HOMEWORK II: LONG FORMS / SHORT UTOPIAS (Nov 8-10, 2013) + Livestream Archive

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We’re very pleased to announce Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias, a three-day conference and collaboratively-written publication that will aim to unfold the ways in which we construct, articulate, and practice ideas of micro-utopias, pop-up ideals, collaboration, and long-term social engagement in Ontario, across Canada, and abroad.

The conference will build on our previous conference, Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices, in bringing together multidisciplinary artists and creative practitioners enacting and articulating the complexities of working in practices driven by curiosities about utopian collaboration, community, infrastructures, locality, and long-form social practice. With support from the Ontario Arts Council and Ontario Trillium Foundation, we’re looking to build an event that can frame a discussion on socially-engaged practices that span disciplines, with a particular focus on emerging practitioners.

Homework II will run November 8-10, 2013 in Windsor, Ontario at Art Gallery of Windsor and CIVIC Space.

Our featured keynote speakers this year will be Jeanne van Heeswijk (Rotterdam), Darren O’Donnell (Toronto), and Steve Lambert (New York). In addition to our keynotes, we’ve also invited a series of curatorial partners to develop panels that tackle the conference themes. And, to top it all off, everyone who attends will be co-authors of a book that captures the ideas and conversations from this year’s conference through a series of interviews with presenters, attendees, and organizers alongside collected materials from our 2011 conference.

For more information, please email homework@brokencitylab.org



Homework II – Tentative Conference Schedule

1. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH

Keynote Panel Discussion | Art Gallery of Windsor | 7:00pm-9:45pm

Featuring presentations from:

Jeanne van Heeswijk (Rotterdam)

Since 1993, Jeanne van Heeswijk has been working on socially committed art projects that take place in public spaces. She sees herself as a mediator, an intermediary between a situation, a space, a neighborhood and the people connected to these. Acting, meeting, and communicating are key concepts in her method of working. She has coined the term “urban curating” for her interventions. In the sedate Dutch art world in which all taboos appear to have been broken, her work – uniquely – arouses fierce controversy.

Darren O’Donnell (Toronto)

Darren O’Donnell is a novelist, essayist, playwright, director, designer, performer, Artistic Director of Mammalian Diving Reflex and Research Director of The Tendency Group, an emerging think tank and social policy laboratory. His books include: Social Acupuncture, which argues for an aesthetics of civic engagement and Your Secrets Sleep with Me, a novel about difference, love and the miraculous. In addition to his artistic practice, he is currently an Msci candidate in Urban Planning at the University of Toronto.

Steve Lambert (New York)

Steve Lambert is an artist who works with issues of advertising and the use of public space. He is a founder of the Anti-Advertising Agency, an artist-run initiative which critiques advertising through artistic interventions, and of the Budget Gallery (with Cynthia Burgess) which creates exhibitions by painting over outdoor advertisements and hanging submitted art in its place. He has also worked with the Graffiti Research Lab and as a senior fellow with Eyebeam Open Lab.


 2. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH

A. Registration and Opening Remarks | Art Gallery of Windsor | 8:30am-9:15am

Remarks by:

Justin Langlois, Hiba Abdallah, and Josh Babcock (Project Coordinators, Broken City Lab)

Srimoyee Mitra (Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Windsor)


 

B. Thematic Panel Discussions | Art Gallery of Windsor | 9:00am-6:30pm

Thomas Provost | 9:30am-10:40am

Ad Hoc, a panel organized by Thomas Provost, will feature panelists Kaija WuolletElaine Carr, and Marcin Kedzior.

An archaeology of the human world reveals there are infinite systemic exchanges constructing our environment: weathering, investments, labour, political forums, contracts, negotiations, among other occurrences and phenomena. Essential to this discussion on spatial-collaboration are the various exchanges a creative practice must navigate in order to create micro-utopias, pop-up-ideals, or projections of time & place. Within architecture and landscape, experimental operations have emerged despite an uncertain economic trajectory and forbearing ecological instability, under which our panelists curiously work, at least in part, ad hoc.


Reena Katz | 10:50am-12:00pm

Organized by Reena Katz/Radiodress, artist and Acting Director, Galerie SAW Gallery, Ottawa-Gatineau, Engaged to be Wary: De-authorizing Social Practice will feature panelists, Srimoyee Mitra, curator, Art Gallery of Windsor and Alana Bartol, artist and Project Manager for Neighbourhood Spaces, Windsor.

At a time when community engaged art practices are becoming ubiquitous throughout gallery, museum and institutional education systems, there is a strong need for conversations around what works and what doesn’t in this growing and chaotic field. The goal of this panel will be to discuss diverse perspectives on Social Practice, ask critical questions, and formulate some useful guidelines for its successful pedagogy and praxis. We will use the opportunity of the publication to publish the beginnings of a malleable, living manifesta on the subject, based on the presentations, discussion and ideas generated at the panel.


Maggie Flynn | 1:00pm-2:10pm

A discussion between Tities Wîcinímintôwak Arts Collective and Chris Rabideau will address themes such as intergenerational organizing, learning in the context of Two-Spirit, trans, and queer communities, and personal approaches to long-term, community-based work. This panel is organized by Maggie Flynn.


IN/TERMINUS | 2:20pm-3:30pm

The Shape of a Question: Art, Politics, Pedagogy, a panel organized by Michael Darroch and Jennifer Willet for IN/TERMINUS, will discuss historical and contemporary models and contexts at the intersection of art, politics and pedagogy.


Michael Davidge | 3:40pm-4:50pm

For a panel presentation on Saturday November 9, Michael Davidge has brought together a group of creative practitioners whose work addresses the themes of the Homework II conference through their engagement with electronic dance music. Davidge is an independent curator, artist and art critic who lives in Ottawa, Ontario. The panelists include Bambitchell (Sharlene Bamboat and Alexis Mitchell) (Toronto) who will present on their project, Border Sounds; Michael Caffrey and Kerry Campbell (Gatineau) who will discuss their “GhettoBlast Sound System;” and Chris McNamara (Windsor) will discuss his experience with the Windsor/Detroit techno music scene and describe his involvement with the audio collective “Nospectacle.” The panelists’ projects employ electronic dance music in various ways that construct, articulate, and practice ideas of micro-utopias, pop-up ideals, and long-term social engagement.


Department of Unusual Certainties | 5:00pm-6:10pm

“Support Someone Else’s Revolution” – The world is small, interconnected and formed from extensive systems that intersect with our lives. Knowingly and unknowingly our actions reinforce and resist the transformation of these systems, which do shift under the weight and energy of people and things. The Information Age is more a statement of societal arrogance than a reflection of a broader cultural understanding of the world. Gaps in knowledge exist and will not be rectified through the consumption of media nor exchanges within our personal networks.

Department of Unusual Certainties has invited four individuals to speak to the ways that we support other people and things in transition (eg. corporations, neighbours and democracy etc.). Each of these four individual’s were selected because their practices empower citizens within stable States to reflect and then to act. The panel will feature: Michèle Champagne (Founder/Creative Director, That New Design Smell), Jordan Tanahill (Artistic Director, Suburban Beast), Satsuko Van Antwerp (Manager, Social Innovation Generation), and Justin Langlois (Director, Broken City Lab) moderated by Department of Unusual Certainties. 


3. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH

Workshops and General Assembly | Art Gallery of Windsor & CIVIC SPACE | 11:00am-5:00pm

A day of conversation, interviews, and workshops to inform the forthcoming publication.

Open Community Breakfast at Civic Space | 10:00am-11:00am

Join us and fellow conference panelists, attendees, and anyone else walking around the neighbourhood for some light breakfast. We’ll open our doors to serve cereal, fruit, coffee, and tea, along with some great conversations to kick off the final day of the conference.

Workshops for Publication, Part 1 at the AGW | 11:00am-2:00pm

We’ll be back at the AGW for a series of workshops, discussion groups, and interviews that will help shape the forthcoming publication. We’re asking you to consider participating in the creation of this publication by conducting at least one interview with someone else attending the conference. Meanwhile, back at CIVIC Space, Hiba will be working to compile the content she receives from the participants — interviews, photographs, sketchbook notes, manifestos, endless questions, and more.

General Assembly at the AGW | 2:00pm-3:30pm

An open community discussion on issues surrounding socially-engaged practices, the infrastructures required to support them, precarious labour, educational possibilities, the professionalization of artists, and the conference itself.

Workshops for Publication, Part 2 at the AGW | 3:30pm-4:30pm

The work continues at the AGW and at CIVIC Space towards compiling the contents for the publication, with follow up discussions driven by the General Assembly.

Closing Remarks at the AGW | 4:30pm-4:45pm


Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias runs November 8 – 10, 2013 at Art Gallery of Windsor, located at 401 Riverside Drive West, Windsor, Ontario and CIVIC Space, located at 411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario.


