Cross Media Art
Festival:
One of the functions of the art of any age is to explore and expose shifting cultural or social ideas as they percolate up through our collective consciousness.
And the most dominant source of change and disruption right now is media technology and the new social and personal behaviours it has unleashed. Businesses and governments are jumping in to exploit or defend against emerging potentialities. Pundits create whole cottage industries trying to explain what the future holds, based on the jumbled up evidence at hand. And lodged precariously in the present, artists labour away creating images, situations or ideas in the mind of the viewer. Their artwork illuminates, reflects and informs the emerging processes and beliefs that flow naturally and abundantly from change.
COMMON PULSE was envisioned as a way of fuelling the work that artists are already doing in this field. Because the activity emerges from a complex web of strategies, practices and perspectives, the organizers have planned a series of interconnected, layered events to support the work in different ways. The artists at COMMON PULSE will be showing existing work and making new work. They will be reflecting on the parallels between art and research or experience and knowledge. They will engage with each other in dialogue and through shared production facilities. And they will engage with visitors and viewers through performances and workshops.
COMMON PULSE was conceived by Geoffrey Shea and Ilse Gassinger as a form of practice based inquiry. The intercontextual concerns were taken up by two important collaborators: the Durham Art Gallery, whose vision of the public functions of art is expansive, and OCAD University, which knows that art and culture must be studied in the making.
Jessica Field at Work
Alexis O'Hara: Subject to Change
Alexis O'Hara delivered an electrically intense performance... in more ways than one. Utilizing conductive copper wire sewn into her dress, wearable electronics and Max/MSP software, Alexis triggered recordings of questions telephoned in by public participants. She then proceeded to answer these questions in the form of song or spoken word, layering and manipulating her voice with musical sequencers, prerecorded beats and effects pedals. The performance was delivered off the cuff and saturated with O'Hara's brilliantly dry and witty humor. She is an absolutely captivating performer whose art lives on the cutting edge of technology and musical performance.
The Best of Parsons and Morel
Comedy duo Parsons and Morel entertained the crowds with their quirky humor last night at the Durham Town hall. Infusing song and satire their lyrics poke fun at technology, new media and Canadian pop culture. Their routine is seamlessly performed, and along with melodic skills, they are also talented actors.
Opening Night: CrissCross & InterPlay
Artists in residence Laura Kikauka, Jessica Field, Ken Gregory, Andrew McPherson and Karo Szmit saw nearly a months work come to fruition last night at the Durham Art Gallery's CrissCross exhibition opening. InterPlay included Steve Daniels and Isabella Stefanescu artwork which was also displayed in the gallery, and the night was well attended and well received. Steve Daniels' creatures were busy with movement as viewers waved their arms and interacted with them. Isabella had viewers absorbed by moving stones on a large scale which controlled audio along with projected images of her personal notebooks. CrissCross flashed with colored lights, bright candy, and the pulsating sounds of Andrew's audio installation and Jessica's mechanical black box.
Symposium Day 1: Afternoon
Marcel O'Gorman, David Jhave Johnston, Martha Ladly shared their extensive knowledge and body of work at Friday afternoon's symposium. Marcel O'Gorman, Director of the Critical Media Lab at the University of Waterloo discussed Necromedia: Death, Self and Technology. He shared works such as Dreadmill, in which he lectures about the impact of technology on the body while running on an interactive treadmill interface. David Jhave Johnston delivered a poetic lecture that illuminated his deeply personal web based works of art. Raw and captivating, he addressed prevailing themes in his art work: vulnerability, knowledge, innocence, loneliness and epiphanies. Martha Ladly's topic was Mobile Art and Design: Responsive Environments and Social Practices. She showed mobile art and design that uses methods of urban intervention as a form of art, social change, critique, and community building. She is an Associate Professor at OCAD University with expertise in the areas of Research, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Interaction Design.
