handheld spring 2012
board of directors
PRESIDENT LON A. PARKER • VICE PRESIDENT Cori Stent treasurer Andrea mann • secretary sigrid mahr directors Lydia karpenko • Lia rogers • Brad struble
staff
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Peter Curtis Morgan emadmin@emmedia.ca ProgramS & Outreach Coordinator Vicki Chau programming@emmedia.ca Production Coordinator KYLE WHITEHEAD production@emmedia.ca
production committee
HEAD OF COMMITTEE Eric becker NOEL BÉGIN • Philip bowen • Ramin Eshrashi-YazdI • Carl spencer • Adam tindalE
programming committee
HEAD OF COMMITTEE LIA ROGERS NOel BÉGIN • Joshua fraser • Jennifer McVeigh • GRANT POIER HANDHELD Media Arts MAGAZINE IS DESIGNED AND COMPILED BY Vicki chau EDITOR Jennifer McVeigh PRINTED IN CANADA BY burntdog communications Cover Photo By Aran wilkinson-blanc • "DERISORY SYNCRETIC ENTRAINMENT LABORATORY (D.S.E.L.) at Art's birthday 2012" facilitated by joshua fraser, carl spencer and kyle whitehead HANDHELD MEDIA ARTS MAGAZINE WELCOMES submissions of ARTICLES ON MEDIA ARTS RELATED SUBJECTS. AN HONORARIUM IS PAID. EMMEDIA RESERVES THE RIGHT TO EDIT OR OMIT ANY SUBMITTED ITEMS. HANDHELD MEDIA ARTS MAGAZINE ISSN 1925-6280 SUBSCRIPTION RATEs INDIVIDUALS $10 / YR • INSTITUTIONS $15 / YR NEXT DEADLINES SEPT 1 2012 + MAR 1 2013 • NEXT RELEASE DATES OCT 2012 + APR 2013
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REACH ARTISTS, PRODUCERS, GALLERIES AND MEDIA CENTRES ACROSS CANADA IN HANDHELD MEDIA ARTS MAGAZINE. all bookings and FURTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT RATES OR AD EXCHANGES FOR NON-PROFIT ARTS CENTRES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO VICKI CHAU AT programming@emmedia.ca WELL BEFORE THE RELEASE DEADLINES above. RATES • BLACK & WHITE ( we accept High quality jpeg, tiff, or pdf files at 300 dpi) 1X 2X SIZE wxh $30 $50 1/4 PAGE 2.4375” x 3.9375” $60 $100 1/2 PAGE 5” x 3.9375” $120 $175 FULL PAGE 5” x 8” EMMEDIA GALLERY & PRODUCTION SOCIETY IS A NON-PROFIT MEDIA ARTS ORGANIzATION THAT PROVIDES EQUIPMENT, TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND PROGRAMS FOR INDEPENDENT VIDEO, AUDIO AND MULTI-MEDIA ARTISTS / PRODUCERS. EMMEDIA’S INITIATIVES EMPHASIZE THE DIVERSITY OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA ARTS PRACTICES. OUR SUPPORT EXTENDS BEYOND VARIOUS GENRES OF VIDEO TO ENCOMPASS ARTISTS EXPLORING DIVERSE FORMS OF TIME-BASED ART INCLUDING INSTALLATION, NEW MEDIA AND ELECTRONICS, PERFORMANCE, ANIMATION, AUDIO AND WEB-BASED WORKS.
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table of contents EMMEDIA News
Member News
Resonating in the Community
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EMMEDIA PROGRAMMING
Public Domain: The Sisyphean Feat of Accessing Canada’s Archived Footage
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• by Simone Keiran
Rousing Dormant Technology: Reflections on D.S.E.L. (Derisory Syncretic Entrainment Laboratory)
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• by Carl Spencer
A Question of Resonance: Preserving Our Media Arts Heritage
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• by Kevin Allen
CALL FOR WRITERS: EMMEDIA Publications
EMMEDIA IS SUPPORTED THROUGH ASSISTANCE FROM THE CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS, THE ALBERTA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, CALGARY ARTS DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA, WEBCORE LABS, PRIVATE AND CORPORATE DONATIONS, OUR MEMBERS, ARTISTS and PRODUCERS, VOLUNTEERS, AND THE CALGARY COMMUNITY.
