bright, flashlight … colour, black and white, moving or still texts …

We have access to a multitude of choice locations and surfaces, both inside and outside the former factory building at 401 Richmond where you can screen your message. We’ll assist you with power, set-up, equipment storage and projection. Of course there’s also the beer, snacks, and all the people coming to the Images Festival closing party who’ll be interested in what you have to say.

For your participation in people power projectors we can offer a travel subsidy (based on available funds), help with local billeting, and an Images festival pass. If you want to be involved, please don’t delay. Copy the following brief outline into an email and send it along with your details to <mam[at]imaa-ontario.ca>:

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Yes, we want to participate in people power projectors!

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If you live in Toronto and have a bed or couch available for a night or two to host out of town visitors to MEDIA ARTS MATTERS! please contact Kerry Potts at <kpotts[at]imagineNATIVE.org> no later than April 10. Alternatively, you can get involved as a volunteer to help with the production of people power projectors as well as the ARTIST RUN MACHINES, OPEN SOURCE CULTURE panel taking place the same day. Its a great opportunity to work together with others and participate in your community.

For more info about MEDIA ART MATTERS! or to participate as a volunteer please contact event coordinator Tom Leonhardt at <mam[at]imaa-ontario.ca>.

IMAAontario gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council, Images Festival, the Gladstone Hotel, 401 Richmond, and the Independent Media Arts Alliance towards MEDIA ART MATTERS!. The Ontario Arts Council is an agency of the Government of Ontario.

A lively discussion on the possibilities and challenges of media practice. Part of the MEDIA ART MATTERS! programme of the Images Festival, this panel includes presentations by a diverse group of media art advocates practicing at the boundaries of contemporary culture. An informal discussion with the audience will follow.

(documentation of this event can be found here)

ARTIST RUN MACHINES, OPEN SOURCE CULTURE
free panel discussion
Saturday, April 12, 2008, 1-3:30pm (reception to follow)
Melody Room, Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West, Toronto

ARTIST RUN MACHINES, OPEN SOURCE CULTURE is a public think tank guest hosted by artist activism author Clive Robertson with panelists Vera Frenkel, Richard Fung, Steve Loft, and Caroline Seck Langill. Together with the audience, this seasoned multi-functioning group of artists, academics, critics, curators and activists will bring their unique experiences in the media arts to bear on questions of the sectors viability and validation within greater social, political and economic spheres. The audience will be challenged to interpret and evaluate the hybrid forms of organization and action that exist in the many territories between the institution and individual practitioners.

Panel Participants:

Clive Robertson is a media artist, cultural journalist and critic, curator and publisher. He is known for his instigations of hybrid artist-run centres, national video and performance art festivals and as the founding publisher of Fuse magazine and Voicespondence Artists Audio and Video Editions. His archival retrospective, Then + Then Again – Practices Within An Artist-run Culture, 1969-2006 toured to seven Ontario cities in 2007. His successful book, Policy Matters – Administrations of Art Culture (YYZBooks, 2006) reaffirmed his status as one of North America’s most informed art policy activists. He teaches art history, cultural policy and performances studies at Queen’s University, Kingston. (see voicespondence on YouTube and Clive’s work in the CCCA database)

Vera Frenkel is one of Canada’s most renowned multidisciplinary artists, revered both internationally and at home. Her installations, videotapes, performances and new media projects address the forces at work in human migration, the learning and unlearning of cultural memory, and the ever-increasing bureaucratization of experience. Her current web-based touring installation, “The Institute™: Or What We Do for Love” challenges received ideas and the boundaries of multi-media discourse.

Richard Fung is video artist, cultural critic and educator. His video narratives move through individual lives to explore the fateful repercussions of culture and history. The politics of race, sexual orientation and colonialism are central themes in his work. His lectures and writings are on the forefront of arts and cultural activism. He currently teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Steve Loft is an indigenous artist, theorist and curator. As former director of Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery in Winnipeg and a resident curator for Aboriginal Art at the National Gallery in Ottawa, he is a tireless advocate for contemporary native art and culture. He is at the center of the upsurge in indigenous media art that uniquely integrates spirituality, historiography, tradition, abjection, uncanny and surreal into surprisingly new practices.

Caroline Seck Langill is an artist, writer and independent curator living in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Presently, Langill is a lecturer in Canadian Studies at Trent University where she is also a PhD candidate at the Frost Centre for Canadian and Indigenous Studies. Her research focuses on the contestation of the exhibitionary complex by artists working with technology during the analogue/digital shift. She has been involved with artist run culture for twenty years having worked as programmer/curator at SAW gallery, and sat on the boards of CARO, Artspace, and Interaccess.

For more info about MEDIA ART MATTERS! please contact event coordinator Tom Leonhardt at <mam[at]imaa-ontario.ca>.

IMAAontario gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council, Images Festival, the Gladstone Hotel, 401 Richmond, and the Independent Media Arts Alliance towards MEDIA ART MATTERS!. The Ontario Arts Council is an agency of the Government of Ontario.

What does the media arts landscape look like for artists across Ontario?

MEDIA ART MATTERS! combines a lively discussion on the possibilities and challenges of media practice with a media art intervention at the Images Festival closing party. The panel includes presentations by a diverse group of media art advocates practicing at the boundaries of contemporary culture. An informal discussion with the audience will follow. Later that evening artists from across the region will converge on 401 Richmond to combine text and light with its post-industrial architecture in an on-the-fly collective expression of …? These two venues, presented by IMAAontario, bring together artists, independent producers and educators who believe that media art matters … A LOT!!!

ARTIST RUN MACHINES, OPEN SOURCE CULTURE
free panel discussion
Saturday April 12, 1-3:30pm (reception to follow)
The Melody Room, Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West, Toronto

ARTIST RUN MACHINES, OPEN SOURCE CULTURE is a public think tank guest hosted by artist activism author Clive Robertson with panelists Vera Frenkel, Richard Fung, Steve Loft, and Caroline Seck Langill. Together with the audience, this seasoned multi-functioning group of artists, academics, critics, curators and activists will bring their unique experiences in the media arts to bear on questions of the sectors viability and validation within greater social, political and economic spheres. The audience will be challenged to interpret and evaluate the hybrid forms of organization and action that exist in the many territories between the institution and individual practitioners.

people power projectors
free projection event
Saturday April 12, 9-11pm
Images Festival closing party
401 Richmond St West, Toronto

people power projectors is a collaborative show of light, a semi-chaotic expression of the ideals and realities to be found within the media arts community. Using a grab bag of available projection devices, groups from across the province will cast their ephemeral statements onto myriad planes and textures found throughout the party location. A political act, a collective act, an aesthetic act, and an excuse to have some fun and be surprised. Come out and see the dark walls come alive with the voices of those who believe that media art matters … A LOT!!!

For more info about MEDIA ART MATTERS! please contact event coordinator Tom Leonhardt at <mam[at]imaa-ontario.ca>.

IMAAontario gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council, Images Festival, the Gladstone Hotel, 401 Richmond, and the Independent Media Arts Alliance towards MEDIA ART MATTERS!. The Ontario Arts Council is an agency of the Government of Ontario.

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