Particle + Wave Festival Guide 2012

FESTIVAL GUIDE

FESTIVAL INFO ALL EVENTS ARE “PAY WHAT YOU CAN” EXCEPT: FESTIVAL CLOSING CELEBRATION AT THE LEGION • $7 (Tickets sold at the door) *Only $5 for EMMEDIA members, seniors and students with ID

FESTIVAL VENUES

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EMMEDIA GALLERY & PRODUCTION SOCIETY 351 11 Avenue SW, 2nd Floor, Suite #203

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UNTITLED ART SOCIETY SATELLITE GALLERY 343 11 Avenue SW, Basement

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JOHN DUTTON THEATRE - CENTRAL LIBRARY 616 Macleod Trail SE

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CENTRAL MEMORIAL PARK 1221 2 Street SW

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ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION #1 BRANCH 116 7 Avenue SE 6 AVE SW

6 AVE SE

1 ST SE 10 AVE SE

11 AVE SW

11 AVE SE 3 ST SE

10 AVE SW

2 ST SW

2

3 ST SE

CENTRE ST S

9 AVE SE

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD

1 ST SW

4 ST SW

5 ST SW

9 AVE SW

8 AVE SE

12 AVE SW

12 AVE SE

13 AVE SW

13 AVE SE

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MACLEOD TR SE

2 ST SW

3 ST SW

LINE

8 AVE SW

1

3

5

C-TRAIN

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EMMEDIA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lon A. Parker • President Andrea Mann • Treasurer Sigrid Mahr • Secretary Eric Becker • Director

Lia Rogers • Director Cori Stent • Director Brad Struble • Director

EMMEDIA STAFF Peter Curtis Morgan • Director of Operations Vicki Chau • Programs & Outreach Coordinator Kyle Whitehead • Production Coordinator Joel Farris • Archive & Outreach Assistant

EMMEDIA PRODUCTION COMMITTEE Eric Becker • Noel Bégin • Philip Bowen • Ramin EshraghiYazdi • Joshua Fraser • Carl Spencer

EMMEDIA PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE Lia Rogers • Joshua Fraser • Jennifer McVeigh • Grant Poier

2012 EMANIMENTEUR • Sandra Vida FESTIVAL GUIDE DESIGNED AND COMPILED BY • Vicki Chau FESTIVAL GUIDE PRINTED BY • Burntdog Communications FESTIVAL TRAILER BY • Peter Curtis Morgan FESTIVAL PHOTOGRAPHER • Aran Wilkinson-Blanc FESTIVAL VIDEOGRAPHER • Philip Bowen CONTACT • particlewave@emmedia.ca • 403.263.2833

EMMEDIA FUNDERS AND SUPPORTERS:

AMAAS

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

It is my pleasure to invite you to enter Particle + Wave, a festival of Media Art presented by EMMEDIA Gallery & Production Society. For over thirty years, EMMEDIA has existed in the duality of particle and wave, and the existent properties of light.

At once in motion and at rest, experiments labeled as particle or wave, phenomena that behave differently, isolated systems in battle with entropy and absolutes, falling rain to the droplet, between art and war, customs and family, sacrifice and shifts, tales from the prairies and walks through nature.

Three days from sense to nonsense, to safely(?) back. As a participant, as audience, as a voyeur, it is yours to experience.

- LON PARKER President, EMMEDIA

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MESSAGE FROM HONOURABLE HEATHER KLIMCHUK

MINISTER OF CULTURE Congratulations to the organizers and artists of Calgary’s inaugural Particle + Wave festival. The event really captures what Alberta Culture Days are all about – celebrating and expressing our province’s rich heritage and abounding creativity!

For three exceptional days in September, communities, governments, businesses, non-profit and voluntary organizations and individuals all across our province get together to showcase their talents and enjoy everything that is great about our land and people. From theatrical performances, music festivals and historical experiences to culinary events, behind-the-scenes creative industry tours and interactive activities where new artists will be born – Alberta Culture Days has something for everyone!

Culture Days is now also a national phenomenon that continues to grow exponentially every year. In Alberta, thousands of events are planned in communities all over the province. And, at its heart it remains a volunteer-driven, grassroots movement led by partners in the culture sector in collaboration with government, public funding agencies and the private sector. Culture Days are truly a testament to just how culture connects us all.

Welcome to the Particle + Wave festival, and enjoy your Alberta Culture Days!

Heather Klimchuk Minister of Culture

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MESSAGE FROM THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMMER It took us quite a while to decide on what we would name EMMEDIA’s media arts festival. It had to be something that really spoke to what EMMEDIA was all about, and make people feel excited for it. This was going to be our first time holding a festival, and with a strong reputation already in place, we didn’t want to disappoint. It was Grant Poier, one of the founders of EMMEDIA, and also an active participant on my programming committee, that struck a chord with “Particle + Wave”. Inspired by our new 2012/2013 programming theme, Light, it was a no-brainer that this was it. We decided it was about time this city had a media arts festival, and if EMMEDIA wasn’t going to hold it, who will?

For the festival, I knew there were three things I wanted to do. First of all, I wanted to activate a public space, specifically Central Memorial Park since it’s practically EMMEDIA’s backyard. Before you knew it, we rounded up 17 artists to be part of an amazing event called Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB). Imagine, the most beautiful park in the city lit up with lights and sounds from some of the most talented artists in the city. If that’s not enough to hook you in, I think a food truck or two might appear… just sayin’. Secondly, I wanted to showcase the works that have come out from EMMEDIA, made by our many talented artist-producers. Some of these works were included in this year’s Prairie Tales, which is already in its 14th year of celebrating Albertan film and video! Other works were produced in-house through our Compression Camps, all made in just several days! Some of them were made by seasoned producers, while some of them made their first video through Compression Camp. It’s amazing what people can accomplish in a short amount of time with the right resources. Lastly, I wanted to throw a party! What’s a festival without the celebration? We’ll be closing the festival with a big bang, activating the historic Royal Canadian Legion #1 Branch with screenings, installations, and of course, music and dancing!

And of course, all of this wouldn’t have happened without the ongoing love and support from the EMMEDIA board, my programming committee, my partners-incrime Kyle Whitehead, Peter Curtis Morgan and Joel Farris, our EManimenteur Sandra Vida, and all the members, funders and supporters who believed we could do this.

For such a jam-packed three-day festival, I think we did pretty okay for our first time. If you’re not familiar with what we’re all about, I hope you have a chance to really see what’s going on in the media arts community and get inspired, ignite some interest, and just have a really great time. Who knows where this will go. All I can say is when we look back, we can all say that we were there at the beginning. :)

- VICKI CHAU Programs & Outreach Coordinator, EMMEDIA 5 • WWW.EMMEDIA.CA

LUMINARIES: PRODUCTION ACCESS 2012 Now in its 29th year, EMMEDIA’s annual Production Access program has supported local emerging and established media artists in the creation of new works over an intensive four-month period, by providing access to professional production equipment, post-production facilities, hands-on training, as well as conceptual and technical mentorship. Luminaries is the culmination of the 2012 Production Access program, and I am pleased to be presenting six diverse and challenging works created by this year’s participants; Zac Slams, Matt McKinney, Kim Seung Pen, Greg Marshall, Lon Parker and Bogdan Cheta. A luminary is literally an object, a celestial body like the moon or sun, that gives off light. In context of the program, it should be understood as an individual who enlightens or influences others.

This programming year of Light marks the inaugural presentation of Particle + Wave: EMMEDIA’s festival of media arts. The exact nature of visible light is a mystery that has puzzled humanity for centuries. Greek scientists from the ancient Pythagorean discipline postulated that every visible object emits a steady stream of particles, while Aristotle concluded that light travels in a manner similar to waves in the ocean. Wave–particle duality postulates that all particles exhibit both wave and particle properties, meaning at times light behaves as a particle, and at other times as a wave. This complementary, or dual role for the behavior of light becomes a fitting metaphor for the works created by our Luminaries.

Creating works that challenge or subvert traditional modes of presentation, our Production Access participants have broken free of the screen, expanding the image and breaking the narrative. The festival has afforded us the opportunity to move away from our traditional venue, the historic Plaza Theatre, and into more intimate public and private spaces. Each of the works presented challenge accepted conventions of what constitutes Media Art in their own unique way; from Zac Slams’s gender-hacking multi-channel video installation at the Unitled Art Society’s Satellite Gallery, to Bogdan Cheta’s research-heavy exploration of relation-aesthetics, presented in the form of a 48-hour retreat. All of the works exemplify the notion of wave-particle duality by refusing to be contained or dichotomised by the tools or processes employed in their creation.

- KYLE WHITEHEAD Production Coordinator, EMMEDIA

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ISLAND NIGHT

(IF YOU’RE OPEN TO EVERYTHING, THEN EVERYTHING FITS IN THE WORLD) Affirmative attitudes towards poverty as expressed through times of change, in Calgary.

Retreat facilitators: Bogdan Cheta & Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed September 25 + 26, 2012 Retreat starts at 10AM Part of LUMINARIES: Production Access 2012 A GUIDE TO GETTING LOST: Part philosophic dialogue, part poetic reverie, part nature walk, Island Night is an extended meditation on the present – that fleeting moment occurring onceand-one-time-only in time’s vast history. Through the act and space of retreat, participants will be invited to share their expertise and form the retreat’s faculty – collectively, we will raise questions about the character of our society and the modes of artistic and cultural investigation being introduced today, to create new modes of becoming and belonging in an environment where everyone has a voice and a place. Together, the group will form a nomadic society, which values improvisation, storytelling, and silence. Through the invaluable aid of the Production Access Program, and after testing the performative processes of Island Night through alternative community project sites such as the Choose Yer Own Festival and Avalanche – for EMMEDIA, Island Night will incorporate new-media work through the use of sound and video, in relation to the walk-based research. A new book project will also be launched as part of the festival retreat, as a way to map out the sites, walks, conversations and testing in the community, that took place throughout my residency at EMMEDIA, which collectively, give Island Night the tangible possibility to be a complete and three-dimensional experience. Using new locative sound recordings collected from previous test – retreats, that transforms one’s surroundings into a virtual set, participants may observe a lightplay from car reflections, safari in jungles between residential homes and the street, and climb inside dormant houses for rest. Calgary as a city of multiplicity – of overlapping bodies, communities, laborers, cultures, languages, and gesture – is our common ground of research.

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A PRE-FESTIVAL RETREAT HOW IT WORKS: Island Night is a 48-hour retreat. As a participant, you are invited to form the retreat’s faculty, and in return we will offer free transportation, meals and accommodation. Each day of the retreat will begin with a breakfast and planning sessions. We encourage you to bring textbooks, make notes and share your knowledge.

To join us for the retreat, please RSVP your attendance by September 24, to Kyle Whitehead at production@emmedia.ca. Once you have confirmed your attendance, you will be provided with further instructions. Be prepared to improvise, speak, nap, walk, cook, listen, dream, read, hide, take charge or be passive - be ready to retreat! You are free to leave and come back at any point during the retreat, although it would be recommended if you were able & willing to disappear with us for the full two days.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Bogdan lives and works in Calgary.

His work has shown at places such as the Illingworth Kerr Gallery, TRUCK Gallery, Pith Gallery, Untitled Art Society’s Satellite Gallery, the High Performance Rodeo and more recently, EMMEDIA. Last year, he initiated a series of walk-based projects in his hometown Bucharest, Romania which led him to re-imagine possibilities within his ongoing walkbased research in Calgary. Formally, Island Night is in direct relation to the late-night walks in Bucharest, in the way that it constructs an ephemeral urban classroom through a cityʼs unexposed, internal secrets. In an aggressively unhip effort to make money, Bogdan cleans toilets at a local gym, then at night, and in secret, he builds a complex world of sculptures which are then abandoned inside parked railway trains; enabling his work the liminal possibility to travel across Canada, anonymously – like train cars dressed in graffiti. Bogdan home-schools himself to be an artist and in an effort to learn more about art, he seeks relationships with other local gay and homeless men. Gradually, these men become part of his audience and the faculty in his home-schooling program. In the future, he is planning a large-scale installation for an alternative gallery space in Calgary, which will bring Island Night into the physical realm - and in closer relation to sculpture.

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LOSING ORGANS

(HATE CRIMES N DEATH DRIVES) Zac Slams

Part of LUMINARIES: Production Access 2012 September 20 – October 3, 2012 Tuesday – Saturday @ 11AM – 4PM Untitled Art Society Satellite Gallery – 343 11 Avenue SW Reception: Thursday, September 27 @ 8 – 11PM

Zac Slams screens new all-consuming, masculinity-hacking drone video projections, trance-like castration video, sacrificial ritual video slashing, slicing, and cutting into gender coherency and sexual continuity. No names, no pronouns, no identifiers.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Zac Slams is a Calgary-based artist who assembles video projections, porno magazines, heavily edited blog posts, and Polaroids into multimedia installations. His work depicts alternatives to body hatred, maleness, and “normal” identities. This year, he has performed in the Coming Out Monologues, exhibited solo shows at the University of Calgary and Art Central, and was awarded Best Local Short for his video work at Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival. Slams’ work functions as a muddy descent into autonomy.

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FML... A POLAR BEAR STORY Matt McKinney

Part of LUMINARIES: Production Access 2012 September 20 – October 3, 2012 Tuesday – Saturday @ 11AM – 4PM Untitled Art Society Satellite Gallery – 343 11 Avenue SW Reception + Performance: Thursday, September 27 @ 8 – 11PM

This Shit’s For Reel presents FML... A Polar Bear Story. When home disappears, one family must struggle to stay alive. Coming soon to a theatre near you!

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Matt McKinney is a performing artist and owner of 2150 Creative, a small theatre and video production company. He holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Alberta, and resides in Calgary, Alberta. He recently participated in Fairy Tales and EMMEDIA’s Youth Queer Media Program. As a performer, Matt has worked with: Quest Theatre, Northern Light Theatre, Theatre Transit, Centre Stage Theatre, Studio Theatre, Improv Guild, Sage Theatre’s Ignite Festival, Soulocentric, Against the Wall Theatre, Beyond Closed Doors, Mob Hit Productions, and Mischief and Mayhem. He is looking forward to snowboarding this winter, re-working and performing his solo-show Polar Shift, and an upcoming feature film with Vision 10 Productions.

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FAMILY MEETING Wednesday Lupypciw

EMMEDIA’s 2011/2012 Artist in Residence September 20 – October 3, 2012 Monday – Saturday @ 10AM – 5PM EMMEDIA – 351 11 Avenue SW Reception: Thursday, September 27 @ 8 – 11PM

A double channel video installation that explores the concepts of family, spiritual beliefs, personality, outlook, sex, art practice, and things that she’s afraid of.

Each of these stories relate to each other because they have to, like a family, fitting inside each other like the parts of a Matryoshka doll.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Wednesday Lupypciw is from Calgary, Alberta, where she pursues a video and performance art practice. She maintains a concurrent practice in textiles weaving, machine knitting, embroidery and crochet - but this is done mostly while procrastinating on other, larger projects. One of those projects is the performance art collective, The Ladies Invitational Deadbeat Society (LIDS), a loosely knit group of purposefully lazy womenfolk. She is a Fibre programme undergraduate from the Alberta College of Art + Design, a proud auntie, and a volunteer for various artist-run initiatives. She has shown work and made projects in various spaces throughout Canada including the Textile Museum of Canada, The Art Gallery Of Alberta, TRUCK Gallery, Stride Gallery, the Klondike Institute of Arts & Culture, The Banff Centre, Harbourfront, Nuit Blanche Toronto, and EMMEDIA. www.wednesdaylupypciw.com | www.ladiesinvitationaldeadbeatsociety.com 11 • WWW.EMMEDIA.CA

PRAIRIE TALES 14 Thursday, September 27 @ 6:30 - 8PM John Dutton Theatre – 616 Macleod Trail SE Some artists will be in attendance Doors open at 6PM PWYC EMMEDIA is proud to present the Calgary premiere of Prairie Tales 14.

For 14 years, Prairie Tales has offered a selection of some of the year’s best short films and videos made by Albertan media artists in a feature-length compilation.

This anthology showcases work from the shining lights of the Alberta media arts scene, and is distributed and screened across Alberta and beyond. Prairie Tales is produced by Metro Cinema and AMAAS, with funding assistance from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

For more information on Prairie Tales, and the works listed below, visit prairietales14.blogspot.ca

SCREENING PROGRAM: C’est La Vie: The Chris J. Melynchuk Story | Various artists | Calgary | 7:00 min.

Without Them I May Have Been Blind | Peter Morgan | Calgary | 2:21 min.

Empezar, in pieces | Rosanna Terracianno | Calgary | 5:43 min.

Not Far From the Abbatoir | Kyle Thomas | Calgary | 15:00 min.

From the Farmers’ Mouth | Kevin Kossowan | Edmonton | 9:30 min.

All Round Junior Male | Lindsay McIntyre | Edmonton | 7:30 min.

Mirror | Nicole Lalonde | Lethbridge | 2:33 min.

Spirit of the Bluebird | Xtine Cook & Jesse Gouchey | Calgary | 5:49 min.

Lines for Clarinet | John Osborne | Edmonton | 4:47 min.

SCAPE | Leslea Kroll & Kyle Armstrong | Edmonton | 3:15 min.

Translate | Kari McQueen | Calgary | 3:04 min.

Finding Home | Eva Colmers | Edmonton | 11:55 min.

Why Dad MMXI | Wednesday Lupypciw | Calgary | 11:16 min.

Self-Portrait | Zoe Slusar & Bailey Kerluke | Black Diamond | 4:38 min.

The Pocket Watch | Greg Doble | Calgary | 4:47 min.

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FESTIVAL SCHEDULE EMMEDIA SCREENING ROOM

THURS

SEPTEMBER

UAS SATELLITE GALLERY

10AM - 5PM

Family Meeting Wednesday Lupypciw

27 SEPTEMBER

28 SAT

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FML... A Polar Bear Story

Matt McKinney

Opening Receptions

Family Meeting Wednesday Lupypciw

11AM - 4PM losing organs Zac Slams

11AM - 4PM FML... A Polar Bear Story

Matt McKinney

7 - 8PM

f/ash/v/itter Kim Seung Pen

10AM - 5PM

SEPTEMBER

11AM - 4PM

8 - 11PM

10AM - 5PM

FRI

11AM - 4PM losing organs Zac Slams

Family Meeting Wednesday L.

