In Store: Norman (DIY Surveillance)

An intimate portrait of Norman exploring DIY Surveillance during our Storefront Residencies for Social Innovation.

Hello new friend, some initial tests with our new vinyl cutter

We recently acquired a Graphtec CE5000-60 cutter and we’re already dreaming up a whole bunch of new projects to put it to use. It cuts up to 24″ vinyl rolls (though I’ve also seen it score and maybe even cut cardstock) and with the Illustrator plugin, its incredibly easy. Above, a test with some gold vinyl.

It took only about 15 minutes to get it setup and running — there were some adjustments that needed to be made to in the offset to get the test triangle / square with the appropriate straight lines, but once that was setup and after I found the solution to the  HP-GL error 1 (change the command from HP-GL to GP-GL), I was able to send files from Illustrator just the same as you would send a file to print.

In these early tests, I’m just using some masking tape to transfer the vinyl.

It comes off pretty well — I was impressed with the quality and speed of the cut even with a cursive font like this.

I think they sell larger/wider rolls of masking-tape like material, but for now this works.

The maiden transfer onto a wall.

Easy transfer, just a little trouble with the bottom loop of the f.

So, a successful first test! In the past, we’ve worked with Printhouse for a lot of our one-off vinyl cuts, so if you’re looking for someone local we can highly recommend them. The things we’re going to be doing are just going to require so much volume that it was worth investing in one ourselves to do our own cuts. No details just yet, but I’m really looking forward to playing with this some more and I can’t wait to launch these new projects soon!

Drift: a tool for getting lost in familiar places

Finally launched and available in the iOS App Store!

Drift helps you get lost in familiar places by guiding you on a walk using randomly assembled instructions. Each instruction will ask you to move in a specific direction and, using the compass, look for something normally hidden or unnoticed in our everyday experiences.

As you find these hidden or unnoticed things, you will be asked to document them with the camera, creating a photographic record of you walk. Drift also keeps track of where and when you took the photos and makes your documentation optionally available for others to view through the Drift website.

Drift was developed by Justin Langlois in collaboration with Broken City Lab.

This project was generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council Media Arts Grant for Emerging Artists.

IN STORE: THE DEPARTMENT

Another installation of In Store by Daragh Sankey covering some of the incredible work that happened as part of our SRSI project a couple of summers ago.

Here’s the overview of this week’s segment on the Department of Unusual Certainties from Daragh:

I basically shared an area with these guys. Like Sara French and of course the Broken City Lab crew, we were all there over the whole month. (I wasn’t actually there the whole time, but came down for the first couple weekends.)

I had to decide in the editing how much of their footage to include – I had quite a lot, because of their long stay and also because of the sheer scale of their ambitions. I had a cut that only concentrated on the speed dating event, but I thought there was a lot of interest that got excluded so I made it what you see now, perhaps sacrificing cohesiveness for scope and … awesomeliness, hopefully.

Here’s a downloadable PDF of the Tip Sheet from the DoUC site.

Vacancy. It’s one of the big challenges for Windsor, as it is for any shrinking city. The downtown has been hit much harder – Windsor is a classic North American “donut city” where suburban expansion and downtown decline go hand in hand. (More on this in an upcoming film.) There are no easy responses, and I hope that my use of end titles will not seem like I’m trying to argue that the Department’s activities in Windsor led directly to a decrease in the vacancy rate. But their recognition that there was a lack of communication amongst store owners, and their tapping into some of the energy that resulted from opening the lines of communication, seemed to be heading in the right direction, at least.

Nothing’s set in stone, but I have probably three more films to go, maybe 4. There’s some really great stuff coming up, so stay tuned!

More Great News: We’re the Recipient of a Windsor Endowment for the Arts Grant!

We’re thrilled to announce this, and very flattered to be in such great local company!!!

Honouring leaders in Windsor’s arts community, the Windsor Endowment for the Arts (WEA) will officially present the WEAs, winners of the WEA Arts Leadership Awards and WEA Arts Grants on Saturday, May 5 at Windsor Music Theatre.  Ten recipients will be honoured including the recipient of the first Elizabeth Havelock Grant in the Arts.

Windsor Endowment for the Arts offers four Emerging Artist Grants to support the professional and creative development of emerging artists. Grants are awarded every second year to successful applicants. Artists who meet the eligibility requirements are invited to apply.

Outstanding nominations, from the public and recognized leaders in the arts culture community identified the seven winners of the WEA Arts Grants. Three arts organizations and four emerging artists will be recognized.

Arts Infrastructure Grants

Community Arts Nancy Johns Gallery & Framing
Performing Arts Chris Rabideau
Visual Arts Media City Film Festival

Emerging Artists Grants

Community Arts Broken City Lab Artist Collective
Literary Arts Kate Hargreaves
Performing Arts Crissi Cochrane
Visual Arts Amy Friend

Elizabeth Havelock Grant in the Arts

Visual Artist Shirley Williams

Huge thanks to Windsor Endowment for the Arts, and to Jennifer Willet and Rod Strickland for the nomination. We’re looking forward to celebrating on Saturday! See you there!

We Made the “2012 Sobey Art Award” Ontario Long List!