Black
CMYK
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A crowd anticipates the lighting of the cake at Art's Birthday 2012.
As usual, the past few months have seen the work of numerous EMMEDIA members resonate throughout the community.
and Lia Rogers. BYOB took place at the Hillhurst Community Centre and is based on an idea conceived by Berlin-based artist Rafaël Rozendaal.
Featuring a cast of intriguing archetypal characters, Sandra Vida’s installation Holding Pattern will be at the EPCOR CENTRE’s Ledge Gallery until April 21, 2012.
Vicki Chau organized Pin Up!: A group exhibition exploring feminism, sexuality and pop culture at Untitled Art Society February 1-4, 2012. The show included the work of members Brian Batista, Andrea Mann, Alex Moon, and Peter Curtis Morgan.
Lydia Karpenko's work was part of Quickdraw Animation’s Animated City. Her piece Soft City was projected on the wall of TEATRO Restaurant as part of the GIRAF Animation Festival in November 2011. In February 2012, Karpenko's sculptural installation, Touch Me and I will Forget was showcased in Stride Gallery's + 15 window at the EPCOR CENTRE.
Kyle Whitehead’s film Four Vignettes played at the Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society’s Gallery of Alberta Media Arts (GAMA) at EPCOR CENTRE back in November of 2011.
Field Lab, an installation by Alex Moon, was presented as part of Cereal Gen in September 2011. The exhibition was one in a series of Food-themed projects organized by the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery. The piece was previously programmed at the Red Deer Museum as part of the Farm Show series (Seeding).
Our media arts community would like to say goodbye to two longtime arts administrators and wish them luck in their new endeavors! Erin Belanger, Quickdraw Animation Society’s Project Director and Melanie Wilmink, Programming Coorindator at Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers, have both left their mark on the media arts in Calgary and they will be missed.
On Febuary 11, 2012, Bring Your Own Beamer Calgary (BYOB), organized by Rick Silva and Justin Waddell, featured many EMMEDIA members, including Joel Farris, Teresa Tam, Adam Tindale
EMMEDIA Board Member and artist Andrea Mann, and her husband Marco Pringle are expecting a baby! The Board and Staff at EMMEDIA would like to congratulate them on the happy news!
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Since May 2011, EMMEDIA has been honoured to host Noel Bégin in the role of EManimenteur. T he EManimenteur interacts with staff, members and artistproducers working on-site. The role is a nurturing and inspiring one, where the resident offers critical analysis and feedback for artists in the community. Bégin met with numerous local artists, participated in many EMMEDIA events and mentored participants in our Production Access Program. During his months at EMMEDIA, Bégin inf luenced, motivated and challenged many artists in their practices. The members, staff and board of EMMEDIA would like to thank him for his hard work and dedication. He will be missed in the role. The EManimenteur residency will continue for a third year, starting in May 2012 with another senior artist who will inspire both creation and discourse around the media arts in our community. Noel Bégin is an interdisciplinary artist and time-based media curator, working spatially with objects, all manner of projected media, and performance. Noel has exhibited and/ or curated installation, performance, and media art with the Art Gallery of Calgary, the Glenbow Museum, Banff Centre, the Mountain Standard Time Performative Arts Festival, the Art City Festival and EMMEDIA. Noel received an Alberta Creative Development Initiative grant in 2009, and has served on the boards and committees of numerous artist-run centres in Calgary.
EMMEDIA members celebrate the holidays at the EM XMAS Party.
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The Sisyphean Feat of Accessing Canada’s Archived Footage A still from Gennaro de Pasquale’s Vortex (12:08 min). Courtesy of the artist.
By simone keiran
A vault of recorded f lotsam, the Film and Broadcasting department of Library and Archives Canada (LAC) stores footage that has existed almost since Confederation itself. Most of this material has never been seen in public. These evocative moving pictures of our nation’s people, places, activities and ideas can provide inspiration and raw material for contemporary artists, as much of the footage exists within the public domain, listed as clear of copyright restrictions and free for all Canadians to use.
images and how they are used, specifically in investigating Library and Archives as gatekeepers,” explained Penny McCann, director of SAW gallery, during a recent interview. “We wanted to take the opportunity to crack open the treasure chest, to demystify the process, to enable artists to create new and original works with archived footage.” When asked about Public Domain’s most effective discoveries and biggest roadblocks, McCann unpacked a number of patiencegrinding impediments.
But is this national resource truly free and truly clear? SAW Gallery, an artist-run “Any artist with a budget can get these centre located in Ottawa, took LAC for a images. If they’ve got ‘lotsa bucks’, they spin. SAW commissioned a jury-selected can plunk money at this stuff and get it group of mid-career Canadian artists to straight from the National Film Board produce Public Domain, a collection of six (NFB) or stock footage companies, and videos using selections of LAC footage. that’s it. They’re done. What we wanted The compilation screened at EMMedia to investigate was how to retrieve and use on October 14th, 2011, as part of a North these images from the Archives themselves, American tour. since that’s the resource most artists can afford to use. It’s supposed to be free.” “We wanted to engage in the broader conversation about appropriations of “It’s not. There are restrictions — donor 4
restrictions, process restrictions, access restrictions, expense restrictions, time restrictions — and the process is daunting and laborious and far. We wanted to demonstrate what was necessary in order to preview the work and gain access to it.”
Artists must preview footage in person at the main LAC building on Wellington Street in Ottawa, a process that involves time and expense. Before booking f lights and hotels, however, artists must first ensure that LAC has digital preview copies available. If not, they need to be produced, taking an unspecifiable time depending on LAC’s scheduled commitments and priorities. Unfortunately, the vast majority of LAC’s collection has yet to be digitized.
First, like spelunking for lost Arks in a Spielberg movie, artists must plug strings of complicated, arbitrary and confusing search criteria into computers. LAC lists well over 1,500 unedited amateur films in all formats, from every Canadian region. “SAW was well-situated for this project,” Many date from the early 20th century, McCann explained. “Because of where hence are open to free use. we’re located, we were able to house artists and assist them based on our past dealings “Take a wild guess where we came across with the LAC. It’s a long process. We really one of Canada’s first pornographic movies?” had to organize the artists and let them McCann observed wryly, at a question and know the time involved, especially the pace answer session after the Calgary screening. at which they’d get their footage so they (It was filed under “recreation”.) could create their work within our time frame. It ate up a lot more time than they In an essay from the exhibition catalogue expected.” for Public Domain, Caroline Forcier Holloway, LAC’s Film and Broadcasting In addition to digitization, copyright is archivist, defended the LAC file-search another hurdle artists must overcome. directories and suggested artists enter Just because the copyright on footage has “clear of copyright” first. To be fair, footage lapsed, does not mean that it is free to use. often defies categorization. Steve Reinke’s According to Sarah Cook’s essay “SBJDSC”, contribution to Public Domain, Not Torn for the Public Domain catalogue, LAC (Asunder from the Very Start) includes a does not record the death of donors to its gem of Canadiana: children and adults in collection, or track their heirs. This policy bunny costumes hopping around footlights. places an almost insurmountable onus Where would someone file this? on artists to identify and locate possible
A still from Sara Angelucci's The Beauty Pageant News (8:47 min). Courtesy of the artist
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A still from Library and Archives Canada Public Domain Reels Documenting Spots of Beauty and Interest in Ontario and Quebec Sometime Ago Remixed Today (VCRS): 19752010 (3:00 min) by Ryan Stec and Véronique Couillard. Courtesy of the artists.