10AM - 4PM Field Rec + Edit Josh Fraser

11AM - 4PM 11AM - 4PM FML... A Polar losing organs Bear Story Zac Slams Matt McKinney

LUMINARIES

JOHN DUTTON THEATRE

FEATURED EVENTS

CENTRAL MEMORIAL PARK

WORKSHOP

PARTIES

ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION #1 BRANCH

6:30 - 8PM

Prairie Tales 14

8 - 10PM

BYOB Calgary II

6:30 - 8PM

Re.Compression 8:30 - 9PM TRENCH Lon Parker

8:30 - 9PM The War Upon Us Greg Marshall

9PM - 12AM

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F/ASH/V/ITTER Kim Seung Pen

Part of LUMINARIES: Production Access 2012 Friday, September 28 @ 7 - 8PM EMMEDIA – 351 11 Avenue SW PWYC

f/ash/v/itter is an exploration of new ways to create music. It is based on the broad concept of light as found in monitors, televisions, computers, tablets, mobile devices, and other technologies. The premise behind monitors is that they create a window of fake space that is augmented, mediated and virtual; it is essentially an imitation of reality or realities. Since our realities have become simulated with monitors, a distortion or glitch in this “reality” makes viewers aware of this simulation. Therefore, the sounds and visuals of the performance are focused on using the flaws found in technology, because it triggers a disruption in the simulation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Kim Seung Pen is a Canadian artist who received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD) in 2011. Her projects focused on audio/ visual performances and installations.

She experimented within the fields of: sound art, glitch art, experimental film, visual art, and computer art. She won the Best in Show award at ACAD’s annual performance show, The Horse Show in 2010 and 2011. After graduation, she was given opportunities to exhibit her artwork in galleries, shows, and events in Calgary, including the Sled Island Festival in June 2011, and EPCOR Centre’s Soundasaurus Festival in January 2012.

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BYOB CALGARY II Friday, September 28 @ 8 - 10PM Central Memorial Park – 1221 2 Street SW

ARTISTS INCLUDE: Noel Bégin | Steven Cottingham | Hannah Doerkson | Julia Kansas Lydia Karpenko | Joe Kelly | Tyler Los Jones | Jessica McCarrel Stephen Nachtigall | Lia Rogers | Sarah Smalik | Lindsay Sorell Carl Spencer | Teresa Tam | Justin Waddell | Kyle Whitehead Aran Wilkinson-Blanc

“BYOB is a celebration of the new world we live in and a glimpse of what computing could look like in the future. Today, the Internet is confined to screens.

Tomorrow, information will surround us, composing our surfaces, defining our spaces, enmeshing itself with the ether. A moving image is never an object, and when it is coupled with the increased flexibility of portable projection, the realm of experience quickly expands.” - Rafaël Rozendaal BYOB is an international series of one-night exhibitions featuring artists and their projectors. Originally conceived by Berlin-based artist Rafaël Rozendaal, these events have taken place in over fifty cities worldwide, involving artists of an extended and increasingly networked community. Facilitated by Justin Waddell, who co-organized the first edition of BYOB Calgary with Rick Silva, Calgary-based media artists will create a collaborative environment of moving light and sound in an outdoor public setting. For more information on BYOB, please go to www.byobworldwide.com

SPECIAL THANKS: A couple of the video projection technology you are watching at this performance has been made possible through the Calgary Foundation’s funding of a unique partnership between Ghost River Theatre and the Pumphouse Theatres. These professional-grade projectors, specifically selected to function well within a theatre setting, are being made available not only to this company but also, through the management and support of the Pumphouse Theatres, to small and mid-sized Calgary cultural institutions at an affordable rental rate. This means that this exciting but expensive new tool for theatrical production will be accessible to innovative Calgary artists, regardless of their budgets.

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INTRO TO FIELD RECORDING + EDITING: A WORKSHOP Joshua Fraser

EMMEDIA’s 2012/2013 Artist in Residence Saturday, September 29 @ 10AM - 4PM EMMEDIA – 351 11 Avenue SW PWYC LIMITED SEATS, FIRST COME FIRST SERVE Please reserve your spot by contacting Kyle Whitehead at: production@emmedia.ca or 403.263.2838 Capitalizing on the available field recording equipment at EMMEDIA, our 2012/2013 Artist in Residence Joshua Fraser, will lead this sound recording workshop, demonstrating techniques and considerations important to the practice. Topics will include introducing and clarifying the practice, brief concept development and project planning, equipment orientation, recording techniques with special attention to outdoor recording and basic audio post-production. Participants will leave the workshop with the basic understanding of the mechanics of field recording, as well as a basis for initiating their own projects.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: A multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Calgary, Joshua Fraser utilizes a broad array of methods towards his overarching goal: the codification of raw, visceral emotion. This focus has emerged from an ever increasing relationship with psychotherapy. Fascinations with human trauma and its processing (as outlined under Primal Therapy) provide the basis and framework for Fraser’s creative activity. Typically, the results are either highly energetic ‘active’ pieces, often involving aggressive, violent outbursts; or reflective and contemplative ‘static’ pieces. Fraser’s work comes together as a determined pursuit striving to uncover a underlying, unifying, ethereal thread between all participants in contemporary society.