We’re really exited to post this … just found out today! We made the 2012 Sobey Art Award Ontario Long List! It’s incredibly flattering to have made it to this stage of the competition, and we owe a huge thanks to Srimoyee Mitra for the nomination.

And, in case you didn’t know, we’re not the first Windsor-based artists to have been included — Zeke Moores made the short-list just last year!

Ok, more soon, but in the meantime, here’s the official news from the press release:

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Sobey Art Foundation are pleased to announce the long list for the 2012 Sobey Art Award, the pre-eminent award for contemporary Canadian Art. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Award. Following a three-month nomination process, the Curatorial Panel has announced the 25 artists vying for the 2012 Sobey.

The long-listed artists for the 2012 Sobey Art Award are:

West Coast and the Yukon
• Sonny Assu
• Julia Feyrer
• Gareth Moore
• Kevin Schmidt
• Corin Sworn

Prairies and the North
• Amalie Atkins
• Paul Butler
• Jason de Haan
• Robyn Moody
• Elaine Stocki

Ontario
• Broken City Lab 
• Aleesa Cohene
• Annie MacDonell
• Nicholas Pye & Sheila Pye
• Derek Sullivan

Quebec
• Olivia Boudreau
• Raphaëlle de Groot
• Julie Favreau
• Nadia Myre
• Ève K. Tremblay

Atlantic
• Mark Igloliorte
• Stephen Kelly
• Eleanor King
• Lisa Lipton
• Graeme Patterson

The 10th Anniversary shortlist of the Sobey Art Award will be announced in late June. An exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) in Toronto will feature select work by the shortlisted artists from October 24, 2012 to December 30, 2012. The 10th Anniversary Sobey Art Award winner’s announcement will take place at a Gala event at the MOCCA on November 16, 2012.

The 2012 Sobey Art Award Curatorial Panel consists of:

• David Diviney, Curator of Exhibitions, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia;
• Louise Déry, Directrice Galerie de l’UQAM, Université du Québec à Montréal;
• David Liss, Artistic Director and Curator, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art;
• Ryan Doherty, Curator, Southern Alberta Art Gallery;
• Bruce Grenville, Senior Curator, Vancouver Art Gallery.

For more detailed biographical information on the 25 long listed artists and members of the Curatorial Panel please go to: www.sobeyartaward.ca

New Exhibition: Unrest Everywhere (Tools for Playing with Halifax)

Just back from an incredible week installing at Eye Level Gallery for our show, Unrest Everywhere (tools for playing with Halifax), which runs until May 12, 2012. The show features a number of multiples and interactive works, all of which are yours for the taking and borrowing.

The premise for the show was to create a series of works that could directly or indirectly suggest access points for re-encountering the city and your role within it. We created works that aimed to be highly distributable, playful, and allowed a bit of critical commentary on the ways in which a sense of place comes to be planned, articulated, and established.

Below is a huge pile of documentation of the process — but first — we’d like to extend a huge thanks to all staff and volunteers at Eye Level, especially Michael and Matt, and to Emily and Kaley for the place to crash!

Read More

Everything I Wanted Is Right Here (street installation shot)

A little preview of our exhibition, Unrest Everywhere, up now at Eye Level Gallery.

More shots of the process and install soon, hopefully over the weekend.

RISK: Design Vulnerability

RISK, a conference that highlights present predicaments in architecture and urban planning, will explore the intersection between entrepreneurship and practice, taking risks in design, coopting strategies from other disciplines to advance architecture and planning, and in general not being afraid of change.

A dynamic group of speakers will engage the topic in 15-minute presentations, followed by faculty responses to provide commentary and provocations on themes such as personal risk; professional risk; environmental risk; risk of investing in the central city; and design as risk.

Details

March 30, 2012
Rackham Auditorium, 915 East Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Time: 10 AM – 6:30 PM, Doors Open at 9 AM

Justin is presenting on the Design Vulnerability panel, moderated by Walter B. Sanders Fellow, Etienne Turpin, alongside these incredible speakers:

Ricardo Dominguez, Associate Professor, UCSD; Co-Founder, Electronic Disturbance Theater

Jean-Maxime Dufresne & Jean-François Prost, Principals, SYN – Atelier d’exploration urbaine

Fernando Fuentes & Lorena Méndez, Co-founders, La Lleca Colectiva

Here’s the brief for the panel:

From the perspective of design research, the laboratory is a model for investigating urban scenography, interstitial space, transient icons, and the political economies which shape architecture and the city. The lab is not, in this model, the hygienic space portioned from the world to afford a distanced observation; the lab is instead a platform for embedded forms of inquiry, intervention, speculation, and experimentation. These precarious forms of practice are affirmed through design strategies that embolden our experiences of vulnerability at the level of the city, the social, and the ecological. These practices do not attempt to erase vulnerability through design but instead leverage design research and performative experimentation by collaborating with and among various vulnerabilities. The panel considers how practices of accumulating vulnerability offer new models of courage and conviction for post-heroic architecture and design.

In Store: Unto Caesar

The week almost escaped without getting a new instalment of In Store posted. So, if you haven’t already seen it on the In Store site, here’s the latest: