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1W3KND Writers in Residence Announced!

1w3knd-announce-update

1W3KND starts on November 16 and we’re incredibly excited to announce the list of selected participants that we’ll be hosting at CIVIC SPACE. But first, some background on the project.

1W3KND is aimed at developing essays, interviews, manifestos, critiques, reviews, and other texts around ideas of collaboration, socially engaged works, artist-run culture, and public practices. We’re hoping to publish these in one form or another some time next year. There have been a number of books released over the past year discussing socially-engaged practices (here’s a list of a few of our favourites), but we’re really interested in reading more from artists themselves, especially those in the earlier stages of their career. We think there’s a need to make more time to write through the ideas, questions, and concerns that come through engaging in these kinds of practices, and we’re hoping we can help to accommodate those interested in doing that writing.

The structure of the residency will attempt to focus and frame the writing by way of an envelope on the table with a list of instructions, including a brief overview of subject that the paired writers in residence will be spending the weekend exploring, discussing and of course writing about.

And now, here’s the list / calendar. If you want to connect with anyone, let us know!

November:

Penelope Smart
Erin MacMillan

Irene Chin
Megan Marin

 

December:

Jason Deary
Mary Tremonte

Zoe Chan
Sarah Febbraro

Mike DiRisio
Nathan Stevens

 

January:

Amber Ginsburg
Siobhan Rigg

VSVSVS
Julian Majewski

Jacqui Artnfield
Emily DiCarlo

 

February:

Nathan Swartzendruber
Mike Fleisch

Allison Rowe
Rhiannon Vogl

 

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One Week Residency – Chris Flanagan on Music in Windsor and Detroit

Photo courtesy of Chris Flanagan

We have the pleasure of hosting Chris Flanagan for a quick one-week residency here at CIVIC SPACE. He’s in and out, but if you’re interested in music in Windsor (and/or Detroit), I’m sure he’d love to talk to you …

Installation/sound artist Chris Flanagan is researching and experimenting with music related to Windsor’s musical heritage. Intrigued by the city’s proximity to the pop music heavyweight Detroit, Flanagan is exploring musical history and culture through Windsor’s discarded vinyl and cassettes.

For more information about Chris and his recent projects go to www.chrisflanaganart.blogspot.com

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All Tomorrow’s Problems: the Biweekly Design Night for Future-Focused People

Starting on October 1st at 7pm, we’ll be running biweekly Design Nights focused on creative problem solving All Tomorrow’s Problems. Namely, we’re going to kick things off looking at the issues of youth retention in the city and gradually move on to other future-focused issues.

BCL’s Research Director, Justin, and a rotating co-host will guide the 2-hour studio, which will involve walks, discussions, rapid prototyping and wrap up with an exhibition in December.

Everyone is welcome, though space is limited. Please note that you should bring the following:

  • sketchbook, camera, laptop, drawing tools
  • an open mind and willingness to have productive conversations
  • an appreciation that this isn’t about problem-solving so much as an exercise in utopian-minded praxis

The dates to mark in your calendars:

  • Mondays in October: 1st, 15th, 29th at 7pm-9pm
  • Mondays in November: 12th, 26th at 7pm-9pm
  • Mondays in December: 10th at 7pm-9pm

And, to close, some quick answers to questions that may arise:

You know that the name of this is really similar to All Tomorrow’s Parties, right?

Yes, absolutely. We appreciate the tone of that event and thought it was a nice way to reference doing things at a different scale.

Do I have to be prepared to make art or design anything?

Think of this as a very loosely organized place to discuss and exercise your ideas on a specific topic. We may not actually make anything, but we will aim to creatively respond to the issue at hand.

Do I have to commit to attending every design night?

We hope that you’ll be able to attend as many of these nights as possible, but we understand schedules change. Come when you can. We’ll be trying to accommodate as many people as we can.

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The (Nearly Complete) Letter Library Archive

When the Letter Library was up earlier this month at CIVIC SPACE, each participant had the option to borrow a disposable camera from us, photograph their letters, and bring the cameras back. Well, after developing nearly all the cameras (still a few more to come) here is the nearly complete archive of all the photos we received from the project.

Feel free to comment below if any of these photos are yours, and please link us to photos that aren’t up in this archive that you took yourself!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Letter Library and captioned the city.

Continue reading “The (Nearly Complete) Letter Library Archive”

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Urban Ecology Workshops at CIVIC SPACE with Sam Lefort

We’re really excited to announce our first Artist-in-Residence at CIVIC SPACE, Samantha Lefort with the Urban Ecology Project! Evolved from a love of design, urban environments, and creative projects – The Urban Ecology Project is the interjection of ecology and new life into an urban space. It kicks off on Tuesday, July 24 for a week of workshops.

