Flagged For Review: Projecting Forward (Wish List) Projections on the Burrard Bridge

Above: Caitlin and Lois exchanging answers to a series of fill-in-the-blank questions

We’re currently artists in residence at the Burrard Marina Field House, aka the Contemporary Art Gallery‘s Field House Studio and our work continues until the end of April.

Our four month project, Flagged for Review is based on imagining the symbolic and lived potential of a city. We’re wondering what we might expect from a city that could establish its policies, identity and politics around a range of challenging (or inspiring) values. This line of inquiry will inform our production a series of flags that will be installed in and around the Field House and throughout the city in the coming month(s).

Continue reading “Flagged For Review: Projecting Forward (Wish List) Projections on the Burrard Bridge”

February 5, 2014July 5, 2018

Upcoming 16mm Filmmaking Workshops with Mobile Frames Resident Daïchi Saïto

Mobile Frames is pleased to announce our first series of FREE 16mm workshops, conducted by Montréal-based filmmaker in residence Daïchi Saïto, February 13th, 15th and 16th.

The workshops are completely FREE and open to Windsor / Detroit residents. Spaces are limited! Registration is required.

To register, contact: mobileframes@live.com
For more information visit: http://mobileframes.org/

“Introduction to 16mm Filmmaking”

Combining lecture and hands on practice, this workshop surveys the fundamentals of do-it-yourself filmmaking. Aspects of cinematography including light, camera, lens and film stocks, as well as the properties of film and processing chemicals, are covered. Participants will learn to shoot in 16mm with a Bolex Camera, make homemade film processing solutions out of raw chemical ingredients and hand process their own footage using various techniques. This workshop will prepare participants for further explorations of celluloid filmmaking and experimentation with film processing. All materials are provided. No previous experience with 16mm filmmaking is required.

http://mobileframes.org/workshops/

Feb. 13th, 2014 – Introduction to 16mm Filmmaking (Part 1), 1pm – 5pm

Feb. 15th, 2014 – Introduction to 16mm Filmmaking (Part 2), 9am – 6pm

Feb. 16th, 2014 – Introduction to 16mm Filmmaking (Part 3), 1pm – 5pm

Daïchi Saïto is a co-founder of Double Negative, an artist’s collective in Montreal dedicated to exhibition and production of experimental cinema. His films have screened at festivals, museums and cinematheques worldwide and are in the permanent collections of the Austrian Film Museum and the Slovenian Cinematheque, and are distributed by Light Cone (Paris), Arsenal (Berlin) and the CFMDC (Toronto). Saïto has taught cinema at NSCAD University in Halifax, Concordia University in Montreal and the Escuela Internacional De Cine in Cuba.

The series is presented by Media City Film Festival, together with Broken City Lab, Common Ground Art Gallery and Momentum Film & Video Collective and is made possible through the generous support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Media City Film Festival acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

January 23, 2014July 5, 2018

OHRDRONE Presents Drone Chamber 2 at Civic Space

OHRDRONE (Oliver Blank & Toby Heys) – Drone Chamber 2

February 1st, 2014 – CIVIC Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario) – Exhibition Runs until February 28th (Schedule Below)

A drone in sonic terms is the least memorable type of music produced and yet in terms of duration, it manifests gently over time through subtle variations. The drone in military terms is a technology which surveils, exposes, and punishes the actions of those in a public space. OHRDRONE is a research group founded to examine the proliferation of drones, and our potential for love and compassion for these drones as a disempowering force.

OHRDRONE is coming to Civic Space for the month of February. Beginning on February 1st the space will be converted into a DRONE CHAMBER for use by the community of Windsor, Ontario throughout the month.

On Saturday, February 1st one of the founding members of OHRDRONE will teach attendees how to listen to the DRONE with complete compassion before leading a morning DRONE HEARING. From 2–4pm, he will lead a Sound Walk as a way of establishing a sustainable DRONE practice in your daily life. In the evening a final DRONE HEARING, with instruction and guidance, will be in the DRONE CHAMBER.

Schedule of Events | Saturday, February 1st, 2014

MORNING DRONE HEARING | 10.00am – 12.00pm

10.00–10.30am DRONE FORMS
10.30–11.00am DRONE HEARING
11.00–11.30am DRONE READING
11.30–12.00pm TEA & DISCUSSION

AFTERNOON WALK | 2.00pm – 04.00pm

“Building the tools with our own hand”

Join OHRDRONE and learn how to establish your own Drone practice in daily life by learning to Sound Walk. No prior experience necessary.

EVENING DRONE HEARING | 08.00pm – 10.00pm

08.00–08.30pm DRONE FORMS
08.30–09.00pm DRONE HEARING
09.00–09.30pm DRONE READING
09.30–10.00pm TEA & DISCUSSION

December 3, 2013July 5, 2018

Sphinxxx: The Sound of Windsor by Chris Flanagan

Exhibition on view from December 5th to 30th – Opening Reception on Thursday, December 5th at 7pm – CIVIC Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor)

Chris Flanagan has created a site-specific installation work based on Windsor’s musical history and hypothetical stories based on the city’s relationship with Detroit and waves of migration. He will be presenting this work (artifacts, sound clips, and process documentation) at CIVIC Space and around the city.

Please join us on Thursday, December 5th at 7pm for an opening reception and to explore the artifacts Chris has uncovered. The artist will be present and is looking forward to discussing Windsor / Detroit’s musical histories. If you’re unable to make it to the opening, the exhibition will be up in CIVIC Space until the end of December.

Chris Flanagan is a Toronto-based installation artist. His work is concerned with music, secret societies and fabricated historical narratives. He has exhibited widely in public galleries across Australia and Canada.

For more information, please visit: www.chrisflanaganart.com

November 28, 2013July 5, 2018

Archival Tendencies (Lossy Practices) at Modern Fuel

Since last spring, we’ve been building towards a new series of work for a show at Modern Fuel in Kingston, Ontario. The show, entitled, “Archival Tendencies (Lossy Practices)” is a collection of installations that play with the notions of archiving and our relationship with it. We came up with 6 pieces that we wanted to create for this show — it all started at the Queen’s University Archives in Kingston, Ontario.

We were lucky enough to be given a tour by Jeremy Heil, a technical services archivist for Queen’s University. He shared with us an amazing amount of knowledge about the process of archiving, different types of archives, and the storing process for the archives.

Some of the storage units.

Justin engulfed by boxes and boxes of archives.

The trip to the archives sparked our minds and we started to research…a lot. Notes upon notes began to accumulate so we thought it would be best to take a break.

We decided to visit Modern Fuel and scope out the space and get an idea spatially of what we could create in the gallery. By the end of our short trip to Kingston, we had a good feeling about what we wanted to do and a set of 6 pieces that we wanted to make.

It became apparent from early on that we didn’t want the exhibition to challenge current modes of archiving, but instead articulate different ways we could be viewing arching on an individual and societal level.

Soon after, we started to accumulate the materials we needed. The first piece we started to build was “What Fails With Time?” — this is a text piece that is made out of salvaged wood.

Andy and I found an ad on Kijiji for free salvaged wood in Kingville. The textures and colours were so amazing, we grabbed as many pieces as we could. The wood used to be an old barn that was recently torn down.

More planks.

The second piece is “The Archive of Wishful Thinking”. This series of magnetic letters allows for participants to spell out things that they hope to remember, but is also constantly in flux because the next person can add on, erase, or re-write the statement.

We spray painted the letters gold so they would have a nice contrast against the black magnetic paint they would be sitting on.

OR PUR.

Up close.

For another piece, we decided to cut out physical versions of the flagging system we use online when we want to remember a specific site or want to archive it as important to us.

Lots of cutting involved.

Staking and packing.

Our infamous jigjaw was brought back to work.

Accumulating.

Makeshift clamps.

Cutting out the letters.

Cross-country collaborating with Justin on this one — a perforated booklet filled with posters that are suggestive of things we should make an effort to remember…or not.

“S”

“?”

“Solid State Storage” is 3 banker boxes made from styrofoam and concrete. The original idea was to have them made of solid concrete but the weight would have made them almost impossible to haul all the way to Kingston. We decided to make the base from styrofoam so that some of the weight could be eliminated.

The cement adheres really well to styrofoam so this made applying the layers really easy.

Filled to the rim.

Packed and ready to go.

Alongside the banker boxes, we wanted to create an object that destroys records in a slow, gruelling manor, so we thought a humidifier hooked up to a filing cabinet would do just that. We used the hand-held saw to cut out holes so the tubbing could connect the humidity directly to the filing cabinet.

First hole.

The saw melted the plastic right off.

The first hole made in the filing cabinet.

We decided to make one hole in the top and one along the side.

Side by side.

With everything packed and ready to go, we made our way up to Kingston and started a long week of install.

AN UNOFFICIAL ENTRY.

As we unloaded and starting to put things up, the space seemed overwhelmingly chaotic and reminded me a lot of what the space looked like from our exhibition in Halifax two years prior.

Building a shelf for the booklets.

Superglue is an amazing thing.

Hanging the magnetic panels.

First piece up.

Andy looking for the right letters.

Still searching.

In the future we will want to remember ________.

Final touch-ups and sanding for our banker boxes.

The secret cemented file.

“Make a Mark (Notating Importance)” is a grid of 175 flags cut out chip board that are suggestive of flagging or noting space or places that are important and should be archived. It’s the physical version of the digital flag system.

Close-up.

“Solid State Storage”

Cranking up the humidity.

And it’s on!

Feeling the humidity come through.

Making sure it’s properly sealed.

Placing the “Authorization for Destruction of Records” applications on top.

What record would you want to destroy?

The files to be destroyed.

First record to be destroyed — one of my memories.

“For Unsafe Keeping (Time-Limited Archiving System)”

“Expressions of Power (A Ready-to-Distribute Set of Positions in Relation to Time)”

Ready for the opening.

Title wall.

Magnetic letters.

The director of Modern Fuel, Kevin Rodgers, fills out a file for destruction.

Conversations and concrete boxes.

Opening.

In the next room over from the main exhibition space is Christine Dewancker’s show entitled “All You Ever Wanted”.

Christine Dewancker’s (above) practice examines the physical and psychological effects of the spaces we occupy: how constructed environments inform our experiences and relationships with one another, what produces public consciousness and how this is created and reproduced by our everyday activities. Her recent series ALL YOU EVER WANTED began with conversations with residents in the spring of 2013, in which discussions were carried out regarding sites of development and potential in Kingston neighbourhoods. The title phrase evokes subjective desires, and offers an optimistic gesture of totality. When placed in a physical environment, it proposes various readings of that space while also embodying an impossible idea that can never be fully realized.

Playing with memories.

Things we hope to remember.

I got to give a mini tour of the show and speak about the pieces and process we took to make each one.

Thank you to everyone at Modern Fuel for being so supportive and helping us make this happen.

“Archival Tendencies (Lossy Practices) runs from October 19th – November 30th at Modern Fuel in Kingston, Ontario.

We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.

November 18, 2013July 5, 2018

Opt0ut Man: A Department of Unusual Certainties Project

November 8th to 30th – CIVIC Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario)

Join us November 23rd, between noon to 5pm, to talk taxes!

We’re thrilled to announce that our good friends Chris & Simon of Department of Unusual Certainties (they have worked with us here and here and will be part of Neighbourhood Spaces 2014) are back in Windsor putting together Opt0ut Man, the first stage of a project exploring issues around taxation.

Opt0ut Man is everyone – the belief that we give, but do not receive. Our society has been built on the ideal that we are all in this together. Increasingly we stand witness to changing ideas of what building a society means – a strong individual, means a strong country. The old adage that there are only two certain things in life, taxes and death, begs the question of what life do we want?

Opt0ut Man is an exploration of thoughts, opinions, opportunities, facts and consequences responding to the premise “What would happen if an individual had the option of opting out of the tax system?” expressed as a story. Seen for the first time in CIVIC Space, it is the first stage of longer term project.

Department of Unusual Certainties // www.DoUC.ca

Founded in 2010, Department of Unusual Certainties integrates the partial perspectives gleaned from its members committed explorations of a range of disciplines towards the creation of a truly Public Art. Over the last 24 months, DoUC has published work in magazines in North American and European. They have also exhibited projects across Canada, as well as at the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture and at the Prado Media Lab. They were strategic partner to Migrating Landscapes Organizers, curators of the Canadian Pavilion 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture; and were the 2011 Innovators in Residence at the Design Exchange, Canada’s design museum.

November 8, 2013July 5, 2018

HOMEWORK II: LONG FORMS / SHORT UTOPIAS (Nov 8-10, 2013) + Livestream Archive

We’re very pleased to announce Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias, a three-day conference and collaboratively-written publication that will aim to unfold the ways in which we construct, articulate, and practice ideas of micro-utopias, pop-up ideals, collaboration, and long-term social engagement in Ontario, across Canada, and abroad.

The conference will build on our previous conference, Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices, in bringing together multidisciplinary artists and creative practitioners enacting and articulating the complexities of working in practices driven by curiosities about utopian collaboration, community, infrastructures, locality, and long-form social practice. With support from the Ontario Arts Council and Ontario Trillium Foundation, we’re looking to build an event that can frame a discussion on socially-engaged practices that span disciplines, with a particular focus on emerging practitioners.

Homework II will run November 8-10, 2013 in Windsor, Ontario at Art Gallery of Windsor and CIVIC Space.

Our featured keynote speakers this year will be Jeanne van Heeswijk (Rotterdam), Darren O’Donnell (Toronto), and Steve Lambert (New York). In addition to our keynotes, we’ve also invited a series of curatorial partners to develop panels that tackle the conference themes. And, to top it all off, everyone who attends will be co-authors of a book that captures the ideas and conversations from this year’s conference through a series of interviews with presenters, attendees, and organizers alongside collected materials from our 2011 conference.

For more information, please email homework@brokencitylab.org

Homework II – Tentative Conference Schedule

1. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH

Keynote Panel Discussion | Art Gallery of Windsor | 7:00pm-9:45pm

Featuring presentations from:

Jeanne van Heeswijk (Rotterdam)

Since 1993, Jeanne van Heeswijk has been working on socially committed art projects that take place in public spaces. She sees herself as a mediator, an intermediary between a situation, a space, a neighborhood and the people connected to these. Acting, meeting, and communicating are key concepts in her method of working. She has coined the term “urban curating” for her interventions. In the sedate Dutch art world in which all taboos appear to have been broken, her work – uniquely – arouses fierce controversy.

Darren O’Donnell (Toronto)

Darren O’Donnell is a novelist, essayist, playwright, director, designer, performer, Artistic Director of Mammalian Diving Reflex and Research Director of The Tendency Group, an emerging think tank and social policy laboratory. His books include: Social Acupuncture, which argues for an aesthetics of civic engagement and Your Secrets Sleep with Me, a novel about difference, love and the miraculous. In addition to his artistic practice, he is currently an Msci candidate in Urban Planning at the University of Toronto.

Steve Lambert (New York)

Steve Lambert is an artist who works with issues of advertising and the use of public space. He is a founder of the Anti-Advertising Agency, an artist-run initiative which critiques advertising through artistic interventions, and of the Budget Gallery (with Cynthia Burgess) which creates exhibitions by painting over outdoor advertisements and hanging submitted art in its place. He has also worked with the Graffiti Research Lab and as a senior fellow with Eyebeam Open Lab.

2. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH

A. Registration and Opening Remarks | Art Gallery of Windsor | 8:30am-9:15am

Remarks by:

Justin Langlois, Hiba Abdallah, and Josh Babcock (Project Coordinators, Broken City Lab)

Srimoyee Mitra (Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Windsor)

B. Thematic Panel Discussions | Art Gallery of Windsor | 9:00am-6:30pm

Thomas Provost | 9:30am-10:40am

Ad Hoc, a panel organized by Thomas Provost, will feature panelists Kaija Wuollet, Elaine Carr, and Marcin Kedzior.

An archaeology of the human world reveals there are infinite systemic exchanges constructing our environment: weathering, investments, labour, political forums, contracts, negotiations, among other occurrences and phenomena. Essential to this discussion on spatial-collaboration are the various exchanges a creative practice must navigate in order to create micro-utopias, pop-up-ideals, or projections of time & place. Within architecture and landscape, experimental operations have emerged despite an uncertain economic trajectory and forbearing ecological instability, under which our panelists curiously work, at least in part, ad hoc.

Reena Katz | 10:50am-12:00pm

Organized by Reena Katz/Radiodress, artist and Acting Director, Galerie SAW Gallery, Ottawa-Gatineau, Engaged to be Wary: De-authorizing Social Practice will feature panelists, Srimoyee Mitra, curator, Art Gallery of Windsor and Alana Bartol, artist and Project Manager for Neighbourhood Spaces, Windsor.

At a time when community engaged art practices are becoming ubiquitous throughout gallery, museum and institutional education systems, there is a strong need for conversations around what works and what doesn’t in this growing and chaotic field. The goal of this panel will be to discuss diverse perspectives on Social Practice, ask critical questions, and formulate some useful guidelines for its successful pedagogy and praxis. We will use the opportunity of the publication to publish the beginnings of a malleable, living manifesta on the subject, based on the presentations, discussion and ideas generated at the panel.

Maggie Flynn | 1:00pm-2:10pm

A discussion between Tities Wîcinímintôwak Arts Collective and Chris Rabideau will address themes such as intergenerational organizing, learning in the context of Two-Spirit, trans, and queer communities, and personal approaches to long-term, community-based work. This panel is organized by Maggie Flynn.

IN/TERMINUS | 2:20pm-3:30pm

The Shape of a Question: Art, Politics, Pedagogy, a panel organized by Michael Darroch and Jennifer Willet for IN/TERMINUS, will discuss historical and contemporary models and contexts at the intersection of art, politics and pedagogy.

Michael Davidge | 3:40pm-4:50pm

For a panel presentation on Saturday November 9, Michael Davidge has brought together a group of creative practitioners whose work addresses the themes of the Homework II conference through their engagement with electronic dance music. Davidge is an independent curator, artist and art critic who lives in Ottawa, Ontario. The panelists include Bambitchell (Sharlene Bamboat and Alexis Mitchell) (Toronto) who will present on their project, Border Sounds; Michael Caffrey and Kerry Campbell (Gatineau) who will discuss their “GhettoBlast Sound System;” and Chris McNamara (Windsor) will discuss his experience with the Windsor/Detroit techno music scene and describe his involvement with the audio collective “Nospectacle.” The panelists’ projects employ electronic dance music in various ways that construct, articulate, and practice ideas of micro-utopias, pop-up ideals, and long-term social engagement.

Department of Unusual Certainties | 5:00pm-6:10pm

“Support Someone Else’s Revolution” – The world is small, interconnected and formed from extensive systems that intersect with our lives. Knowingly and unknowingly our actions reinforce and resist the transformation of these systems, which do shift under the weight and energy of people and things. The Information Age is more a statement of societal arrogance than a reflection of a broader cultural understanding of the world. Gaps in knowledge exist and will not be rectified through the consumption of media nor exchanges within our personal networks.

Department of Unusual Certainties has invited four individuals to speak to the ways that we support other people and things in transition (eg. corporations, neighbours and democracy etc.). Each of these four individual’s were selected because their practices empower citizens within stable States to reflect and then to act. The panel will feature: Michèle Champagne (Founder/Creative Director, That New Design Smell), Jordan Tanahill (Artistic Director, Suburban Beast), Satsuko Van Antwerp (Manager, Social Innovation Generation), and Justin Langlois (Director, Broken City Lab) moderated by Department of Unusual Certainties.

3. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH

Workshops and General Assembly | Art Gallery of Windsor & CIVIC SPACE | 11:00am-5:00pm

A day of conversation, interviews, and workshops to inform the forthcoming publication.

Open Community Breakfast at Civic Space | 10:00am-11:00am

Join us and fellow conference panelists, attendees, and anyone else walking around the neighbourhood for some light breakfast. We’ll open our doors to serve cereal, fruit, coffee, and tea, along with some great conversations to kick off the final day of the conference.

Workshops for Publication, Part 1 at the AGW | 11:00am-2:00pm

We’ll be back at the AGW for a series of workshops, discussion groups, and interviews that will help shape the forthcoming publication. We’re asking you to consider participating in the creation of this publication by conducting at least one interview with someone else attending the conference. Meanwhile, back at CIVIC Space, Hiba will be working to compile the content she receives from the participants — interviews, photographs, sketchbook notes, manifestos, endless questions, and more.

General Assembly at the AGW | 2:00pm-3:30pm

An open community discussion on issues surrounding socially-engaged practices, the infrastructures required to support them, precarious labour, educational possibilities, the professionalization of artists, and the conference itself.

Workshops for Publication, Part 2 at the AGW | 3:30pm-4:30pm

The work continues at the AGW and at CIVIC Space towards compiling the contents for the publication, with follow up discussions driven by the General Assembly.

Closing Remarks at the AGW | 4:30pm-4:45pm

Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias runs November 8 – 10, 2013 at Art Gallery of Windsor, located at 401 Riverside Drive West, Windsor, Ontario and CIVIC Space, located at 411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario.

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November 2, 2013July 5, 2018

Learn More About… Steve Lambert! Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias Keynote Panelist

Capitalism Works For Me! True/False (2011), Image courtesy of visitsteve.com

Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias is less than a week away and we’re incredibly excited to be welcoming so many new and old friends to Windsor. The conference is aiming to foster a conversation around the ideas, infrastructures, and risks embedded in socially-engaged practices that unfold over years or moments at a time. For more information and to register to attend, please click here.

Now, you could read Lambert’s bio on his website to learn more about where he comes from and what he does, but we thought that reposting his artist statement might help to illustrate why we’re so excited to have him to be a part of the conference. For us, it seems to capture some of the overarching concerns we’re looking to discuss at the conference. In his words, here’s how Steve Lambert approaches art:

For me, art is a bridge that connects uncommon, idealistic, or even radical ideas with everyday life. I carefully craft various conditions where I can discuss these ideas with people and have a mutually meaningful exchange. Often this means working collaboratively with the audience, bringing them into the process or even having them physically complete the work.

I want my art to be relevant to those outside the gallery – say, at the nearest bus stop – to reach them in ways that are engaging and fun. I intend what I do to be funny, but at the core of each piece there is also a solemn critique. It’s important to be able to laugh while actively questioning the various power structures at work in our daily lives.

I have the unabashedly optimistic belief that art changes the way people look at the world. That belief fuels a pragmatic approach to bring about those changes.

Lambert’s sense of art as a bridge to everyday life, civic practices, and public spaces has always resonated with us. From his public performances, to collaborative interventions, to his large-scale signage works, Lambert’s practice implicates art into a larger set of politics and concerns that reminds us of the ways in which art can help generate new conversations and reframe old ones.

THE NEW YORK TIMES SPECIAL EDITION (2008), image courtesy of visitsteve.com

We’ve been writing and thinking about Steve’s work for years, and we can’t wait to hear him speak in person. He’ll be a part of our Keynote Panel on Friday, November 8th at 7pm at the Art Gallery of Windsor with Jeanne van Heeswijk and Darren O’Donnell and joining us for discussions and reflections over the rest of the conference.

P.S. We have just a few seats left for the conference! Want to join in on the fun? Email us at homework@brokencitylab.org to register!

Homework II will run November 8-10, 2013 in Windsor, Ontario at Art Gallery of Windsor and CIVIC Space.

For more information, please email homework@brokencitylab.org

Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias is made possible with generous support from the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Art Gallery of Windsor, and IN/TERMINUS.

October 30, 2013July 5, 2018

1W3KND: On Social Practice and Collaboration, 48 Hours at a Time – New Book Available Now!

Late last year, we started hosting a series of weekend residencies at CIVIC Space. They were designed to bring together two people (and sometimes more) to write about socially-engaged practices. We wanted to provide a platform, or an excuse, or at least a quiet space to spend a bit of focused time writing. We wanted to do this because we were curious about the gap in writing from emerging practitioners, and that curiosity was driven as much out of our desire to read more from our peers as our realization that we have done very little writing on our own.

So, we posted a call for submissions on our website under the title of 1W3KND.

1W3KND stood for One Weekend, Three Thousand Words, No Distractions. It would be a brief, yet focused two days, just long enough to pull away from everyday life, but not so long that the itch to overly-polish any of the writing would arise. It would ideally put people into a dialogue, maybe even with a stranger, to try to tease out new entry-points into likely familiar conversations and capture an urgency around itself. It would concentrate this activity in a specific place without necessarily insisting on a response to it.

Between November 2012 and February 2013, we were happy to host the following artists, writers, curators, designers, thinkers, and scholars:

Penelope Smart & Erin MacMillan, Irene Chin & Megan Marin, Jason Deary & Mary Tremonte, Zoe Chan & Sarah Febbraro, Mike DiRisio & Nathan Stevens, Amber Ginsburg & Siobhan Rigg, VSVSVS & Julian Majewski, Jacqui Arntfield & Emily DiCarlo, Nathan Swartzendruber & Mike Fleisch, and Allison Rowe & Rhiannon Vogl

We compiled what they wrote into a book. It’s available now on Blurb for just $10.

The residency as an experiment, as a site of production, or as simply a retreat, spurred writing that reflects a diversity of approaches towards articulating the concerns, ethics, aims, and ideals of socially-engaged practices. Largely written by emerging practitioners and minimally edited, this is not necessarily a cogent collection of essays — in fact, such an expectation would arguably be missing the point. This book captures an energy and urgency around a complicated set of ideas still unfolding in relation to a world rapidly shifting around them. To have the opportunity to collect the texts, at the early stages of so many of the contributors’ practices is a gift and hopefully a tool for further reflection and dialogue across geographies, politics, and practices.

If we had more time at Civic Space, we’d probably do this again. Maybe someone else can pick up where we left off.

October 8, 2013July 5, 2018

Learn More About… Darren O’Donnell! Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias Keynote Panelist

Darren O’Donnell – Toronto, Ontario, Canada

We’re already less than one month away from Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias and we can confidently say that our excitement is growing. We have a solid weekend planned for all attendees and everyone who is able to watch the conference from home. For more information and to register to attend, please click here.

Darren O’Donnell is one of three featured keynote speakers who will be presenting at Homework II. Darren is a novelist, essayist, playwright, director, designer, performer, and Artistic Director of Mammalian Diving Reflex. His books include: Social Acupuncture (2006), which argues for aesthetics of civic engagement and Your Secrets Sleep with Me (2004), a novel about difference, love and the miraculous. His stage-based works include White Mice (1998), [boxhead] (2000), and All the Sex I’ve Ever Had (2012), all produced by Mammalian Diving Reflex. He has a BFA in Acting, studied Shiatsu and Traditional Chinese Medicine at The Shiatsu School of Canada and is currently an MSci candidate in Urban Planning at University of Toronto.

His work with Mammalian Diving Reflex is extensive, and in the past few years they have collaborated with Toronto youth, eventually leading to the formation of a group aptly titled “The Torontonians” in 2010. Since that time, they have been collaborating on projects that span performance, video, mentorship, and much more. One of Mammalian’s most popular and critically-acclaimed projects is Haircuts by Children (pictured above), a project in which children are trained by professional hairstylists, and then paid to run real hair salons, eventually giving members of the public free haircuts. The project has been performed in many locations; Toronto, Glasgow, Prague, and Milan are just a few examples. It’s fantastic stuff, and I highly recommend visiting Mammalian’s site and browsing their Projects section.

Using his experience working closely with and within communities, with youth, and with a variety of organizations, Darren will be presenting on the first evening of Homework II (Friday, November 8th) with Jeanne van Heeswijk and Steve Lambert.

Darren O’Donnell – Interview with Rabble.ca

Homework II will run November 8-10, 2013 in Windsor, Ontario at Art Gallery of Windsor and CIVIC Space.

For more information, please email homework@brokencitylab.org

Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias is made possible with generous support from the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Art Gallery of Windsor, and IN/TERMINUS.