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19th Annual Media City Film Festival (May 21-25, 2013)

Saul Levine - Film Still

Image: Film Still by Saul Levine

19th Annual Media City Film Festival (2013)

This Tuesday, May 21st, our friends at Media City will be kicking off the 19th Annual Media City Film Festival with an opening night at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). Then, on Wednesday, May 22nd, there will be an opening reception at the Capitol Theatre & Arts Centre in Windsor. This year, Media City will be screening more than 60 new artist’s films from 20 countries, presented in 10 programs over 5 days. Dozens of filmmakers and cinema professionals will be in attendance from across Canada and the USA as well as England, France, Palestine, Ecuador, Argentina, South Korea and more.

On Friday, May 24th, Broken City Lab’s own Hiba Abdallah will be presenting Program 5 at the Capitol Theatre & Arts Centre at 9:30pm.

Tuesday, May 21st, 8pm – Opening Night at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) (4454 Woodward Avenue, Detroit)

Live performance by legendary free music orchestra CCMC, featuring distinguished Canadian artists Michael Snow (Companion of the Order of Canada), John Oswald and Al Mattes, and Detroit’s own avant-noise trio Wolf Eyes (on the cover of Wire magazine this month!). Also that night: launch party for the vinyl re-release of CCMC Volume Three, a recording lost for 35 years, now reissued by Media City and MOCAD in a limited edition of 500 LPs.

Wednesday, May 22nd  to Saturday, May 25th – Film Screenings at the Capitol Theatre (121 University West, Windsor)

The best of new artist’s film from around the globe, screened in two or three programs nightly. Highlights include a retrospective screening celebrating the career of US filmmaker Saul Levine, spanning forty years, the Canadian premiere of Stemple Pass, the new film by James Benning, plus new films by Kevin J. Everson, Basma Alsharif, Sergei Loznitsa, David Gatten, Friedl vom Gröller, and many more.

Wednesday, May 22nd, 6:00 pm – Opening Party in Windsor at the Capitol Theatre

The opening party will include a special announcement from Windsor-West MPP Teresa Piruzza and Shannon Prince of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Get on the Bus! Sponsored by the Detroit Bus Company, Media City offers a FREE shuttle service for US patrons each night of the festival, with pick-up and return locations in Detroit (MOCAD) and Ann Arbor. Schedules and Reservations through the festival website. Ride the one and only cross-border film shuttle in the world! 

Below is a link to the online catalogue which has more in-depth information about this year’s festival:

Media City Film Festival – Online Catalogue

Media Contacts: Jeremy Rigsby / Oona Mosna, Program Directors
Direct: (519) 973-9368 or mediacity@houseoftoast.ca

Hope to see you there!

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Open Studio – Civic Boredom: Street Remedies

Mark your calendars for Friday, October 26th at 7pm for an open studio of our artist-in-residence, Sam Lefort. You’ll remember Sam from earlier in the summer when she hosted a rapid fire series of workshops on urban ecology at CIVIC SPACE. She’ll be presenting a new project realized over the course of her residency in collaboration with students from J.L. Forster Secondary School. You’ll have a chance to meet Sam and the students!

The project, CIVIC BOREDOM: STREET REMEDIES,  features a series of temporary street art stencils installed around the city. Working through a series of workshops with Sam, the students created powerful text-based visual statements that will get residents and visitors starting to think about issues impacting youth.

Using custom card stock stencils and environmentally friendly, hand-made chalk paint (corn starch and water), students made their marks (temporarily) around downtown Windsor to try to bring some attention to their hopes and concerns for their futures and the future of the city.

Here are just a few of the installations around the city. LESS TALKING MORE DOING.

I WISH YOU COULD SEE THE POTENTIAL.

OUR FUTURE.

THEY JUST KEEP FIGHTNIG (sic).

See you Friday!

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The Weekend Here and Around the Province

It’s a busy weekend all over the place with an opening and a new project, culture days, and some great events hosted by dear friends of ours here in Windsor. Here’s the breakdown of what you might want to check out this weekend:

We’re back to North Bay for our opening of Surviving North Bay at White Water Gallery. After concluding our research micro-residency this past summer we returned to Windsor to brainstorm ways to address the concerns that residents of North Bay brought up about the city. The result: a series of survival kits designed to help North Bay face whatever the future the city has in store. Each red plastic kit contains useful and unique items to artfully solve local problems, and can be found on display in the Gallery for the next six weeks. There will be an opening reception on Friday at 7 pm.

In Toronto at Nuit Blanche on Saturday, we’ll be at the Gladstone for a new projection-based work – No Rights / No Wrongs, which will aim to highlight and articulate a series of indecisive statements on ideas of civic responsibility, community development, and political participation through large-scale projections on the side of the Gladstone.

 

Artcite Members and Friends!
Join Us this FRIDAY NIGHT, all Night @ THE LOOP
September 28, 2012 – 156 Chatham St. West (upper), Windsor, ON N9A 4M3

SHIRK  –  a DJ Night benefit for Artcite with DJs Sthephen Pender, Martin (Zonk) Deck, Matthew Hawtin and special guests

This Friday, 28 September, in the midst of Windsor’s Culture Days events, the Loop on Chatham Street is hosting a fundraiser for Artcite,
an event that kicks off our 30th anniversary celebrations. There will be three or four dj-s, including Martin ‘Zonk’ Deck, Matthew Hawtin, and Stephen Pender, plus a surpise guest or two.

The suggested donation is $4 at the door, which is deposited straight into Artcite’s coffers, and garners you a night of dub, techno, soul, Detroit funk, all good things.

Please spread the word, and support local artist-run culture.
Newest info here or on the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/350784671680498

Art and Ecology Sidewalk Parade


12:00 – 3:00 on Saturday, September 29, 2012
parade route begins @ ACWR 1942 Wyandotte Street E. Windsor, ON

The Art and Ecology Sidewalk parade is a performance artwork lead by Dr. Jennifer Willet of the School for Arts and Creative Innovation. The parade will draw community members into discussion about art and ecology in the Windsor Area with all participants collaborating in the production of a whimsical spectacle involving music and rhythm (10 block walk in total). The event will commence at the Arts Council of Windsor & Region (ACWR) and conclude the Canada South Science City on Marion Street in Windsor, ON.

Join them – rain or shine
for more info about bioart research and other initiatives at uwindsor: www.incubatorartlab.com

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Recap of the Letter Library Opening Event!

It’s been an incredible few weeks prepping for the launch of CIVIC SPACE and the Letter Library. Huge props to everyone who helped out, especially Kiki Athanassiadis & Lucy Howe! There’s a few hundred letters strewn about the space, waiting for you to takeout and caption the city. Stop by over the next few weeks — we’re Monday – Friday 11am – 4:30pm + Tuesday-Thursday 7-9:30pm. There’s more information on CIVIC SPACE on the new website too!

But before a total recap, it’s worth posting on some of the things that came together in preparing for the launch. Above, Josh’s extender-tool to reach high places with letters. Hacked together from a lot of spare wood and a paint roller.

The shelves of letters waiting to be hung.

Josh testing the rigidity of his extender tool.

And then, a street test.

Josh reaches.

It works.

Then, onto installing the more permanent sign on our building … atop the ladder.

Hiba at dusk.

Inside, prepping the file for the vinyl cut.

End of the night before the big day.

Hiba on a ladder

The next morning, Hiba and Rosina head back out to finish installing the sign.

Inside, weeding the vinyl.

Negative.

Across the street, Hiba talks to Claire Bronwell.

Inside, Rosina works on installing photos for the collage wall.

Getting reading to install the vinyl.

Meanwhile, Hiba, Kevin, and Kiki start mounting the letters on our walls.

Vinyl, installed.

Ro working on the photo wall.

Then, the launch kicks off with letters immediately heading out into the streets.

There was an incredible group of people floating in and out all week. We’re excited to get the photos back once the rolls are finished off.

From the outside, an installation…

Entering the space from our front door.

Proof of fun.

More letter selections.

Library card.

Piling letters before heading out.

Kiki making her selection.

Letter hunting.

Then, Hiba puts the returned letters back up.

Kevin converses.

The photo wall.

The letter wall, as people bring back their letters.

Last install of the evening.

Huge thanks to everyone who came out for our first event. As the rolls get finished, we’ll be installing them on the wall and posting them on the site. And, remember, the Letter Library is still open. If you’re in the neighbourhood stop by!

More soon, but first, a weekend to recover.

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Some things you should do this week (and next): Art, Lectures, & Funding Workshops

photo courtesy of Windsorite.ca

Thankfully, Owen over at Windsorite.ca grabbed a shot of this (above, our work, AS OF 2011.09.21, WE ARE ALIVE & WELL.), since we still need to schedule a plane ride to get some photos of our own — above, you can see a shot of our work as part of this year’s Windsor Biennial at the Art Gallery of Windsor.

Speaking of the Biennial, there’s an opening this Friday, and it promises to be a huge party with all of Windsor and Detroit’s finest. It starts at 7pm with a curator’s talk with food, drinks, and music running until 10pm.

If you’re looking for something to do ahead of the Biennial opening, you might consider checking out Interminus‘ first guest speaker as part of this year’s lecture series. Dr. Will Straw will be giving a talk on Culture and the Urban Night at Rino’s Kitchen starting at 4:30pm.

And, finally, next week, if you’re in Windsor (or just heading here to attend Homework), we can recommend you check out some FREE Grant Information Sessions on Thursday, October 20th from 6:30pm-9pm at the Art Gallery of Windsor hosted by the Ontario Arts Council‘s own (and our very favourite grant officers), Lisa Wöhrle, Associate Visual Art and Crafts Officer; Loree Lawrence, Community and Multidisciplinary Arts Officer; and Mark Haslam, Media Arts Officer. If you want to attend, RSVP to Martina Roncarelli, Program Assistant, mroncarelli@arts.on.ca, 416-969-7417 or toll-free in Ontario, 1-800-387‑0058, ext. 7417.

Hope to see you around!