Urban Apiaries, Tuesday July 24 @ 3pm 
BEES AND YOU, IN THE URBAN LANDSCAPE

Did you know 1 in every 3 bites of food are thanks to the pollination of bees? It’s true! Come and explore bee culture and honey culture in the urban landscape. Taste some honey and make a wild bee hive!

Urban Container, Tuesday July 24 @ 7pm  
Gardening 101 GET DIRTY.
Add some edibles to your landscape! One of the best and most efficient gardening methods, container gardening is great for any space!

Cycling Charette, Wednesday July 25 @ 7pm
A-ROUND ABOUT
In traditional design charette style, participants will be presented with an opportunity in the local community to see new possibilities and spark an invigoration of underutilized space – via bicycle. Exploring urban place by bicycle – acting as flaneur about the city, noticing, seeing, creating an urban narrative for NEW possibilities in the spaces we seldom see.

Moss Graffiti, Thursday July 26 @ 7pm
GET IT GROWIN’ ON
Learn how to make unique and intricate moss graffiti to add a little green to your City! All natural and chemical free, these beautiful living art pieces thrive on their own after application.All workshops are ALL AGES and FREE!! Any questions? Let us know.

SPACE IS LIMITED, please contact us to register in advance!

Here’s the entire set of lovely posters Samantha designed!

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Walk-by Theatre: Bike Safety, the Psychology of Selling, and Leadership in the 1940s

Last night we hosted our first Walk-by Theatre screening. Featuring films pulled from the Prelinger archives, Danielle and I curated a program that touched on the aesthetics, values, and practices of 1940s/50s/60s American culture.

The built-in benches on Pelissier along with some chairs from our collection were perfect seating for the hour-long program. A number of other passersby stopped for a couple of minutes, while others stayed for the rest of the screening. A large sheet, our new projector, and some borrowed speakers made this a really simple process and I think it looked really great!

And, in case you missed it, here are the links to the films:

One Got Fat – Bicycle Safety (1963)

Man to Man – Salesmanship and psychology instruction for gun dealers (1947)

Hired! – Quirky Chevrolet sales film (1940)

We’ll be doing this nearly every Monday at 9pm for an hour-or-so. It’s free, and we have plenty of seating. There’s a parking garage right above the seating, and plenty of bike racks.

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The Non-Workshop Workshop

The first Non-Workshop Workshop kicked off last night.

Every Thursday at 7pm at Civicspace, you can come in and discuss ideas or work on your own projects. You don’t need to come with something to do; Non-Workshop Workshop is also made to facilitate collaboration, and maybe someone else will come in with something that you’re interested in helping out with. See you next week!

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Skills For Good(s) With Rod Strickland

Last night at 411 Pelissier,  the first instalment of Skills for Good(s) began with one of our favourite skill-filled friends, Rod Strickland.  This series of skill share sessions will be hosted by Lucy and I every other Tuesday out of Civic Space. Our hopes are that it opens up the floor for discussion on an array of skills and knowledge about everything from Earthship Architecture to the best way to make pie.

Skills for Good(s) is based on the idea of barter based education. Presenters share a skill/knowledge that they have and attendees bring barter items in exchange. Above, Lucy helps prepare the space before Rod begins skill sharing.

For each session, barter items are requested by the presenter. Tonight, Rod chose food!

Stocking up before the talk starts.

Rod decided to share his skill while sitting among us instead of standing at the front. This made for awesome discussion and a more casual/relaxed setting.

Examples of an earthship from the outside south side, where the green house is located. This new way of building sustainable homes is something Rod has been interested for a long time. He has been researching sustainability for over a decade!

Another example of an earthship. The organic aesthetic of these homes are quite beautiful.

Discussing.

The very first step in building an earthship is pounding tires…lots of them. Rod said that a 2 bedroom earth ship has around 1,000 pounded tires!

Discussing building code protocol.

Rod takes to the front to demonstrate how the thermal masse systems work inside earthships.

The water, heating/cooling, and green house systems make this type of living space completely self sustainable.

After the presentation, more discussions break out in smaller groups.

Earthship talk.

It was such a fun night with lots of new friendly faces. Stay tuned for an announcement about the next presenter and in the  meantime, come out to Rosina’s Zine Night tonight at 7:00 pm. See you there!

 

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Check it: Captioning the City with the Letter Library

Some of our single use cameras have been developed and placed on our Letter Library grid wall. Above are some of our favourites so far!

There has been such a diverse array of captions coming in, and we’re so excited to develop the rest of the cameras to see what other captions were created, but we need your help.

Come by and contribute to the Letter Library archive and caption the city with your own words (and in turn, help us get these pictures printed!). We’re open every day this week from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm!