event – Broken City Lab

March 14, 2014July 5, 2018

The Best of Awards

We know that a city is more than just buildings, roads, political decisions, pools, telephone poles, and parks. We know that it’s all of the little things that make this city great, or better yet, it’s all the little things that so many people we know do for us, knowingly or not, every day that make this city great. We think it’s long overdue that we help celebrate those people and we hope you’ll help us.

We want to have a big awards ceremony…really big actually. So, we’ll make the awards and host the party, all you have to do is find someone to nominate and show up to help us celebrate.

Here’s how it will work: You make a nomination below, we’ll mail you two invitations (one for you and one for the person you nominate), and then you both show up for our awards party on Thursday, May 8th, 2014 at 6:00PM.

**Don’t forget: The nominator is responsible for bringing the nominee to collect their award.

Submissions are now closed. Thank you to everyone who made a nomination for The Best of Awards! We’ll be in touch soon and see you on Thursday, May 8th at 6pm (CIVIC Space – 411 Pelissier Street, Windsor)

August 26, 2013July 5, 2018

PATHS (Practicing Art through Hide & Seek) Windsor: Sign up Now for this September!

PATHS (Practicing Art through Hide & Seek): A Project Series by Andrew Lochhead – Sign up and Participate!

PATHS is part of an ongoing series of works and actions that explore notions of “play” as: an act of transgression, resistance, detournément, and subversion, a method of pedagogy, a means of investigating and exploring the urban environment & a means toward social engagement, in relation to the fine arts, – all within the context of our contemporary zeitgeist. Led by artist Andrew Lochhead, PATHS will consist of 3 games held at 3 locations in Windsor on September 20th, 21st, and 22nd.

Downtown (Friday, September 20th – 8:30pm-midnight) – Meet at Civic Space (411 Pelissier Street)

Devonshire Mall (Saturday, September 21st – 3-7pm) – Meet at doors by Tim Hortons (3100 Howard Avenue)

Jackson Park (Sunday, September 22nd – 3-7pm) – Meet at main gates of Jackson Park (Ouellette Avenue & Tecumseh Road)

Also, join us for a wrap party at 7pm at Villains Beastro on Sunday, September 22nd.

The game represents a fun way of engaging with an aspect of our city of which many of us are unfamiliar. We hope you can make it out.

Please use the form below to sign up for PATHS.

April 25, 2013July 5, 2018

Photography for Goods: A Skills for Good(s) Event Hosted by Mike DiRisio

Friday, April 26th, 7pm @ CIVIC SPACE – 411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario

Photography for Goods, a Skills for Good(s) workshop hosted by University of Windsor MFA Candidate Mike DiRisio, will cover ways to light and shoot objects to white out the photograph’s background – methods similar to those used in product photography. However, we will be using very basic materials, like desk lamps and large sheets of paper, so that you can easily reproduce this at home. We’ll then do some basic edits using Adobe Photoshop software, to completely white out the background and make the photographs as sharp as possible!

Please bring a used object (preferably something no bigger than a microwave) to donate to the Common Goods freestore – we’ll be photographing these for the demo.

Please visit Common Goods to see examples of objects photographed this way, and to learn more about the project Common Goods.

April 15, 2013July 5, 2018

1st/3rd Wednesday – Neighbourhood Spaces: Windsor & Region Artist in Residence (AIR) Program Information Session

1st/3rd Wednesdays – Neighbourhood Spaces: Windsor & Region Artist in Residence (AIR) Program Information Session

Wednesday, April 17th – 6:30-8pm @ Arts Council – Windsor & Region (1942 Wyandotte Street East)

All are invited to join Alana Bartol, Program Coordinator for Neighbourhood Spaces, Windsor-Essex County’s NEW Artist in Residence Program on Wednesday, April 17th at 6:30pm at the Arts Council – Windsor & Region, to learn more about this exciting new initiative.

Neighbourhood Spaces: Windsor & Region Artist in Residence (AIR) Program is a new AIR Program that will locate ten chosen Canadian artists in community sites throughout Windsor and Essex County for 4-6 week residencies. Supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the program is a partnership of “the Collaborative”: Arts Council Windsor & Region (ACWR), Broken City Lab (BCL) and The City of Windsor. Neighbourhood Spaces (NS) is now accepting applications from Canadian artists of all disciplines including visual, performing, literary, music, interdisciplinary and media arts.

Neighbourhood Spaces will allow artists to work in non-traditional spaces in non-traditional ways, embedding artists in community sites such as parks, nature reserves, libraries, health or community centres. These sites will provide a “home base” for each artist to work during their residency, creating a compelling injection of culture into the surrounding neighbourhood. Artists will engage with communities and organizations, animating, inspiring and exploring the specific stories, curiosities, challenges and triumphs of the local community.

Residencies will be 4-6 weeks, beginning in summer 2013 and will be staggered throughout the year, concluding in August 2014. A final exhibition and symposium will be held in the fall of 2014 and an online publication will be created documenting the program.

Who should attend?

Whether you are an artist that is interested in applying or a community site that is interested in participating, the event is free and open to anyone that is interested in learning more about Neighbourhood Spaces. All are welcome.

To learn more about Neighbourhood Spaces, visit: www.acwr.net/ns or www.brokencitylab.org/apply

To RSVP, visit our Facebook event page and follow us on Twitter

Contact:

Alana Bartol

Program Coordinator – Neighbourhood Spaces: Windsor & Region Artist in Residence Program

ns@acwr.net

April 9, 2013July 5, 2018

Open Electronics Workshop Tonight: Introducing the Arduino

Photo by Zdjęcia Arkadiusz Sikorski on Flickr

Tonight at 7pm at Civic Space, our open Electronics Workshops continue with host Paul Anderson.

Tonight we are introducing and planning upcoming workshops with the Arduino, a popular single-board micro-controller used for a wide variety of tasks and projects.

It’s free and open to all skill levels. Come nerd it up with artists and electronically-minded thinkers and doers. No registration required!

March 3, 2013July 5, 2018

All Tomorrow’s Problems: Winter/Spring 2013

All Tomorrow’s Problems: the Weekly Design Night for Future-Focused People

We’re hosting another round of All Tomorrow’s Problems (ATP), a weekly Design Night focused on creative and speculative problem solving.We’re going to kick things off by picking up where we left off in 2012, working through the future of local transit and mobility issues, and then moving onto other expansive and localized future-focused issues.ATP focuses on collaborative, Windsor-focused problem solving and project making, informed by weekly discussion and design nights. We’re looking for collaborative critical thinkers, problem solvers, and action-takers with an eye on the future of this city.

BCL’s Visiting Researchers/Designers Dan McCafferty and Veronica Samek will guide a 1–1.5-hour open studio every Monday, which will involve discussions, walks, field trips, rapid prototyping and wrap up with an exhibition, installation or beautiful intervention in the summer of 2013.

Plan to bring the following:

sketchbook, camera, laptop, and drawing tools
an open mind and willingness to have some productive and some open-ended conversations
an appreciation that this isn’t about problem-solving so much as an exercise in utopian-minded praxis

The dates to mark in your calendars:

Mondays in March: 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th at 7:00pm-9pm
Mondays in April: 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd at 7:00pm-9pm

Didn’t this already happen?
Yes, it did. We had a great response and many inspiring ideas were developed during the first iteration of ATP, from September 2012–December 2012. The Second / Spring installment (February–April 2013) will be focused on turning all that thinking and inspiration into action and tangible projects. We will focus on making things happen and projects that address our concerns.

You know that the name of this is really similar to All Tomorrow’s Parties, right?
Yes, absolutely. We appreciate the tone of that event and thought it was a nice way to reference doing things at a different scale.

Do I have to be prepared to make art or design anything?
Think of this as a very loosely organized place to discuss and exercise your ideas on a specific topic. We may not actually make something every night, but we will aim to creatively respond to the issue at hand. Ultimately, our thinking and discussions will materialize into something.

Do I have to commit to attending every design night?
We understand schedules change, so you are free to participate as your schedule allows. But YES… plan to attend as much as possible. Let’s make stuff happen. We need you at the table!

Who are these people anyways?
Long-time Windsor-Essex resident, Veronica Samek, first began her career journey unknowingly overseas. After graduating from the University of Windsor, she worked in England where she uncovered a passion for telling the Windsor-Essex story. Shortly thereafter, she returned to studying Journalism Print & New Media at St. Clair College and began helping others find their career paths as the Director of Communications for Workforce WindsorEssex. Through her work with this organization, Veronica is committed to a holistic approach to workforce development, emphasizing the importance of living, working and playing in a region with deep roots and a transformative pallet. Veronica is a member of the United Way GenNext Committee and a founding member of the Awesome Windsor-Essex Foundation.

New to the Windsor area, Dan McCafferty identifies as a Winnipeger, though he has also called Ottawa, Halifax, Toronto, Chicago and Raleigh, “home.” Dan is a multi-disciplinary designer, artist and researcher who teaches Design in the Art and Art History Department at Wayne State University, in Detroit. He co-founded the critical design collective Public Design Unit in 2011 and their first project, Parkdale Versions, was installed at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche. His interests include relational, critical and speculative art and design practices which are participatory, socially engaged and community oriented.

September 25, 2012July 5, 2018

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

June 22, 2012July 5, 2018

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.

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.

June 1, 2012July 5, 2018

Announcing CIVIC SPACE (Community Innovation through Vital Interactions & Collaborations)

For more information on CIVIC SPACE and its programming: please visit civicspace.info.

We’re incredibly excited to announce a new initiative that will become the centre of our focus for the next two years.

CIVIC SPACE (Community Innovation through Vital Interaction & Collaboration Space) will launch on Thursday, June 21st at 411 Pelissier Street in downtown Windsor. Supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, CIVIC SPACE will serve as a hub for our events, public activities, and research around locality, infrastructure, education, and creative practice as a driver for civic change.

This storefront space (once a textile store and before that a jeweller) will soon host new community projects, artist residencies, DIY workshops, public lectures and a range of other new initiatives for the next 24-months. CIVIC SPACE will aim to engage the public in addressing community challenges through new programming and activities that initiate collaborative creative problem solving.

On June 21st at 7pm, we’ll be kicking things off with the Letter Library (A Collection of Alphabetic Interventions). This open community project invites anyone and everyone to come borrow from our letterset to caption the city around them. With Windsor at the edge of so many transitions, how might we collectively reclaim and create our own public narratives about the future of our city through this playful intervention? Anyone participating will be issued a Letter Library Card and will able to sign out 12″ 3D letters from our collection to create their own temporary installation, document it with one of our single-use cameras, and ultimately help to build an archive of new captions for the city’s build environment.

We’ll also be announcing the rest of our summer programming very soon … stay close.

CIVIC SPACE would not be possible without the incredibly generous support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

P.S. If you’re interested in applying for a residency, looking to connect for a new collaborative project, or just interested in (finally) making the trip to Windsor, be in touch.

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