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RE.COMPRESSION: SELECTIONS FROM THE PAST 10 YEARS Saturday, September 29 @ 6:30 - 8PM John Dutton Theatre – 616 Macleod Trail SE Some artists will be in attendance Doors open at 6PM PWYC Since 2002, EMMEDIA Compression Camps have offered local artists and members of the public, the technical and conceptual resources needed to translate ideas and concepts into short video and/or audio works. The Compression Camp format is inspired by the immediacy of electronic communications media, approximating the same-day reportage of television news networks. Participants were invited to create (over several days) works related to a chosen theme. They had free access to production equipment and support, post-production facilities, and creative mentors–senior/established media artists in the local community who provide critical feedback and inspiration along the way. The selected videos that were completed in the last 10 years, responded to the themes: Activist Menu (2002), Canola Oil (2011), and Resonance (2012).

ACTIVIST MENU (2002) The Activist Menu: Compression Camp - G8 MEDIA JAM(s) with SOCIAL POLITICS is the product of dialogue between Tom Andriuk and Grant Poier, offering artists and activists access to production and distribution technicians and equipment. With a collective goal of individual expression and voice, the Activist Menu facilitates alternative expression surrounding the 2002 G8 Summit occurring in June 2002. Noel Bégin’s role as host was to coordinate projects on short timelines, demonstrating and operating software to increase the number of projects finished, and as a facilitator to actualize the compression of video onto the Activist Menu web site for streaming. The immediacy of video on the web works to mimic the daily and evening news, and increase the potency of the works in contrast.

VIDEOS SCREENING: The Signs of the Times | Jasmin Poon | 4:23 min.

G-8 gazing | Anne Marie Nakagawa | 3:53 min.

Summer Quote | Valerie LeBlanc | 3:49 min.

Watching Me Watching You | Penny A.P. Anderson | 0:55 min. the walls have ears | Daniel Dugas | 3:57 min.

Croppin’ | John Greyson | 0:57 min.

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CANOLA OIL (2011) In 2011, the Compression Camp theme was Canola Oil. The term Canola ties Compression Camp to our region and to EMMEDIA’s 2010/2011 programming theme – Grain. Oil was the important thematic element, especially in how it’s control is affecting our lives so intensely of late, from wars and terrorism, large-scale accidents with serious impact on our surroundings, to how completely our “lifestyles” depend on oil’s by-products. Oil, in a sense, is the very absence of grain, but the products it makes possible break down into a microscopic granularity that clouds the oceans as a kind of synthetic and indigestible plankton. We are interested in contributing to the global dialogue on how to responsibly manage this most amazing and problematic resource, by assisting our community in mediating their perspectives on oil and how we live with it. Eric Becker and Noel Bégin provided the technical and creative support for this camp.

VIDEOS SCREENING: Pumpjack | Lia Rogers | 3:16 min.

Pumpjacks are symbols of the oil and gas industry that is alternatively vilified or acclaimed. They convert a rotary movement into a vertical reciprocating motion to drive the pump shaft, and pull oil or gas out of the ground. They dot the countryside and mark the location of a producing well, but they are in decline in the landscape, as newer, more improved technology replaces this dinosaur. This video examines the Pumpjack with as little political comment as possible, concentrating more on the movement and the components of this easily recognized machine.

Interview with Ms. Canola | Stefan Petersen 4:38 min.

Interview with Ms. Canola is a rare and candid interview with Canadian agricultural superstar, Ms. Canola. Invented in the early seventies through the hybridization of the Rape Seed plant, Ms. Canola received wide critical acclaim and skyrocketed to international stardom, edging out Wheat to become the number one selling Canadian agricultural export in history. However, despite industry and governmental support, Ms. Canola’s career has been plagued with scandal in recent years....

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Synthetic Rhythm | Vicki Chau | 5:35 min.

“Oil, in a sense, is the very absence of grain, but the products it makes possible break down into a microscopic granularity that clouds the oceans as a kind of synthetic and indigestible plankton.”

- Noel Begin Super Canola | Xstine Cook | 4:25 min.

What happens when genetically modified Canola takes over the World? Exploring the absurd notion that a company could own a wind-pollinated plant, Super Canola takes a kids-eye view of agricultural monopolies vs. small farmers.

RESONANCE (2012) In 2012, we focused on the programming theme Resonance. We specifically invited senior/established artists and cultural workers that have made Calgary their home, and have continually contributed over the years to the diverse arts and culture community. This was an opportunity to capture their stories in the works they produced, acknowledging the history and legacy of Calgary’s art and culture community. Camp facilitators were Rita McKeough and Joe Kelly.

VIDEOS SCREENING: Resonance | Sandi Somers | 1:53 min.

A visual meditation on discoveries during a downtown walk.

ABOUT FAILURE | John Will | 9:30 min.

John Will prefers to live in the past, and in this tape, reminisces about one of his usual failures.

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Venus in Transit | Aurora Landin | 4:12 min.

June 2 - 9, 2012. What a momentous week!

What are the odds that I would be invited to create my first video, the same week Venus was transiting the sun, which I understand is an exceedingly rare astronomical event. The Astrology lady on TV assured me this transit would have a positive effect on women’s finances and I was indeed rolling in dough on that fateful day! Sadly, though, it was as a volunteer cashier at a casino. So had I just used up my Venus luck? Had I squandered my astrological chance for fame and fortune? Seems the jury is still out on me, but that same week also saw the Diamond Jubilee of the wealthiest woman in the world... I’m just sayin’...

Performativity Marked by Trading | Dick Averns 10:00 min.

The 90 kmh Economy Drive seeks a more sustainable culture among motor-vehicle users.

It proposes a performative project deploying an art multiple – a custom green maple leaf decal affixed to the rear of oneʼs motor vehicle — to build a community that trades in slow driving.

A documentary first for the artist, Performativity Marked by Trading – A Trademarked Performance weaves new relationships that are, in their own way, probing the commodification of space. This footage consolidates interests in how spaces are valued, bought, sold, bartered, exchanged and recalibrated.

Who and how many are implicated in driving for a greener future?

Sit Down | Justin Waddell | 3:45 min.

Developed out of a process of paper-folding and quiet reflection, this short video is a simple composition which, at the last minute of postproduction, incorporated Mick Jagger’s onstage announcements from the 1969 Altamont Concert. The completed video acts as a simple narrative, which allows for a series of relations and connections between the present moment of experiencing the work and other, more personal associations.

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Alive and Behind Me | Richard Brown 1:28 min.

Alive and Behind Me comes out of two things: an ongoing attempt in almost all my creative endeavors, to not know what a particular project will be in advance of its completion, and a preoccupation with the difficulties, paradoxes and mystery of personal loss.

THREE | Tammy McGrath | 3:36 min.

In 1992, the National Library in Sarajevo was deliberately targeted and burned. Twenty-five mortar shells were launched from four separate points. This is considered to be the largest book burning in history at one location – a million and a quarter books were destroyed in one day.

Before the war in Sarajevo, Kemal Bakaršić was the chief librarian of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The museum’s library was the oldest scientific library of the western type in Bosnia, and it housed irreplaceable books and texts. Bakaršić and his colleagues painstakingly relocated the collection before the museum was targeted and destroyed by aggressors. Not having many boxes, they had to take the books to safety by hand. They risked their lives to save important pieces of history. Over several months, they evacuated nearly two kilometres of books.

THREE is dedicated to the memory of Kemal Bakaršić and the many brave individuals who have, against all odds, prevented the destruction of knowledge.

Ride | Jim Goertz | 5:44 min.

Ride is a short, sketch-style video exercise that employs various camera resolutions, angles, frame speeds, supports, and proximities to play with the idea of resonance. Structured around the actions of a young man’s two-wheeled choice of transport, we see another of his pastimes given a poetic push by circumstance.

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TRENCH Lon Parker

Part of LUMINARIES: Production Access 2012 Saturday, September 29 @ 8:30 - 9PM ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION #1 BRANCH – 116 7 Avenue SE Doors open at 8PM (Part of Closing Celebration, see page 25 for ticket details.)

In 1952, Alexander Graf, a Swiss-born New York City-based artist, is interviewed for a Dutch language documentary program, Dada’s Kinderen (Dada’s Children).

During the interview, Alexander recalls his experiences as a bartender at the Cabaret Voltaire, and as a young artist in 1920’s New York City. Alexander is interviewed by Diana Mies, a fly. There are no horses in the video.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Lon Parker evolved from college and university studies in Acting, Directing and Stage Design, to writing for the stage and producing. His experiments in set design lead him into visual art as a painter and sculptor. The purchase of a Super 8 film camera leads him into filmmaking, media art and EMMEDIA. He is inspired by history and human experience, as well as what he think is interesting and compelling, what is funny or profound, or completely ridiculous with no specific agenda besides creating something that wasn’t there before, or telling a story that is of interest to him.

