Video Pool Media Arts Centre Celebrates
25 Exciting Years with
Six Newly Commissioned Media Arts Projects
25 Exciting Years with
Six Newly Commissioned Media Arts Projects
Winnipeg, MB (March 26, 2008) – Video Pool Media Arts Centre is proud to celebrate 25 years of support to Manitoban artists through the commission of six projects by seven artists who have made dynamic contributions to Video Pool's history and to media arts in Canada.
Daniel Barrow. Still from "Trying to Love the Normal Amount", 2008
Daniel Barrow April 12 – 19Temporarily Out of Order: Downtime, curated by Sigrid Dahle, and Seen/Unseen: Light Play, curated by Grant Guy, embrace themes emphasizing key notions and material qualities particular to media arts practices. The themes befit the occasion of Video Pool’s anniversary by simultaneously harkening back to media art’s primal scene of light first being captured as image, and anticipating the future of new media art as a form being assimilated rapidly into larger cultural discourses while outmoded technologies decay. At times, media art is approached as a problem: what is the importance of new technologies to new media works, and what happens when the technologies don’t work?
The curators have noticed a curious shift in media arts practices – as technology-based arts have matured, artists appear to be using electronic media to replicate the past rather than to speculate on the future. They describe an aesthetic attitude particularly suited to Winnipeg as a city equally haunted and inspired by the past. It is a view of technology as something mythical and broken, as opposed to clean and slick.
The commissioned works purposefully introduce a ghost into the machine of media art. Daniel Barrow works with outdated technologies, such as an ‘80s era Amiga editing station and an overhead projector to re-imagine early animation techniques. The work of Peter Courtemanche and Lori Weidenhammer evokes Dr. Frankenstein through the haunting of clothing with circuitry to electronically revive mythological creatures. Richard Dyck encourages us to scrutinize the surface of a mysteriously ominous vintage photograph.
Steven Loft explores societal rather than technological disintegration by drawing attention to the racism exhibited by the broken down and the down and out. Injecting manipulated images of the natural world into constructed environments, Sharon Alward and Victoria Prince escape the hustle of our technology-obsessed society to achieve time and space for meditative contemplation. Most significantly, each of the featured projects focus on creating an active media arts experience.
Join us for six weeks of exhibitions, performances, and receptions; all are welcome!
The curators have noticed a curious shift in media arts practices – as technology-based arts have matured, artists appear to be using electronic media to replicate the past rather than to speculate on the future. They describe an aesthetic attitude particularly suited to Winnipeg as a city equally haunted and inspired by the past. It is a view of technology as something mythical and broken, as opposed to clean and slick.
The commissioned works purposefully introduce a ghost into the machine of media art. Daniel Barrow works with outdated technologies, such as an ‘80s era Amiga editing station and an overhead projector to re-imagine early animation techniques. The work of Peter Courtemanche and Lori Weidenhammer evokes Dr. Frankenstein through the haunting of clothing with circuitry to electronically revive mythological creatures. Richard Dyck encourages us to scrutinize the surface of a mysteriously ominous vintage photograph.
Steven Loft explores societal rather than technological disintegration by drawing attention to the racism exhibited by the broken down and the down and out. Injecting manipulated images of the natural world into constructed environments, Sharon Alward and Victoria Prince escape the hustle of our technology-obsessed society to achieve time and space for meditative contemplation. Most significantly, each of the featured projects focus on creating an active media arts experience.
Join us for six weeks of exhibitions, performances, and receptions; all are welcome!
*** Plug In ICA's Satellite Gallery, 290 McDermot Ave.
*** Performance on April 18
Victoria Prince April 18 – 25
*** Adhere and Deny's Pocket Theatre, 315-70 Albert St.
Richard Dyck April 18 – May 2
*** aceartinc., 290 McDermot Ave.
Peter Courtemanche and Lori Weidenhammer April 24 – May 10
*** PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, 100 Arthur St.
*** Performances on April 24 and 25
Steve Loft May 5 – 17
*** The Duke of Kent Legion, 227 McDermot Ave.
Sharon Alward May 16 – 24
*** Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers Studio, 211 Bannatyne Ave.
*** Performances begin on May 16
Our first reception in this series will celebrate the launch of work by Barrow, Dyck, and Prince and will take place on April 18 at aceartinc. beginning at 7:00 p.m.
For further details about each exhibition, performance, and related receptions, please visit videopool.org.
Video Pool's 25th Anniversary Commissions were made possible by the generous support of the Winnipeg Arts Council through the New Creations Fund. Further financial contributions have been kindly provided by:
Video Pool is also pleased to acknowledge contributions from numerous local organizations; we are deeply grateful for their partnership and assistance:
ADHERE + DENY
The Duke of Kent Legion
VIDEO POOL MEDIA ARTS CENTRE is a non-profit artist run centre dedicated to advancing the discipline of media art by providing media artists, non-profit organizations and community groups with access to professional video and media equipment, training, distribution, and programming. Video Pool strives to be a national leader fostering innovation, experimentation, critical dialogue, and advocacy in media arts.
Milena Placentile, Programming Coordinator
204.949.9134 ext 1
vpprogramming [at] videopool [dot] org
videopool.org // videopool.blogspot.com