owners in order to obtain consent. Once confirmed free and clear, usable copies of footage still take about ten weeks to produce. Footage may be unavailable due to copyright issues, but its use can also be restricted by the government agencies that collectively own it – the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the National Film Board of Canada and LAC. Cook makes the point that “The archives could have been less strict and released more material, were their resources not eaten up with government-issued directives or commercial interests concerning what gets digitized (or preserved) and what doesn’t.”i Government ministries may restrict access for security reasons, but the preference extended to the CBC is less reasonable. The CBC denied Reinke access to its material for his project, and McCann points the finger at stock sales, a key money maker.“If the LAC’s role is to be a repository for the whole country, then who owns these images? Is it the people who paid for them, whose tax dollars funded them? Shouldn’t these images be free to all private Canadians? Donor restrictions on LAC collections should not come from another national institution!” Archival material does not always readily fulfill artistic objectives either. Gennaro de Pasquale’s Vortex (12:08 min.), which 6
plays upon past, present and future with looped, rewound and superimposed images and Suzan Vachon’s evocative visual poem, chant (dans les muscules du chant) (23:32 min.), deliberately incorporate fading and damaged images for texture, but many artists require higher quality footage. Maureen Bradley’s Beyond the Pale (16:00 min.) evolved around a pre-existing narrative about her ancestor’s incarceration in a mental institution. Footage of circa 1890s mental patients, however, was unobtainable. Not because LAC refused access, but because it probably never existed. LAC’s archives overf low with “Royal visits, political pomp, and parades,” writes Bradley, because that is what filmmakers recorded, not inauspicious inmates or poverty-stricken immigrants. So the artist improvised, including scenes clipped from fictional films and a 1917 US Army STD-prevention reel called The End of the Road.ii Forced to adapt fictional images, Bradley documented society’s complicity in silencing those it oppresses through omission. In contrast, Sara Angelucci used the material she found in a way that kept its original meaning intact. Images from a circa-1950 beauty pageant inspired her to interview the original winner for her piece The Beauty Pageant News (8:47 min.). The interview, spliced with paternalistic 1950s
radio commentary, forms the soundtrack to the video. The pageant’s context is further illustrated with footage of cattle pens from the same trade exposition where the pageant was held. Angelucci documents abhorrent attitudes by showing how things were, unadorned and unvarnished. Ryan Stec’s and Véronique Couillard’s Library and Archives Canada Public Domain Reels Documenting Spots of Beauty and Interest in Ontario and Quebec Sometime Ago Remixed Today (3:00 min.), straddled this dichotomy, starting “in media res” with pre-existing footage of early Canadian industrial sites, shipyards and rail lines. The artists chose to represent these images as their diametric opposite, turning prosaic wastes into an ironic travelogue. Most of the found footage used in Public Domain has not been seen in public since its creation. Although it was timeconsuming, laborious and expensive to produce, the project allowed artists to bring attention to Library and Archives Canada as an underutilized resource, revealing its advantages and limitations. It is up to Canada’s new media artists to decide if this process is worthwhile. Public Domain continues touring throughout eastern Canada and the USA. See www.sawvideo.com for more details.
Simone Keiran has been publishing critical art essays, reviews and commentaries for the past fifteen years and is a member of the ARTiCAL Collective Critical Discourse group in Calgary. Her writing has appeared in the Kootenay Gallery of Arts, History and Science, and the Maritime Museum of British Columbia. She was a regular writer for ARTiculate: Journal of Arts and Culture in the Columbia-Kootenay Basin, and has published in Route 3, Harrowsmith Country Life, Avenue, and Porch magazines. Her book, A Brief History of Western Sculpture, published by Quantum Books, was released at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair. Her background is in music, art, film, antiquities and cultural properties. She has travelled extensively, and makes her online home at simonekeiran.com.
i Cook, Sarah. “SBJDSC“ in Public Domain, SAW Video 2011, p. 19. ii Op. cit., p. 34. Even when footage is free and clear, it does not follow that it should be used. Bradley speculated that one scene (http://vimeo.com/13989016) involving extras within The End of the Road may have depicted actual footage of institutionalized female patients, as the plain, blunt naturalism of their performances stood in stark contrast to the melodrama of the professional actors. Although their identities remained unconfirmed because they were never credited, mental patients of that era were given no rights of refusal or privacy, so Bradley decided against exploiting their images.
A still from Maureen Bradley's Beyond the Pale (16:00 min). Courtesy of the artist.
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1 Cori Stent, Lia Rogers and Jennifer McVeigh are all smiles at the EM XMAS Party. 2 Kyle Whitehead and Leanne Zakotuk have drinks at the EM XMAS Party. 3 Jim Goertz, Grant Poier, and Kenny Doren hang out at the EM XMAS Party. 4 Joel Farris and Peter Morgan get the food ready for the EM XMAS Party. 5 Cori Stent helps the girls light the birthday cake at Art's Birthday 2012. 6 Alex Moon and Wednesday Lupypciw are have fun at the EM XMAS Party. 7 Xstine Cook looks on as Sharon Stevens gives her speech at the Conspiracy Against Cancer fundraiser, a part of her curated program Connective: A screening of Feminist Video Art by Canadian Women.
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8 Vicki Chau and Jennifer McVeigh launch the GRAIN anthology at Art's Birthday 2012. 9 Kimberly Cooper and Peter Morgan are all hugs at the EM XMAS Party. 10 Kyle Whitehead and Joshua Fraser set up their D.S.E.L. installations at Art's Birthday 2012. 11 Brian Batista and Grant Poier try to figure out how to decorate their party hats at Art's Birthday 2012. 12 Lon Parker poses with the winner of The Dorkbot Confrontation at Art's Birthday 2012. 13 Kyle Whithead sets up his projectors for his Soundasaurus performance at the EPCOR CENTRE. 14 EMMEDIA information booth in the lobby of the Engineered Air Theatre for the Soundasaurus Festival.
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Reflections on D.S.E.L. (DERISORY SYNCRETIC ENTRAINMENT LABORATORY) Josh Fraser calibrates his installation. Photo by Aran Wilkinson-Blanc.
By Carl Spencer
Like most technology today, which is confined to simplified digital platforms, the physical materiality of the artistic process is increasingly obscured by sleek interfaces and software upgrades. 1/4" audio and videotape are a distant memory for many. What vestiges remain of these formats generally recall their unwieldy nature to break down, as well as the complication of storage and machine maintenance. Film has suffered the same fate, albeit at a slower rate. Small formats like Super 8 cling to life among a selected few users who struggle with fewer processing facilities and increasing costs associated with shooting on film. Despite these factors, artists continue to work with these media, not with any sense of practicality, but rather in an effort to achieve outcomes that diverge from the standardization of digital formats. The D.S.E.L. performance, facilitated by Josh Fraser and Kyle Whitehead and I as part of EMMEDIA’s 2012 Arts Birthday celebration, attempted to address the characteristics that remain within obsolete technologies, and how they might be exploited as a means of experiential invest igat ion. Re - conte x t ua lizing projectors, televisions and tube cameras gave us the ability to examine these objects as cultural artifacts, and as catalysts for new possibilities through investigative processes. 10
Upon entering the darkened screening room, Kyle Whitehead’s Circles of Confusion is one of the first pieces visible. Two Technicolor Magi-Cart projectors - a marginalized 1970s cartridge film format are repurposed to explore dualities between sound and light. Optical Theremins connected to the projectors provide a soundtrack that responds to light patterns on the hand-processed film. The result is a sound collage that varies between the low drones of sine wave oscillators when the film is dark, to high-pitched frequencies when the film is brightest. The projectors and film are not in sync, and as a result, the ways in which the imagery and sound juxtapose with one another vary during each performance. In this work, Whitehead counters the notion of synchronized digital imagery, instead opting for an exploration of indeterminate values and outcomes directly related to a physical machine’s fallible traits. All of the works in D.S.E.L. distance themselves from digital media through a transparency of process – displaying, rather than concealing the components and circuitry that make them work. In Josh Fraser’s piece, the wires quite literally lay bare. Exposed electrical cables connect a series of security cameras aimed toward television monitors. The resulting video feed is directly linked to Fraser’s careful consideration of physical camera
orientation. It should be noted, however, that this approach does not attempt to place emphasis exclusively on the physical objects or their generative outcomes. Rather, it is the combination of both that becomes the focus of the work. Had the physical components been concealed, or if the video had been displayed by itself, the essential element of real-time processing would have been negated, along with much of the work’s poignancy. My own experiments as a part of D.S.E.L. addressed participatory aspects of readapted technologies. A chair is placed a few feet in front of a black and white monitor. The image displayed on screen is hard to discern, yet it is apparent that the act of sitting affects the visual outcome. As video loops repeat, any object placed between the camera and monitor can affect the patterns on screen. The gestural movement of a hand between these devices infinitely repeats itself, forming new combinations of projected geometric patterns. Through the active exploration of body movements while seated, the participant comes to realize that the video is derived from a microscopic camera located behind their head. Skin and hair appear from unusual perspectives and at a greatly magnified scale, producing images difficult for viewers to recognize as their own bodies. Here, the viewer’s participation is essential to understanding how the technology functions and what divergences might arise out of these reconfigured systems of observation. The act of sitting is essential, not only for the viewer’s reading of the work,
but also to the function of the work itself. If no one sits, there is no image. There is a cohesive ideology among all of the works in D.S.E.L. On the surface, all three works blend images and sound in a hyperactive, multi-sensory collage that can be overwhelming. Upon further inspection however, an overarching theme comes to light. Within the performance space, there is little emphasis placed on ownership, division between works or an organized, linear path for participants to follow through the installations. With lines between artist and spectator blurred, the project is intended as a collaboration among individuals, as both facilitators and participants. In the spirit of Art’s Birthday, an eternal network is formed. Though its reach may not be global, the ethos of realtime experimentation and exchange is essential to the project. There is an exciting tangibility to an approach that incorporates little delay between action and outcome. The collaborative nature of D.S.E.L. gives rise to a sense of possibility that increases exponentially with each new configuration of the laboratory. This work allowed us, as artists to ask: What potentialities lie dormant within technology that that is often overlooked? What discoveries might reveal a diverse range of generative outcomes and kinesthetic exchange? The possibilities seem endless. Carl Spencer is a recent graduate of the MFA program at the University of Calgary, where he currently instructs electronics and interactivity in the Department of Art.
Kyle Whitehead's optical Theremin. Photo by Aran Wilkinson-Blanc.
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Preserving Our Media Arts Heritage Magnetic Min(e/d), EMMEDIA's library and resource centre.
By Kevin Allen
Nostalgia is an ancient Greek word that means the pain of homecoming. Pain, perhaps, because home is always changed by time - the first use of the term was as the title of a lost poem describing the return of Greek soldiers from the Trojan war.i Although contemporary culture has imbued the word with whimsy and sweetness, we as artists would do well to remember the pain at the heart of its origin. There is a tragedy unfolding today as media arts treasures from our recent past erode. All across Alberta – in artists’ basements, video co-ops and various libraries – collections of media art are aging poorly, and in some cases becoming irretrievable. Creating media art can be a daunting task. Often, so much of the artist’s resources go into production that there is little left over for distribution and promotion. What then of preservation? Are these artworks going to survive one generation, or several? Will it be possible for the works of today to resonate in the future? The Alberta Media Arts Alliance (AMAAS) defines media art as: independent, artistinitiated and controlled use of film, video, new media, audio and related media. It is 12
a relatively new art form. Motion picture film is just over a century old, and video art practice emerged in earnest in the 1980s. Due to the youth of the sector, there has only been preliminary work on issues of acquisition and preservation of this kind of art. Media art is mediated by technology, and as such it creates complications for artists to trying to keep their work alive, as well as for public institutions considering beginning or maintaining a collection. The ideal format for acquisition and preservation, versus the needs of exhibition, may be different. Moreover, technological innovation has the potential to make video and digital formats obsolete over relatively short timeframes. Many in the media arts community know the importance of saving work from the ravages of time, but the task is so daunting that no one knows where to begin. Let me assure you that the responsibility is shared. Individual artists, media arts organizations like EMMEDIA and AMAAS, as well as public institutions, all have work to do. Baby steps now, from everyone, will create real benefits in the future for the heritage of our art form.
