SRSI, Day 1: Cleaning up the Storefronts
Day 1 of the Storefront Residencies for Social Innovation: we get the keys and begin massive clean up. Vinyl is being cut, walls will be painted, carpets are vacuumed, windows are washed, but still things to do.
However, great things are ahead.
Josh and Michelle at the very start of the day, before the cleaning really began. Not sure how far they made it, though I’m confident we’ll be nearly finished tomorrow, as the first residency projects start up. Daragh Sankey was already with us today, putting in a huge effort clearing out the 410 Pelissier. Then we had some lunch at the Drunken Burrito — delicious, despite its name.
We’ll be back at it shortly after 9am Friday morning, where we’ll await the arrival of Jolie Inthavong, Eric Cheung, Andrea Carvalho, Julie René de Cotret & Jefferson Campbell-Cooper, and Sara French.
This project is generously supported by the City of Windsor: Cultural Affairs Office, Arts Council Windsor & Region, Windsor Pride, and the Ontario Arts Council.
![Hiba started working with the laser cut acrylic, pulling apart the excess that we won’t need when we make the cast. We’ll be creating a rubber mould from the positive of the acrylic. The excess, the negative. Hiba carefully placing some letters pulled off their base. Careful work. Then, Kiki came by to give us [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/wpid18788-IMG_0114-150x150.jpg "Laser Cut Acrylic Extraction Process & Lunch Time French Lesson")
![We’re back to Friday nights. Someone thought to move the tables outside. In the dimming light, we worked. Many things are on the task list. We’re starting to work on a publication of sorts for How to Forget the Border Completely. It’s been a really clarifying decision to pull the strands of research we’ve been working [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/IMG_9947-150x150.jpg "We’re outside around a table, together. It’s May. How to Forget the Border Completely.")
![As part of Green Corridor’s Open Corridor festival, I’ll be working with 500 biodegradable balloons with “YOU ARE WORTH IT.” printed on them. The balloons will be filled with helium and some wildflower seeds, 200 of them will be launched anchored throughout the Green Corridor area and handed out to those in attendance next Thursday, June 18th. [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/balloons-printed-150x150.jpg "You Are Worth It: Biodegradable Balloons")
![We spent last night watching a rough cut of some of Eric’s ongoing micro-residency project, did a lot of measuring, used Google Earth, did some math, drew some diagrams, and brainstormed a new project (because Cristina wants to sew, a lot). With the semester basically over now, we’re hoping to wrap up a couple things [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_6230-150x150.jpg "Math, Markers, and Measurements + Eric’s micro-documentary")
![Last night Eric Boucher came to visit myself and my grandma Margaret Mongeau to interview her for Eric’s Micro-Residency with BCL. Each fellow of BCL will be introducing Eric to a person whom he has never met. Eric then will be interviewing each person exclusively on the topic of Windsor. Eric`s interview with my grandma [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/DSC01223-150x150.jpg "Eric Boucher Micro-Residency Iteration 1/5")
![I’ve been thinking about Windsor – Detroit tourism lately for our How to Forget the Border Completely project and since LivingSocial did such a good job advertising to me on facebook, I signed up for weekly Detroit deals and coupons to be e-mailed to me. I’m on week 3 or 4 and so far I’ve [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/michelledetroitdeal-150x150.jpg "Detroit Deals")
![Today, a very brief summary of some things that I’ve been thinking about and noted over the last few weeks… Above, a portal. Perhaps a cross-border portal. An under-used, long forgotten relic of a portal prototype. Cordoned off, waiting for a new route. Partington and Wyandotte on our side, where’s the related neighbourhood in Detroit? [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/portals-150x150.jpg "A Summary of Things I’ve Been Thinking About")
![The Storefront Residencies for Social Innovation invites the radical re-imagining of the possibilities for economic stimulus and process-driven practice, situating those very possibilities in the heart of Windsor in vacant storefronts. Facilitated by Broken City Lab, the Storefront Residencies for Social Innovation will call on artists, writers, designers, entrepreneurs, not-for-profits, hobby shops, restauranteurs, librarians, musicians, architects, archivists, and other [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/SRSI-11x17-3-520px-rgb-150x150.jpg "Call for Proposals: The Storefront Residencies for Social Innovation")
![Josh and I spent some of the day in the heat collecting some interesting flowers and plants to transplant for our magnetic planters project. Overall, it was fairly successful, as we did learn quite a lot about transplanting, but we’re still going to be looking for some more plants to finish up this stage of [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_46142-150x150.jpg "Learning to Transplant")
![Just unboxed our laser cut acrylic from Ponoko for a new project we’ll be working on over the summer. We started some really early brainstorming on this over six months ago, so it feels really great to finally be moving it forward. Above, the back of the piece of acrylic. The front, with the protecting [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/wpid18724-IMG_0058-150x150.jpg "Some Laser Cut Acrylic for New Project (unboxing)")
![Starting on January 15, 2013, we’ll be offering a new workshop series for anyone and everyone interested in learning about electronics and physical computing. Hosted by Paul Anderson – a man of too many hobbies who holds the advanced qualification for ham radio in Canada, and has been working with electronics on and off since childhood [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/BEDO-POSTER-150x150.jpg "New Workshop Series Starting in January: Building Electronics / Designing Originally")
![Yesterday, Eric Boucher met with my uncle, Lou Tortola, to interview him for his Micro Residency. Lou immigrated to Windsor from Italy in the seventies, when he was about ten or eleven, and is now a successful entrepreneur, established writer, and CEO of eliquidMEDIA. Over some espresso and biscotti, he talked with Eric about his first impressions [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/DSC05858-150x150.jpg "Eric Boucher Micro-Residency Iteration 5/5")
![The day before our launch. Rosina paints with Kiki. The table of letters, ever-changing as each layer dries. The letters that remain to be painted as of this afternoon. Josh and Kevin’s project for the day… Sara and Rosina headed out to do a bunch of short installs and photograph them. The single-use camera Hiba [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/wpid18548-IMG_0126-2-150x150.jpg "12-06-20 4:39:10 PM")
![As we continue to paint the letters, we’re now moving onto some exhibition design for the launch of the Letter Library. Really preliminary ideas here … but the gist of it is around wanting the work to feel open… Not sure that we’ll go with tape on top of the photos like this. 4×6 photos [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/IMG_9965-150x150.jpg "Exhibition Design (in progress)")
![ Last night Justin, Danielle and I headed over to the Magic Stick to take part in the We Like Music Festival. We began projecting reasons why we love Detroit that we had brainstormed together here. Aside from reasons why we, as Windsorites love that Detroit is right across the river, we also included physical [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_0504-150x150.jpg "Saturday Night in Detroit")
See you all there bright and early!!! EXCITED!!
Jolie, did you stop by Perfect Print for some posters, etc.? They emailed me … I’ll forward it to you just in case…
uh/// wuh???? (I do have posters there, but our phone number is right on the poster…)