The City Re-imagined, Re-invented!

aceartinc., Urban Shaman Gallery, Video Pool Media Arts Centre, and Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art are thrilled to present

(in)visible cities

– a performance art festival in Winnipeg’s Exchange District from September 6th to 13th, 2008.

Transforming, Shape-shifting Artists!

(in)visible cities will include live performance events by an array of internationally renowned artists including: Cheryl L’Hirondelle (Vancouver), Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan (Winnipeg), FASTWÜRMS (Creemore, ON), Jessica Thompson (Toronto), and Nhan Duc Nguyen (Vancouver). Cultural theorist Jeanne Randolph (Winnipeg) will act as (in)visible cities’ rapporteur/blogger, providing insightful commentary as festival events unfold.

You! Work it! Mix it up!

To further engage audiences as both participants in and witnesses of the work, (in)visible cities will present two performance workshops:

Performance and Activism in Everyday Life, led by Cheryl L'Hirondelle, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, is a two-day workshop expanding ideas of performance art practice in relation to collaboration, community, and activism.

Freestyle SoundHack, led by Jessica Thompson, is a one-day workshop/performance involving the creation of wearable sound pieces that generate and broadcast electronic beats as users move through urban environments.

Meet the Artists! Exchange Ideas! Incite!

(in)visible cities will also include a round-table discussion on performance practice, identity, community, agency and place.

Morphing, Resonating Cities!

The city – our city – is network of living cultures with heterogeneous but intersecting communities, systems, flows and struggles. Through presenting performance works that play out a variety of modes of social interaction with audiences, (in)visible cities provides an arena in which to further animate the stories, histories and economies of the Exchange District.

You are invited to witness and participate in events that expand possibilities for performative agency while also speaking to the politics of place – of cultural visibility and invisibility, presence and absence, utopia and urban myth, renewal and resistance. Through (in)visible cities we offer new forms for imagining how urban dwelling, telling, exchange, site and history can be reinvented.

A full festival schedule with dates, times and venues will be available by mid-August.

For more information about (in)visible cities contact:

aceartinc. Tel: 204.944.9763 Email: program@aceart.org
Urban Shaman Gallery Tel: 204.942.2674 Email: program@urbanshaman.org

(in)visible cities gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Downtown Festival Grant Program, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Generous in-kind support is provided by Canadian Goodwill Industries Corporation, Little Saigon Restaurant, and Kensington Building Ltd.

Sincere thanks also to our donors, members and volunteers; and to our community, and friends and family.

* * *

PS: Visit the (in)visible cities blog! http://invisiblecitiesperformance.blogspot.com/

Sharon Alward's "Bushi"

A Newly Commissioned Work as Part of Video Pool's 25th Anniversary

Please join us on Friday, May 16 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. to witness the start of Sharon Alward's latest collaboration with Alex Poruchnyk, a performance-driven video installation titled Bushi.

Rachel Browne Theatre (formerly Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers Studio)
211 Bannatyne Ave

Exhibition hours beginning May 17
Tues - Sat: 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
(Closed Sun - Mon.)
Exhibition continues until May 24, 2008

As always, our exhibitions and performances are free for all.

++++++++++

Video Pool's 25th Anniversary Commissions have been made possible by the generous support of the Winnipeg Arts Council through the New Creations Fund. Further financial contributions have been kindly provided by The Canada Council for the Arts, The Manitoba Arts Council, the W.H. & S.E. Loewen Foundation, The Winnipeg Foundation, and On Screen Manitoba.

++++++++++

For more information about Sharon Alward and Bushi, please visit:
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~alward/Bushi and http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~alward/Bushi2.htm

A little reminder...

In honour of our 25th Anniversary, Video Pool Media Arts Centre welcomes you to join us on Friday, April 18 at 7:00 p.m. at acerartinc. as we launch three new commissions by Daniel Barrow, Richard Dyck, and Victoria Prince.

Barrow's multi-channel interactive media installation, Trying to Love the Normal Amount, opened at Plug In ICA's satellite space (290 McDermot Ave) on Saturday, April 12, and will be available until Saturday, April 19. Barrow will direct a performance beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m.

Dyck's new media installation, The day we cut Nettie's curls, she was 7 years old, will be presented at aceartinc (290 McDermot Ave) and will run until May 2.

Prince's sculptural video installation, Light and Alter, will be presented at the ADHERE AND DENY Pocket Theatre (315-70 Albert Street) and will run until April 25.


And, please mark your calendars for the launch of a fourth commission by Lori Weidenhammer and Peter Courtemanche. This project will involve two performances -- one on April 24 and one on April 25 -- at PLATFORM Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts at 7:00 p.m.

Following the performance and Q&A session at PLATFORM on April 25, we will celebrate Video Pool's Anniversary with a reception to which all are invited.


For more information about these events and our events upcoming in May, please visit: http://videopool.blogspot.com/2008/04/ton-of-25th-annivesary-programming-to.html

A Ton of 25th Anniversary Programming to Enjoy!

Remember we said we had a ton of 25th Anniversary programming in store? Well, we weren't kidding!

The following list covers everything planned, so far. We have a few more ideas in mind... and we look forward to announcing those details as soon as possible.

Daniel Barrow's presentation of Trying to Love the Normal Amount opens on Saturday, April 12 @ 11:00 a.m.

The reception -- which will also celebrate the launch of projects by Richard Dyck and Victoria Prince -- will take place on Friday, April 18 beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Catering will be provided, most generously, by The Line Up (98 Albert Street). We are grateful for their support!

Exhibitions

Daniel Barrow April 12 – 19
Plug In ICA's Satellite Gallery, 290 McDermot Ave. (Ground Floor) (Map)
Tues - Sat 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m; Closed Sun - Mon.

Victoria Prince April 18 – 25
ADHERE AND DENY's Pocket Theatre, 315-70 Albert St. (Map)
Tues - Sat 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Closed Sun - Mon.

Richard Dyck April 18 – May 2
aceartinc., 290 McDermot Ave. (2nd Floor) (Map)
Tues - Sat 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Closed Sun - Mon.

Peter Courtemanche and Lori Weidenhammer April 24 – May 10
PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, 100 Arthur St. (Map)
Tues - Sat 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Thurs 12:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.; Closed Sun - Mon.

Steve Loft May 5 – 17
The Duke of Kent Legion, 227 McDermot Ave. (Map)
Mon, Wed - Fri 1:00 - 6:00 p.m.; Tues 2:00 - 6:00 p.m. Closed Sat - Sun.

Sharon Alward May 16 – 24
Rachel Browne Theatre (Formerly the Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers Studio), 211 Bannatyne Ave. (Map)
Tues - Sat 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Closed Sun - Mon.

Performances

Daniel Barrow April 18 – Begins at 7:30 p.m.
Plug In ICA's Satellite Gallery, 290 McDermot Ave. (Ground Floor) (Map)

Peter Courtemanche + Lori Weidenhammer April 24 & 25 – Begins at 7:00 p.m.
(Question and answer session begins approximately 7:45)
PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, 100 Arthur St. (Map)

Sharon Alward May 16 – 23 – At intervals throughout the duration of the exhibition except for Saturday, May 24.
Rachel Browne Theatre (Formerly the Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers Studio), 211 Bannatyne Ave. (Map)

Openings

Daniel Barrow, Victoria Prince, and Richard Dyck April 18 – Begins at 7:00 p.m.
aceartinc., 290 McDermot Ave. (2nd Floor) (Map)

Peter Courtemanche + Lori Weidenhammer and 25th Anniversary Reception April 25 – Begins at 8:00 p.m.
PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, 100 Arthur St. (Map)

Steven Loft May 5 – 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
The Duke of Kent Legion, 227 McDermot Ave. (Map)

Sharon Alward May 16 - Begins at 7:00 p.m.
Rachel Browne Theatre (Formerly the Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers Studio), 211 Bannatyne Ave. (Map)

Video Pool Celebrates 25 Years with Six New Commissions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Video Pool Media Arts Centre Celebrates
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

Temporarily 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!

Daniel Barrow April 12 – 19
*** 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

The Portage and Main Story Line

1 (204) 943-1423
... the Portage and Main story line

It has been 32 years since Winnipeg’s fabled intersection, Portage and Main, was barricaded to pedestrian traffic.

Do you still remember crossing Portage and Main?
If so, I am interested in your story.

Please call, 1.204.943.1423 and tell me about it.

It is a voice mail box that will record your story that I will then reassemble into a new work made with all of the other stories I am told. Anyone with memories of actually crossing the streets are invited to call, but other Portage and Main recollections would be welcome too. If your story is particularly long, either leave several messages, or if you prefer, email me, jake moore, at mjake@videotron.ca, to set up a direct connection.

Why?
I am collecting these stories for the construction of an audio sculpture to be included in an exhibition called SUBCONSCIOUS CITY, curated by Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan for the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

According to the curators:
“Inspiration for the title of the exhibition comes from American cultural theorist and art critic Rebecca Solnit. In her recent book, “A Field Guide to Getting Lost”, (Viking, 2005), she posits that, “A city is built to resemble a conscious mind, a network that can calculate, administrate, manufacture. Ruins become the unconscious of a city, its memory, unknown, darkness, lost lands, and in this truly bring it to life.”

If we accept the mind as a model for Winnipeg, the unconscious (the lesser seen or ignored) makes its presence felt in unexpected ways. It burbles to the surface in ways that inform and enrich us, as well as revealing injustices and neglect. Similarly, the conscious (the affluent, the celebrated, the new) can reveal paucity (of community, of vision, of spiritual connection with each other and our past) as well as promise.”

In many ways I am beginning a conversation; an oral history of the ruins of the public site that Portage and Main once was, and the monument to the automobile and civic politics that it has become. Collective memory, or memories collected, can be the promise referred to Dempsey/Millan.

There will be a public opening on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 2008.
Remember, “Love me, Love my Winnipeg”

for further information on this project, please contact jake moore

NB. The artist would like to acknowledge the support of Video Pool Media Arts Centre in the production of this work.

SUBCONSCIOUS CITY
February 8 to May 11, 2008
the Winnipeg Art Gallery
300 Memorial Boulevard

Public opening 7:30 p.m., Thursday, February 14, 2008
with performances by John K. Samson, Christine Fellows, and Freya Olafson.

Curated by Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Adjunct Curators.

For the complete list of artists please visit http://www.wag.mb.ca/upcoming.asp

Media Gift Exchange

Art's Birthday is just a few days away and, in the in the midst of planning your costume and making your cake for the real and surreal cake making competition, you're probably asking yourself: "What is the media gift exchange, and how can I participate?"

Well, it's a good thing you ask, because we'd love to tell you!

Even though January 17 is Art's birthday, it's an opportunity for all of us to revel in the gifts that art brings ;-) Since Video Pool is all about spreading love and appreciation for media arts, we thought it would be great fun to collect bits of media -- wrapped up nice n' pretty -- and facilitate an anonymous exchange.

To participate, all you need to do is bring a wrapped media item. Feel free to get creative on what this might mean. Maybe a quirky 8-track or vinyl record you uncovered at a garage sale, a VHS tape you found in your basement, a clip of found video that you've captured onto DVD, or a selection of strange audio samples burned onto CD.

Individuals who bring gifts will place them on our gift exchange display when they arrive at the beginning of the night and will be eligible to select a gift from the display later on that evening. Who knows what will be made available! Maybe something provocative enough to inspire new work, or at least something to have a good laugh over ;-)

[Art's Birthday 2008]

The "Official" Art's Bday Press Release ;-)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Join Video Pool Media Arts Centre in Celebrating
Art’s 1,000,045th Birthday on January 17, 2008
– The party starts at 8:00 p.m. at Club Desire (441 Main St.) –

Winnipeg, MB (January 2, 2008) – At Video Pool, we love art, and we love parties. It is in this spirit that we are thrilled to continue our tradition of bringing international Art's Birthday celebrations to Winnipeg!

In 1963, French Fluxus artist Robert Filliou declared that on January 17, one million years ago, art was born when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. A deliberate yet playful act left open to chance… who knew art would evolve to become something so culturally significant?

To recognize the worldwide appreciation of art, Video Pool is pleased to host an evening of performances, contests, interactive fun, and other goodies. We’ll begin the night with a VJ-style new media performance by Ryan Stec (Winnipeg/Ottawa). This will be followed by an experimental electronic music set by internationally renowned Venetian Snares (Budapest/Winnipeg). Local favourite, Mama Cutsworth, will take over the stage next, and she’ll keep the party going by spinning funky vinyl into the wee hours.

Art’s Birthday is also a chance to get involved!

• COSTUMES: Everyone is welcome to be creative and party in costume. The theme selected by the International Art’s Birthday Committee for 2008 is “Forever Young”… unique interpretations of this are encouraged!
• CAKE: What is a party without cake? Bring your real or surreal cake to the party and enter it to be judged by our panel of “experts”. Please click here for more information.
• MEDIA GIFT EXCHANGE: Bring a wrapped gift such as a video clip on DVD, an old 8-track cassette, or a sequence of ambient sounds on a CD and take another mystery media gift home with you at the end of the night. Please click here for more information.
  
• RAFFLES: Try your luck at our draws for great items from fantastic local merchants!

Art’s Birthday is a chance for one and all to come together and have a wonderful time in the name of Art. It is an event that gets bigger and bigger each year, and it is not to be missed, so join us and be a part of the action!

Thursday, January 17, 2008
Club Desire - 441 Main St., Winnipeg



Admission is $15 or $5 for those arriving in costume
Doors open at 8:00 p.m.

* * *

Art’s Birthday is also a time to say thank you to organizations that help make art possible. Video Pool Media Arts Centre is grateful for ongoing support from:



Video Pool is also thrilled to have the support of local merchants including Pastry Castle, which has generously donated a birthday cake for us to share!



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.

Contact:
Milena Placentile, Programming Coordinator
Video Pool Media Arts Centre
#300-100 Arthur St., Winnipeg MB R3B 1H3
http://www.videopool.org
http://videopool.blogspot.com
204.949.9134 x 1

2008 / 2009 Call for Submissions

Video Pool Media Arts Centre
2008 / 2009 Call for Submissions

Theme: Resistance
Deadline: Friday, March 21, 2008

Resistance is a movement, a position, an attitude, and a measure. It is an individual or collective response. It can be political, or it can relate to physical properties of the known universe. It concerns citizens. It concerns artists. It concerns that which is local as well as that which is global. It is about forces, agency, strategy, play, and subversion. It is an argument. It seeks change, or it fights to stay the same. It mobilizes. It is unconscious. It is a side effect. It is intentional and affirmative.

Video Pool invites submissions pertaining to the theme Resistance for the 2008/09 programming season. We encourage projects involving:

• New media
• Experimental electronics
• Installation (with media components)
• Audio art
• Curatorial packages (with media components)

Video Pool is particularly interested in projects that intervene in public space or otherwise make use of non-traditional exhibition settings.

Video Pool’s 2008/09 programming season will include two programs specifically focused on new media performance and single channel film and video that resist conventional thinking and/or assumptions about what constitute video and new media art practices, and possibly the environs within which they take are expected to place.


Submission Requirements:

Please note that due to funding requirements, primary consideration will be given to Canadian citizens.

All Submissions Must Include:

1. Artist/curator CV including current contact information (mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address)
2. A short description of the proposed project or video(s), including an outline of the critical and/or curatorial objectives of the work submitted
3. Names of all participating artists
4. Titles of all proposed projects/videos, as well as year of completion and city of origin
5. Exhibition history of each project, including a description of contexts within which the work will be presented in the coming year
6. A statement indicating if the artist(s)/curator(s) plan to be in attendance with the work and, if so, in what capacity they would expect to participate in the screening/exhibition
7. Support material: Please do not send originals as Video Pool will not accept responsibility for the loss of, or damage to, any support material
   - Still images should be submitted on CD (maximum 20 images, .jpg preferred, please do not exceed 72 dpi or a resolution of 1024 X 768 pixels)
   - Video support material should be NTSC and submitted on VHS, DVD, or Mini DV
   - Audio support material should be submitted on CD
8. Complete list of all audio, video, and images submitted
9. Please include a SASE if you would like your support material returned

Video Pool is committed to reflecting cultural diversity in it’s programming and thereby encourages applications from artists and curators from all communities.

Video Pool encourages the submissions of projects that are already complete or near completion.

Fees are paid in accordance with the CARFAC rate scale.


Please Direct Enquiries to:

Milena Placentile, Programming Coordinator
vpprogramming at videopool dot org
204.949.9134 ext.1


Please Send Submissions to:

Programming Committee
c/o Video Pool Media Arts Centre
#300 – 100 Arthur St.
Winnipeg, MB R3B 1H3 Canada


All submissions must be received by the deadline: March 21, 2008

More Info About Art's Birthday...

Hot off the interwebs, we've got some more info for you about the stellar performances lined up to take place at Art's Birthday 2008...

Wikipedia offers a wealth of information about Venetian Snares, namely that he is from Winnipeg and is known for making experimental electronic music often in odd numbered time signatures. He is an unusually prolific artist, having released records on the History of the Future, Isolate/DySLeXiC ResPonSe, Addict, Zod, Distort, Sublight, Low-Res, Planet Mu and Hymen record labels.

Read more at http://www.venetiansnares.com. Take a listen at http://www.myspace.com/venetiansnares. That's where the pics came from. Click on 'em for the full effect!

Ryan Stec is a Winnipeg born/Ottawa based media artist and curator working in documentary and experimental forms. As a curator Stec has produced five editions of the media art commissioning program Remix (2002-2006), presented by SAW Video, the Available Light Screening Collective, and Art Star, Galerie SAW Gallery's Video Art Biennial.

Work from his very broad practice, ranging from live performance to traditional documentary, has been presented at a variety of venues from The New Forms Festival in Vancouver to Platform Gallery in Vaasa, Finland and the Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa. He is currently the Artistic Director of Artengine, and can be seen performing regularly as a VJ at both art and club venues in Ottawa.

Using strictly vinyl, Mama Cutsworth is no stranger to making folks flip on the old school funk, soul, hip hop and latin music.

Voted Winnipeg's #3 DJ in Uptown Magazine (after the impermeable DJ duo Hunnicutt and Co-op), Mama C. has played at music festivals and art galleries, roller rinks and warehouses... anywhere there's enough space to dance. Over the years, she's thrown her own dance parties, won the title at the Clash of Titans DJ battle, has hosted CKUW's Stylus Radio for over
6 years, and recently performed at the St. John's International Women's Film Festival in Newfoundland.

With the dusty funk staying permanently in her record crates, you can bet your neighbour's kid that by the end of the night you'll be freaking out to the hot horn sections, flute solos and slammin' percussion.

PLUS there is more information on its way concerning the art cake contest, costumes, and the silent auction, so stay tuned!

Art's Birthday 2008 is just one month and a little wee bit away!

Support Balanced Copyright Reform... important news and action alerts below

Media artists are likely to be the hardest hit of all...

From Online Rights Canada:

During the last Parliament, Bill C-60 provided some sensible approaches to copyright reform in Canada, but it also left room for improvement. Tell your MP that any new legislation should be an improvement on Bill C-60, not the retreat being urged by big copyright holders.

From Appropriation Art, A Coalition of Arts Professionals:

The Canadian minority Conservative Government made it clear in their Throne speech earlier this fall that Copyright Reform was a priority. Recent media reports indicate that a Copyright Reform bill will be tabled within the next couple of weeks and people close to the process have revealed that this bill will go beyond way beyond the US counterpart’s DMCA law. It appears that this new legislation will come with very stringent anti-circumvention provisions that prohibit the use of tools or techniques that open files with digital locks, even when the files in question belong to you.

Here are some suggestions for those involved in the Arts.

Members of CARFAC / RAAV: Demand that CARFAC / RAAV publicly support artists who use appropriation. They are mandated to support all artists. Demand that CARFAC / RAAV publicly denounce DMCA style legislation.

Media Artists: Media artists are likely to be the hardest hit of all. The new legislation will all but eliminate media arts which use appropriation. Media artists have both the skill and technology to produce films and audio work. Make a protest piece and get on youtube, myspace etc.

Educators: Get your students involved. Students are the future of Canadian Culture and have in many ways the most to lose from this legislation.

Links: Here are links to sites with action templates, information and further links. Most of these are repeats of the other posts on this page but here they are anyway.

Cory Doctorow - Prentice open house
Copyright for Canadians
Console Source - Action Page
CBC Search Engine - 250 questions for Jim Prentice
Michael Geist - 10 questions for Jim Prentice
Michael Geist - 30 Things You Can Do
Digital Copyright Canada - Send a Letter to Your MP

Here are two petitions to print and sign...

http://www.digital-copyright.ca/petition/petition_en.pdf
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/petition/ict/ict_owners_en.pdf

Save the Date! Art is going to be 1,000,045 on January 17, 2008!

At Video Pool, we love art. And we love parties, so it makes sense that we'd wanna keep up our fantastic tradition of joining international celebrations in honour of Art's Birthday!

Art is going to be one million and forty-four years old this year, and we have all kinds of awesome things brewing to mark this very special occasion!

So far, we've lined up a VJ-style new media performance by Ryan Stec (Winnipeg/Ottawa) and an experimental electronic performance by Venetian Snares (Budapest/Winnipeg). We're also on the look out for the perfect DJ... someone highly capable of making you wanna shake your booty! Sounds like fun, huh?

But that's not all... we're gonna have a costume contest, and an art cake contest, and a new media gift exchange, and colouring stations, irrational quantities of candy, and then some!

It’s going to be a blast, and we want YOU to join us!!

So, save the date: Thursday, January 17 2008 beginning around 8:00 p.m. @ Club Desire (441 Main St)

Be prepared to get creative, get crazy, enjoy performances, and maybe even perform a little yourself ;-)

Art’s Birthday is a chance for everyone to come together and have a great time in the name of Art. We’re looking forward to this event we and hope to see you there!

UPDATE: Are you looking for the latest info? Check out our "official" Art's Birthday 2008 press release =-)

Thanks for singing along!

Last week Wednesday we had the pleasure of hosting Cathy Matte's fabulous curators' talk about her fabulous exhibition, Rockstars & Wannabes.

Aiming to shake up the conventions of traditionally-formatted talks, Mattes' presentation was inter-textual, multi-disciplinary, performative, and participatory. Furthermore, it functioned in the spirit of a happening. Mattes opened and closed the talk with a selection of karaoke songs, and they were performed enthusiastically (and creatively) by members of the audience. The talk also involved clips of video work presented in the exhibition.

We're thrilled that so many people were able to attend this event, and we are especially grateful to professors from the University of Manitoba for bringing their students down. It's not every day undergrads get to hold class in a bar!

On that note, thank you once again to Club 200 for hosting us... it was a blast!

Ps. Below are some snapshots taken during the talk. If you, or someone you know, happened to take photos during the karaoke party afterwards, please do pass 'em on... we'd love to post them here!









And now for a little "behind the scene stuff"... troubleshooting tech compatibility in the VP office just before heading down to Club 200. Because, well, this stuff is just fascinating, isn't it? ;-)

Great news! Now you can "Call" and "Relay" for a little longer ;-)

*Ha ha* Sounds a little like an ad for telecom services ;-)

But really, this is great news!

Thanks to the generosity of artist Germaine Koh, volunteers participating in Call, and Artspace, Video Pool is happy to announce that Call and Relay will now be available until Tuesday, November 27, 2007. So, if you've not yet had a chance to chat with a stranger, or to send an SMS message to the whole city via roof-top lights flashing Morse code, now is your chance =-).

To participate in Call, visit the Artspace lobby and pick up the telephone receiver. To participate in Relay, send a text message to 204.951.1929.

Exchange: A lecture by Reva Stone

Video Pool's current Artist in Residence, Reva Stone

COST: Free to Video Pool members
# PARTICIPANTS: limited to 20
PRE-REQUISITE: none
DATE: Tuesday, November 13 from 7pm to 8:30pm

For most of her art practice, Reva Stone has been developing computer-assisted installations that explore the ways in which biotechnology, genetic engineering and autonomous robots are radically altering the ways in which we imagine living matter.

In her Artist Residency at Video Pool, she has been working on Exchange, an interactive entity whose consciousness appears to reside in a computer. The work uses still images, video, video capture, text, recorded audio, voice recognition and face recognition. They function together as a window into the entity’s mind and read as memory and presence. She will be talking about the ideas she is working with, presenting the work in progress, and looking for feedback.

Jeff Erbach
Education and Outreach Coordinator - Video Pool Media Art Centre
(204) 949-9134 ext. 4
www.videopool.org

We're all stars...

Video Pool and Urban Shaman Gallery are delighted to announce an evening of intimate conversation and rock shenanigans.

Curator Cathy Mattes will deliver a talk about her latest exhibition, Rockstars & Wannabes, in a venue certain to pull even the shyest of art lovers out of their shells and onto the stage! The significance of rock music on the construction of personal identity, and as a creative form of escapism, are just two of the relevant themes that Mattes will discuss. The capacity for rock to help us tap into our inner rock star personas is another. To draw attention to the energizing nature of such experiences, Mattes offers her talk with a night of karaoke, and all are welcome to participate.

So please join us!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007 beginning at 7:30 p.m. sharp
Club 200 (120 Garry Street, just South of St. Mary Ave)

No cover! We're going late!

Rockstars & Wannabes launched on September 29 with all the appropriate fanfare. This exhibition, which features work by Warren Arcand, Kevin Ei-Ichi deForest, Skawennati Fragnito, and Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, is on now and is available for viewing until Saturday, November 10 at Urban Shaman Gallery (203-290 McDermot Ave). For more information, please visit: http://www.urbanshaman.org or http://www.videopool.org

"Help! I'm trapped on the roof! Bring coffee. Add soy."

That's just one of the many messages that has been conveyed across the Exchange, and beyond.

What else has been communicated? What have you communicated?

Relay is back up and running, and it's available until November 16. Send your message to 204.951.1929 and experience the experience of your ideas flashing their way to others!

More information about Germaine Koh's project, "Relay"

Now that those handy lil' Morse code "decoder cards" have started to circulate around the city, the telephone number temporarily designated for Relay has been receiving calls. Potential participants are seeking more information, so we've updated the voice message to direct them here.

Things you might like to know about Relay, and how to get involved:

• Participation is open to anyone with access to a cellular phone capable of sending text messages (aka SMS). Regular message charges, as per your cell phone plan, apply.
  
• Relay accepts any text message sent to the designated telephone number (204.951.9129) as per the character-length maximums established between wireless carriers.
• Your message can be personal, or public in nature. That said, please be aware that it is visible in Morse code format to anyone who can see the light flashing from the roof of Artspace. Open access public broadcast is one goal of the project, after all.
• Neither the artist nor staff of Video Pool intervene physically -- we don't approve or reject messages.

Relay will be available from October 16 - November 16, 2007, so feel free to share your thoughts with the city as often as you wish.

Don't have a decoder card yet? Now you do! Click on each of the two images below in order to access and print them in full-size...

If you have any questions, post them as a comment, and we'll update this post accordingly =-)

Details for Germaine Koh's Artist Talk Announced

Hi everyone!

We now have all the details you need to plan on attending Germaine Koh's artist talk.

Thanks to the awesomeness of Platform Gallery, we are very happy to announce that Germaine will give a presentation about her work on Tuesday, October 16 from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

The talk will be followed by an reception to launch Call and Relay, which will continue until 9:00 p.m.

Platform Gallery is located on the first floor of Artspace @ 100 Arthur Street. This event is free of charge and open to everyone so we really hope to see you there!

PS. If you haven't already had a chance to take in Platform's current exhibition, Soft Ground curated by Lisa Stinner and featuring work by Elaine Stocki and Sarah Small, then you're in for a bonus because it will still be up =-)