In the summer of 2011, AMAAS, Among video, Betacam SP or Digital in partnership with the Calgary Betacam is currently thought to be the Cinematheque Society and Metro best preservation format. If you have work Cinema (Edmonton), published a report sitting on MiniDV or 3/4” U-matic tapes, by researcher Michele Wozny on the you may want to consider transferring state of media arts collections in Alberta. them to one of these more stable materials. The document is downloadable at www. amaas.ca and contains dozens of useful Transferring work to preserve it is called hyperlinks to further resources.ii “migration” and involves creating a new master copy in the new format. For the One of the report’s most urgent process to be a success, it is essential to recommendations is for us to get our tapes facilitate the best possible transfer in and films under physical control. At the terms of image and audio quality. most basic, this means storage for media art has to be cool, dark, clean and dry. Vtape, a video distributor and artist-run centre located in Toronto, is a leader in tape Each media format has its own perfect restoration and migration services. For a storage temperature, which is generally fee, they can work with historic formats as cold. The ideal environment for most varied as: 1/2” open reel, 1” open reel, 3/4” videotapes is a constant 30 percent relative U-matic, VHS, SVHS, Betamax, video 8, humidity with a temperature between Hi8 or Digital 8. They have also published 10-20°C. immensely useful best practice guides for artists and organizations, with regard Although it is unlikely that one has a to video preservation, available at www. room in a home or office that is kept vtape.org. below 15°C, consistent temperature is the most important consideration for your With advances in computer technology storage space. In addition, high humidity and the widespread digital delivery of film can cause mould and fungus damage to and video, many believe that the ultimate both video and film. A vinegar-like smell migration strategy is to keep media art on coming from tapes or films indicates hard drives. However, just as tape formats you have a problem, and you may have have changed frequently in the last 30 to quarantine your sick ones to prevent years, digital playback formats change contamination. even faster. Furthermore, hard drives likely have a shorter lifespan than many Not all formats are created equal when tapes. Consequently, cautious artists will it comes to longevity. Celluloid tends still have their work saved as an object. to be much more durable than video.
Michele Wozny presents her report on the Media Arts Collection Research Study at the 2011 AMAAS Conference.
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When considering digital storage solutions for your work, make sure you transfer materials with as little compression as possible. DVDs are a problem here because of their low image quality and unreliable nature, in terms of both storage and playback. No matter what format you choose, always make sure to have a back up. You may also want to consider partnering with a public or non-profit organization to preserve your work. Videopool,iii a media artist-run distributor in Winnipeg, has a climate controlled storage vault for video. EMMEDIA has a significant video collection, and has in the last year been investigating improvements to their storage environment, in addition to assessing their collection for damage. The Provincial Archives of Alberta also has a vault with the appropriate conditions for media art storage. Currently they house part of the collection of Edmonton’s film and video co-op, FAVA. Perhaps there is an opportunity for organizations such as EMMEDIA to house parts of their collections there as well.
formats, rather than unique objects like paintings, this can be tricky. It is not impossible however. Talk to EMMEDIA staff for both tips and direction. EMMEDIA is one of the artist-run centres in Canada leading the charge for the preservation of media art. You need to do your part as well: keep informed, stay connected and make art that deserves to be collected and preserved. Kevin Allen is Executive Director of the Alberta Media Arts Alliance (AMAAS). A professional arts administrator who has been active in the media arts since 1996, he has been a dedicated volunteer in the cultural community, and continues this work today. He helped found several organizations, including Fairy Tales Film Festival, Mountain Standard Time, Movies that Matter, the Calgary Cinematheque Society, and the Reel Canadian Film Festival (Fernie, B.C.).
i “Nostalgia”, Oxford English Dictionary, Third edition, September 2008; online version December 2011. ii
Finally, AMAAS has been talking with the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) to advocate for adding media art to the Provincial Art Collection. One part of the Collection’s mandate is to collect and preserve Alberta art in perpetuity for future generations. At present, the Collection is almost entirely visual art-based, however, staff managing it acknowledged the media arts deficit at AMAAS’ collection report presentation to the AFA in June 2011. The AFA posts an annual call to purchase art for the collection at http://www.affta. ab.ca/art-collection.asp. I encourage you, as media artists to apply. A challenging part of this process may be the need to determine a value for your work. Because much media art exists in reproducible 14
http://www.amaas.ca/publications/collections-study
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http://videopool.typepad.com
EMMEDIA presents
Expanded Standard Time LINE Artists and Electronic Media in Calgary | EMMEDIA 1980 through 2005...
EDITED BY | Grant Poier Essays + Contributions by
Tom Andriuk | Kay Burns | Brigitte Dajczer | Nelson Henricks Vern Hume | Karen Knights | Valerie LeBlanc | Robert Milthorp Sarah Murphy | Grant Poier | Leila Sujir | Sheila Urbanoski Sandra Vida | Andrea Williamson
A story about artists creating an electronic media access and production centre: a place to make art and community. AVAILABLE NOW
Book Only $30.00 + GST and shipping Book with DVD (Limited Edition) $40.00 + GST and shipping To purchase this publication, please contact:
EMMEDIA Gallery & production SOciety #203, 351 – 11th Avenue SW. Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2R 0C7 Phone: 403.263.2833 Fax: 403.232.8372 programming@emmedia.ca www.emmedia.ca
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Call for Writers:
EMMEDIA Publications
Upcoming proposal deadlines: HANDHELD Media Arts Magazine (Fall 2012) – Sept 1, 2012 Anthology of Critical Texts (Resonance) – TBA We are always seeking new writers, emerging, established, or in-between, for publications and essays to accompany EMMEDIA programming exhibitions and events. We are interested in writing that addresses emergent media arts practices and places them in a critical context. We accept unsolicited proposals for exhibition reviews, book reviews, feature articles and interviews that are relevant to EMMEDIA and/or the media arts community. Before submitting, please visit our website to familiarize yourself with the content EMMEDIA publishes. Your writing could appear in any of our publications, including the bi-annual Handheld Media Arts Magazine and an annual anthology of critical texts based on the programming theme of the year. EMMEDIA is committed to paying each of its contributors a fee, dependent on the publication. For more information on Handheld Magazine or our annual anthology of critical texts, please visit our website at www.emmedia.ca All submissions should include: a. Proposal – be as specific as possible about topics, artists, works, exhibitions, and/or event to be covered. OR b. Completed submission – minimum 500 words in a word document (.doc) that is MAC compatible. PLUS - A resume/cv including a list of published works when applicable. - 2 examples of your writing. - A 2-3 sentence biography explaining your artistic background and interests. Please mail submissions to: c/o Vicki Chau, Programs & Outreach Coordinator EMMEDIA Gallery & Production Society #203, 351 – 11 Ave. SW Calgary, AB T2R 0C7 or email to: programming@emmedia.ca with subject line: EMMEDIA writer application
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ESSAYS INCLUDE: BREATHING LIFE INTO THE LIFELESS THROUGH VIDEO: Two Selections From Emmedia’s Canola Oil Compression Camp by Simone Keiran EATING YOUR SHARE: Rita McKeough’s The Lion’s Share
by Vicki Chau
THE ART OF A PARTY: BBBS/ABCC and Art’s Birthday 2010 by Vanessa McLachlan THE CHALLENGE OF LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS: Red Rover by Lia Rogers COLLABORATION IN A PRAIRIE DOWNPOUR: Mark Lowe’s BIN 15 by Shawn Dicey THE CITY WE ONCE KNEW: Vera Frenkel’s Once Near Water
by Tomas Jonsson
POP-UP GALLERIES AND DIY EXHIBITION SPACES IN CALGARY: A Vital and Continuing History by Mohammad Rezaei INTO THE LIGHT: Sans façon’s Limelight
by Kay Burns
COMMUNITY AND COMING OF AGE IN CALGARY by Bogdan Cheta
GRAIN
EMMEDIA ANTHOLOGY OF CRITICAL TEXTS 2010/2011
EDITED BY JENNIFER MCVEIGH
NOW ON SALE FOR $15 + GST CONTACT US FOR MORE DETAILS AT PROGRAMMING@EMMEDIA.CA
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$ 3.50 ISSN 1925-6280 CALGARY, ALBERTA