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THE WAR UPON US Greg Marshall

Part of LUMINARIES: Production Access 2012 Saturday, September 29 @ 8:30 - 9PM ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION #1 BRANCH – 116 7 Avenue SE Doors open at 8PM (Part of Closing Celebration, see page 25 for ticket details.)

The War Upon Us is a documentary video project in progress, and is focused on gathering stories from war veterans and civilians who have experienced conflict.

The Second World War is the starting point of telling these stories, as the project aims to remember the horror of war in its capacity to devastate humanity. It is an examination of war as a concept we have created long ago, and have continued to create. Even after a century of destruction on such a massive scale, war still remains as a viable option in the 21st century. This is a question that often has no easy answers, but it is the hope of the filmmaker that the witnesses of war can offer some wisdom, after experiencing such events. Will we always have war somewhere in the world?

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Greg Marshall is a documentary video maker and artist from Calgary. His previous half-hour documentary, Tracking Distance, examined some of the personal history of the Cold War in Canada, under the NORAD agreement. It came about largely from his family background in the military, having spent a large portion of his childhood growing up at various military bases throughout Western Canada. The former and derelict NORAD air defence radar base, CFS Dana in Saskatchewan, was the setting for the video. Greg graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1994, and currently works as an animator and visual effects artist at a video production company in Calgary. He is married with two young children.

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CLOSING CELEBRATION Saturday, September 29 @ 9PM - 12AM ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION #1 BRANCH – 116 7 Avenue SE Doors open at 8PM TICKETS SOLD AT THE DOOR • $7

* Only $5 for EMMEDIA members, seniors and students with ID. ** Ticket includes admission to the screening of TRENCH by Lon Parker and The War Upon Us by Greg Marshall starting at 8:30PM.

We will be closing the festival with an amazing celebration of media art through installations, screenings, music and dancing, all under one roof!

FEATURING: THE SILENT TREATMENT SCREENING PROGRAM The Silent Treatment was a 2-day media jam faciliated by Joe Kelly, that created short, silent videos used as a looped screening program. Some videos were created in the two days specifically for the program, while others revisited past works. This program will be looped on multiple screens throughout the evening.

Eclipse | Joe Kelly Empezar, in pieces | Rosanna Terracciano Flags | Lia Rogers Extreme-Digital Ironing | Lowell Smith and I must scream, with you | Teresa Tam Shoes | Shelley Ouellet Elegy | Sandra Vida Blow Me a Kiss | Sandi Somers & Corey Lee Cloudscape | Brian Batista Krystal Trance | Aran Wilkinson-Blanc The SKEP(tic)KS screensaver – Revisited | Grant Poier In the Interim | Andrea Mann Terra Ignota | Carl Spencer Living Legend | Lon Parker A Graphic Life | Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi Sinz of the Parents | Wednesday Lupypciw Mr. Brown’s Life in Calgary | Peter Curtis Morgan Planet Overture | Sharon Stevens Ring | Lia Rogers Syzygy | Josh Fraser 25 • WWW.EMMEDIA.CA

MUSICAL PERFORMANCES INTERVIEW TR-505: A CONVERSATION WITH D. PARKS A communication between decades captured live in an unseen ravine of disposed bedframes and rusted autos, re-interpreted for the stage in two acts. This performance will include excerpts from The Parks International Catalogue of Multi-dimensional Experimentation, Genre-hopping, and Equipment Wrecking. Performed by Shawn Dicey as a Darwinian soundscape composed for synthesizer, drum-machine/percussion and guitar.

THE CEDAR TAVERN SINGERS AKA LES PHONORÉALISTES The Cedar Tavern Singers AKA Les Phonoréalistes are Mary-Anne McTrowe and Daniel Wong. They have been collaborating since 2006 and have been called “considerably more entertaining than the writings of Clement Greenberg.”

The Cedar Tavern Singers will be performing a set of musical art lectures.

DJ SGR DJ SGR (Ryan McClure Scott) will help you shake your bum bum all night. Bring your Rock n’ Roll hips and your beer drinking lips. He has performed for Stride, Pith and Haight Galleries, and the ArtCity and GIRAF festivals. He is available for Birthdays and Weddings.

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EMMEDIA GALLERY & PRODUCTION SOCIETY 351 - 11 AVE SW, #203 | CALGARY, AB | T2R 0C7 PARTICLEWAVE@EMMEDIA.CA WWW.EMMEDIA.CA 403.263.2833