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HomeworkIISponsors

Learn More About… Darren O’Donnell! Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias Keynote Panelist

Mammalian Diving Reflex - Haircuts by Children

Darren O’Donnell – Toronto, Ontario, Canada

We’re already less than one month away from Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias and we can confidently say that our excitement is growing. We have a solid weekend planned for all attendees and everyone who is able to watch the conference from home. For more information and to register to attend, please click here.

Darren O’Donnell is one of three featured keynote speakers who will be presenting at Homework II. Darren is a novelist, essayist, playwright, director, designer, performer, and Artistic Director of Mammalian Diving Reflex. His books include: Social Acupuncture (2006), which argues for aesthetics of civic engagement and Your Secrets Sleep with Me (2004), a novel about difference, love and the miraculous. His stage-based works include White Mice (1998), [boxhead] (2000), and All the Sex I’ve Ever Had (2012), all produced by Mammalian Diving Reflex. He has a BFA in Acting, studied Shiatsu and Traditional Chinese Medicine at The Shiatsu School of Canada and is currently an MSci candidate in Urban Planning at University of Toronto.

His work with Mammalian Diving Reflex is extensive, and in the past few years they have collaborated with Toronto youth, eventually leading to the formation of a group aptly titled “The Torontonians” in 2010. Since that time, they have been collaborating on projects that span performance, video, mentorship, and much more. One of Mammalian’s most popular and critically-acclaimed projects is Haircuts by Children (pictured above), a project in which children are trained by professional hairstylists, and then paid to run real hair salons, eventually giving members of the public free haircuts. The project has been performed in many locations; Toronto, Glasgow, Prague, and Milan are just a few examples. It’s fantastic stuff, and I highly recommend visiting Mammalian’s site and browsing their Projects section.

Using his experience working closely with and within communities, with youth, and with a variety of organizations, Darren will be presenting on the first evening of Homework II (Friday, November 8th) with Jeanne van Heeswijk and Steve Lambert.


Darren O’Donnell – Interview with Rabble.ca


Homework II will run November 8-10, 2013 in Windsor, Ontario at Art Gallery of Windsor and CIVIC Space.

Our featured keynote speakers this year will be Jeanne van Heeswijk (Rotterdam), Darren O’Donnell (Toronto), and Steve Lambert (New York). In addition to our keynotes, we’ve also invited a series of curatorial partners to develop panels that tackle the conference themes. And, to top it all off, everyone who attends will be co-authors of a book that captures the ideas and conversations from this year’s conference through a series of interviews with presenters, attendees, and organizers alongside collected materials from our 2011 conference.

For more information, please email homework@brokencitylab.org

Homework II: Long Forms / Short Utopias is made possible with generous support from the Ontario Arts CouncilOntario Trillium Foundation, Art Gallery of Windsor, and IN/TERMINUS.

HomeworkIISponsors

Contribute to our Upcoming Book!

From Walter's Homework sketchbook

We received this from our friends (and Homework artists-in-residence) Brennan and Chloé, who have been compiling content for our upcoming book on our latest conference and residency, Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices.

Hi All,

I hope all is well.

We have received a number of contributions from most of you, but there are a few of you we are still hoping to get some materials from.

If any one had an interview, reviews, essays, photographs, sketches, notes, etc. that they would like to add to the publication still please let me know.

A dropbox was created and last I checked it had not been used all that much (if any). If you do have files to contribute, they can be added here, or (smaller) files can be sent to us directly at oerogue[at]gmail.com

I encourage anyone with any leftover materials to send it our way so it can be included in this publication.

Thank you!

Brennan

If you attended Homework and have anything you’d like us to consider adding to the upcoming book, please get in touch with us or Brennan and Chloé ASAP!

Homework Residency: Day 4, by chance

The report for Day 4 of our Homework Residency has arrived with photos and notes from the residents themselves. Be sure to check out more on our Artists-in-Residence.

This post marks the final instalment of documentation from our residency — at least in this form. There’s more ahead that you can anticipate from the Homework publication, videos of the conference presentations, and somehow, more. We’d like to again sincerely thank everyone who made Homework possible and for all the artists in residence for participating. Now without further adieu, here’s some reflections on the final day of the residency, which would be followed by Day 1 of our conference.

Continue reading “Homework Residency: Day 4, by chance”

Finishing Up Our Homework (late assignment)

Above, Homework Artists-in-Residence presenting their work, Photo by Eduardo Aquino

It’s a week later than we had hoped to be making this kind of wrap-up post, but we also know this is just the beginning of a larger conversation that will span far beyond this space.

Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices hosted over 120 artists, writers, community activators, curators, thinkers, and doers from big and small places across North America (and, incredibly, at least one person from overseas). From the first day of the residency to the last day of the conference, the schedule was beyond jam-packed, but the things we discussed, together, made the two-day conference an incredibly rewarding experience for us. We are exceptionally happy with how Homework turned out and we can’t thank you enough for attending and supporting it.

There’s still more ahead though — the publication will be assembled over the coming months, and if you’re still looking to contribute, you should get in touch. There’s also been some questions about another edition of Homework, and we’re considering it. We’d love to see these kinds of conversations given a bit more time and space to unfold.

As happy as we are with how things went, we know there’s definitely room for improvement. If you have any feedback for us on your experience of the conference, it’d be great to hear from you. Please consider filling out this response form: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEpMczJtVTVtZEhoNWgyeUp4SWZyNVE6MQ

We’re also working on cataloguing all the video documentation and we’ll be working to make these video archives available as soon as we can, stay tuned. And, if you have any documentation of the residency or conference, please pass it along.

And finally, we’d like to extend our most sincerest thanks to everyone who participated and attended Homework, including our conference panelists and our incredible keynotes! Thank you!

Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices is generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the University of Windsor’s School of Visual Arts, and our community partner the Art Gallery of Windsor.

Homework Residency: Day 3, Collaborations Under Umbrellas

Day 3’s report of our Homework Residency comes courtesy of the residents themselves!!! Be sure to check out more on our Artists-in-Residence.

From Artist-in-Residence, Simon Rabyniuk:

Its overwhelming to try and write a blog post about what’s happening… it’s messy to try and recount exactly how things unfold and I mostly don’t remember… There are reflections to be made about the projects we are setting up for ourselves and of course the different decision making models we are using. I feel fine discussing the projects but mostly forget how we arrive at any specific decision. Here are some brief notes Rodrigo, Megan, and I put together this afternoon, with some feedback from Leah tonight. Also, here are some photos from Leah’s, Andrea’s, and my own camera.

Continue reading “Homework Residency: Day 3, Collaborations Under Umbrellas”

Homework Residency: Day 2, Voting on Rooftops & Other Endeavours

So, the report on Day 2 of our Homework Residency is going to be delayed, as we’re still gathering documentation. But, this picture seemed like a good start to introducing the day.

More to come, soon. Updated: there’s lots of photos that attempt to document the day, but it’s impossible to chart together a narrative to cover it all.

In the meantime, you can check out more on our Artists-in-ResidenceGet acquainted with everyone here!

Continue reading “Homework Residency: Day 2, Voting on Rooftops & Other Endeavours”

Homework Residency: Day 1, Terms of Reference

Any report on Day 1 of our Homework Residency needs to begin with a huge welcome to all of our Artists-in-Residence. Get acquainted with everyone here!

As a preface, it’s important to note the difficulty in trying to document such an involved process with any meaningful artifacts and with such little time for reflection. Photos cannot do justice to the hours of exploratory conversations, tangents, and negotiations that took place. Nor can my attempts to record some of the overarching concerns that I picked up on appropriately document the frustrations, insights, and moments of meaningful critical engagement, do any part of the day justice.

But, to try to make this as useful as I can, there are large things that need to be framed — in particular, a way of approaching a residency that explicitly asked residents to be prepared to not tackle a pre-designed project, alongside a number of other artists. Throughout the day questions were raised around the possibilites and limits in collaboration within such a large group, the ways in which to facilitate collaboration over participation, and the terms of reference that we all bring, but need to forget about.

Today focused on tackling a set of possible directions and the ways in which 17 people might move there, together.

Continue reading “Homework Residency: Day 1, Terms of Reference”

Livestream is go for Homework!

Hiba and I took a trip down to the Art Gallery of Windsor (our gracious host and community partner for our upcoming conference) to check out the possibilities for using Livestream to make the conference available to the folks who can’t make it down to Windsor.

We had Kevin on another connection to check and it looks like we’re set for livestreaming the conference portion of Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices next Friday and Saturday — you can check the schedule here: http://www.brokencitylab.org/homework/homework-conference-schedule-presenters/.

And, on those days, you can find us livestreaming here: http://www.livestream.com/brokencitylab

Homework: Infrastructures & Collaboration in Social Practices is generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the University of Windsor’s School of Visual Arts, and our community partner the Art Gallery of Windsor.