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“Alive & Well” viewable on Google Maps

Alive & Well, screenshot from Google Maps, colour-balanced

Our project for the 2011 Windsor Biennial, Alive & Well, was created with the hope that it would be captured on Google Maps to make a monument or announcement of sorts to the rest of the world about Windsor as we near the end of the year and ahead of being torn up for the new Aquatic Centre. We did the project with full expectations that the timing might not be right to ever have it appear on Google Maps, but this morning on a random search, I found out that there was a little update — Alive & Well is now on Google Maps, when you zoom into Windsor’s downtown core.

We created the work with this in mind:

The city appears to have survived the lowest lows of the economic crisis and our social, cultural, and political realities seem to hold some sense of hope and possibility. Even while the auto industry continues to hold precarious sway over the future of the city, the opportunity to own our history and commemorate it should, appropriately enough, be explored in a vast parking lot. In celebration of our community’s continued survival, we propose to demarcate the launch of a cultural future for the city, as demonstrated by the starting date of the 2011 Windsor Biennial along with IAIN BAXTER&’s curatorial role, and the very fact that the city has, despite any hardships, not yet imploded, with the following text, “AS OF 2011.09.21, WE ARE ALIVE & WELL.”

Huge thanks to the Art Gallery of Windsor, MacDonald & White Paint, and Google for making this possible.


View Larger Map

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International Day Without Art


December 1 is World AIDS Day and International Day Without Art

A Declaration of loss:
Today we stand together.
Today we stand in silence.
Today we mourn the loss of painters, photographers, dancers, printers, actors, film makers, singers, choreographers, poets, sculptors, musicians, designers… all the artists who have died of AIDS.

Today we collectively grieve the loss of future work from recognized artists, as well as the absence of countless artists yet to be. Today we declare our loss.

December 1 is a Day without Art, an international day of observance which focuses attention on the profound impact AIDS has had on artists and the world arts community.

Since 1990, each year an increasing number of galleries, theatres, artist groups and individuals have participated in a vast array of commemorative events.

Day without Art celebrates the lives of colleagues and friends while mourning their loss in our creative communities.

Dec 1, 2011 DWA activities/commemorations include: gallery closings; shroudings of art; special art exhibitions; distribution of commemorative pins and handbills;
announcements on CJAM 99.1 fm; information campaigns; charitable contributions; and a joint World AIDS Day / Day Without Art public candlelight vigil at 7:00 pm at the Art Gallery of Windsor. The 2011 Windsor Day Without Art Collective are:

AIDS Committee of Windsor
Arts Council Windsor & Region
Artcite Inc.
Backroom Artists’ Collectives
Broken City Lab
CJAM Radio 99.1 fm
Common Ground Gallery
Made in Windsor
Media City Festival
Nobel Peace Project
U of W School Of Dramatic Art
U of W School of Visual Arts
U of W Visual Arts Society
Windsor’s Community Museum
Windsor Endowment for the Arts
Windsor Pride
Windsor Printmakers Forum
Windsor Symphony Orchestra

Please join the AIDS Committee of Windsor, the Art Gallery of Windsor
and the Windsor Day Without Art Collective in celebrating the lives of our
beloved friends and colleagues at a joint World AIDS Day / Day Without Art
Candlelight Vigil at 7:00 pm on December 1 at the Art Gallery of Windsor, 401 Riverside Dr. West, Windsor, ON.

Refreshments will be served; admission to the the vigil is FREE and open to all.

All are welcome!

For more information, download the poster: DWA poster 2011

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Tonight! CBC Windsor Hosting a Town Hall Meeting on Youth Retention

This might, or might not, actually answer a question attracting and retaining recent grads in Windsor, but either way, it should be interesting viewing. Given the people set to speak, it’s quite possible that there’s going to be a lot more of the same noise (well except for Vincent Georgie, there are a lot of good things coming from his efforts at Odette), but here’s hoping there’s a chance for the conversation to open to the floor where some more expansive ideas can start to be generated. My fingers are crossed that this doesn’t turn (exclusively) into a propaganda + complaint session, but instead actually becomes a productive forum for conversation.

CBC Windsor has been asking what it is the young, tech-savvy children of the Baby Boomers are looking for in a city – and whether Windsor has what it takes to attract and keep Generation Y.

On Tuesday, November 29, we’ll be bringing those young voices together for a special town hall hosted by CBC News Windsor at 6 anchor Susan Pedler and online host Greg Layson.

Joining in the conversation are Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis, City Councillor Al Maghnieh, Vincent Georgie from the Odette School of Business, Dave Bussière from Admissions and Recruitment at the University of Windsor and Michael Lomonaco from Open Systems Technology in Grand Rapids, MI.

Our audience will be encouraged to use their mobile devices during the event to chat with Greg, tweet (#cbcwdr), respond to others’ tweets, update their Facebook status or follow CBC at www.facebook.com/cbcwindsor.

The event will be a mix of taped stories, chat, and special guest panelists.

It all happens Tuesday, November 29th at 8:00 p.m. at the Capitol Theatre.

Good on CBC Windsor for pulling this together. I’d love to see this happen on a more regular occasion (well, this being a range of off-site and issue-driven programming). I’ve asked students from my class to go, and hopefully some other BCLers will join Sara (I think she said she was going). Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it, I’m giving a workshop on grant writing at the ACWR (tonight at 7pm).

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Homework Residency: Day 1, Terms of Reference

Any report on Day 1 of our Homework Residency needs to begin with a huge welcome to all of our Artists-in-Residence. Get acquainted with everyone here!

As a preface, it’s important to note the difficulty in trying to document such an involved process with any meaningful artifacts and with such little time for reflection. Photos cannot do justice to the hours of exploratory conversations, tangents, and negotiations that took place. Nor can my attempts to record some of the overarching concerns that I picked up on appropriately document the frustrations, insights, and moments of meaningful critical engagement, do any part of the day justice.

But, to try to make this as useful as I can, there are large things that need to be framed — in particular, a way of approaching a residency that explicitly asked residents to be prepared to not tackle a pre-designed project, alongside a number of other artists. Throughout the day questions were raised around the possibilites and limits in collaboration within such a large group, the ways in which to facilitate collaboration over participation, and the terms of reference that we all bring, but need to forget about.

Today focused on tackling a set of possible directions and the ways in which 17 people might move there, together.

Continue reading “Homework Residency: Day 1, Terms of Reference”

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Homework: Conference Schedule & Presenters

After a long wait, we’re very excited to announce the (working) schedule for our upcoming conference, Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices! We’ll be updating this page with information regarding the venues shortly.

Please note that the following is subject to change, but this is what we’re planning so far:

DAY 1: October 21, 2011 at the Art Gallery of Windsor

Introducing Homework: 9am

with Justin A. Langlois, Research Director, Broken City Lab.

Panel #1: Education: 9:30am

Unpacking the artist’s role in education and beyond educational institutions, what art education does and could look like, the changing roles of student and educator, and the dissemination of knowledge through creative praxis.

Heather Davis
Stephanie Springgay
Amber Yared
Elizabeth Underhill & Stacey Sproule

Panel #2: Collaboration: 11am

Examining resistance through collaboration, models for processes and participation, collaborative possibilities across disciplines, and collaborations with communities.

Yael Filipovic
Tim Maly
Markuz Wernli Saito
Labspace Studio
Susan Gold

Panel #3: Artist-Run Infrastructure: 1:30pm

Looking at existing infrastructures accidentally and intentionally support alternative practices, borders creating opportunities and crises, role of artist-run centres as a counter infrastructures, and the motives for working creatively between infrastructures.

Sarah Margolis-Pineo
Anthea Black
Anna Lise Jensen 

Panel #4: Cities & Space: 3:00pm

Unfolding spatial pockets of everyday life, the in-betweeness of cities and engagement, uses and misuses of public spaces, the ways in which we understand place, and open-ended landscapes.

Megan Mericle
Ryan Legassicke
Catherine Campbell
Ellyn Walker
Burcu Yigit Turan
Dannys Montes de Oca

Panel #5: Collaboration at Work: 4:30pm

Featuring all Homework artists-in-residence discussing their work together over the course of the four-day residency.

Andrea Carvalho
Brennan Broome and Chloé Womack
Brett Randall Jones & Jack Forinash
Charlie Michaels
Department of Unusual Certainties
Zoe Kreye
Elliott Jocic
Immony Men
Laura Leif
Lea Bucknell
Megan Deal
Nick Tobier Ann
Rodrigo Marti
spmb
Roving Studio

Special Parallel Projects: Ongoing

Amber Landgraff – Revolting Dance Party (see info below)
Allison Rowe & Nancy Nowacek – Crouch, Touch, Engage

Keynote Panel Discussion: 7:00pm at the Art Gallery of Windsor

More details are available on our Keynote Page.

Gregory Sholette
Temporary Services
Marisa Jahn

Revolting Dance Party with Amber Landgraff: 10pm at Villain’s Beastro

The Revolting Dance Party is an ongoing project, based on Group Material’s project of  the same name, that engages with music that is focused on social and political issues. Amber Landgraff DJs the event using songs shared on sites like Youtube in order to bring social media as an act of activism back from the imaginary space of the Internet and into a physical community space.

DAY 2: October 22, 2011 at the Art Gallery of Windsor

Publication Plans: Saturday am

Homework is a four-day residency, two-day conference, and collaboratively written publication, and as such, we will utilize the morning of Day 2 to start generating content for our book, together. Details about times and locations to participate in this process will be forthcoming. However, as you already know, simply by attending, you have the opportunity to participate in the creation of this book. More soon.

Group Work: 12pm-5:00pm

Large discussion groups led by each keynote to delve into further detail around the issues being addressed throughout Homework. These Group Work sessions will address the following:

How do we support or invent the practices that are needed to respond to the economic, social, and political realities of today? How might we find solutions, inspirations, and models for a way forward through new schools, new byproducts, new practices, and new infrastructures, leading us toward a critical and novel way of integrating art with everyday life.

Group Work #1: Marisa Jahn: 12pm
Practices that embed themselves in existing infrastructures.

Group Work #2: Temporary Services: 1:30pm
Practices that invent infrastructures and infrastructural services.

Group Work #3: Gregory Sholette: 3pm
Practices that collectivize against and alongside new, old, and unimagined infrastructures.

Closing Remarks: 5pm

with Broken City Lab.

Accommodations

Group Rates

We have secured a group rate for anyone attending Homework to stay at one of three hotels in Windsor’s downtown core. If you book the room, please note that you would like the Broken City Lab Homework Conference rate. This group rate is only valid until September 19th, 2011.

Hilton Windsor: $115 per room, per night, $11 self parking per car, per night or $21 valet parking per car, per night.

Windsor Riverside Inn (formerly the Radisson): $105 per room, per night, $10 self parking per car, per night.

Travelodge Hotel: $89 per room, per night, $10 self parking per car, per night.

Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices is generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the University of Windsor’s School of Visual Arts, and our community partner the Art Gallery of Windsor.

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Accommodations & Details on Attending Homework

Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices is just two months away and we’ll be announcing a lot of information around the conference schedule and activities in the coming weeks.

First though, we wanted to post some information for those of you traveling from out of town.

Accommodations

Group Rates

We have secured a group rate for anyone attending Homework to stay at one of three hotels in Windsor’s downtown core. If you book the room, please note that you would like the Broken City Lab Homework Conference rate. This group rate is only valid until September 19th, 2011.

Hilton Windsor: $115 per room, per night, $11 self parking per car, per night or $21 valet parking per car, per night.

Windsor Riverside Inn (formerly the Radisson): $105 per room, per night, $10 self parking per car, per night.

Travelodge Hotel: $89 per room, per night, $10 self parking per car, per night.

Details on Attending

Schedule & Location:

The conference panel discussion schedule will be detailed in forthcoming posts, but as an overview: Day 1, October 21, will be made up of panel discussions from selected participants, and Day 2, October 22, will be a series of group discussions led by our Keynotes.

The conference will be held on the University of Windsor’s main campus for both days of the conference. Once we finalize our space reservation, we will send out another email noting the exact location.

Please check-in between 8:30am and 9:30am on Friday, October 21st. The conference will begin at 10am sharp.

What to Bring:

Information on your project to share with other conference goers, your passport (if you want to travel to Detroit), and a sense of curiosity. Also, feel free to bring cameras, audio, and video recorders to document the conference — we may want to include these on our website and in the pages of our Homework publication.

Transportation:

Getting to and from Windsor:

Driving is recommended if you have a vehicle and are within driving distance since Windsor is a ‘car-friendly’ town. However, there are several options besides driving:

-Windsor does have an airport, so you can fly into Windsor directly.

-From the US you can fly into Detroit and take a shuttle to Canada (check prices and availability first: http://www.courtesytransportation.com/)

-From anywhere in Canada you can also take to Via Rail, or Greyhound bus service to Windsor.

How to get around once you are here:

You can get around town by car, bicycle, or bus.

The Windsor Transit bus systems routes and schedules are available here:

http://www.citywindsor.ca/000600.asp

Car rental (inexpensive on weekends):

http://www.enterpriserentacar.ca/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?gpbr=C111&bid=004&cnty=CA

Crossing the Border:

If you want to cross the border, you will need your passport. There is a tunnel bus that departs from Transit Windsor’s downtown terminal that’s quite convenient if you need / want to cross the border.

And finally, make sure you register to attend: http://www.brokencitylab.org/homework/attending-homework-is-free/

Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices is generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the University of Windsor’s School of Visual Arts, and our community partner the Art Gallery of Windsor.

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Attending Homework is Free!

HOMEWORK: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices is four-day residency, two-day conference, and collaboratively-written publication aimed at generating conversation around the following:

  • alternative infrastructures,
  • radical collaboration,
  • social practice,
  • art implicated in social change,
  • neighbourhood-level activities,
  • city-wide imaginations,
  • site-specific curiosities,
  • tactical resistance,
  • new models for art education and research.

Facilitated by Broken City Lab, HOMEWORK calls on artists, scholars, writers, thinkers, and doers interested in any of the above to join us in Windsor, Ontario for the conference on October 21 and October 22, 2011.

Registration to attend the conference is free and by attending you will be participating in the creation of a collaboratively written publication of the proceedings from the conference.

REGISTER TO ATTEND THE HOMEWORK CONFERENCE BELOW:

Continue reading “Attending Homework is Free!”