In Store: The Border
Another instalment of In Store, featuring Lee Rodney discussing her Border Bookmobile project, in the multi-part documentary that our exceptionally talented friend, Daragh Sankey, has been putting together. Here’s his notes on the latest: Ed. note: Hey, it’s been a while! I did a lot of overtime and also a freelance job and had to [...]
In Store: Laura of Bell Payphone Labs
The series continues… with an introduction from Daragh’s site: There is a whole narrative to Bell Payphone Labs. Laura got into the lab coat for every installation she did, playing the role of the phone scientist. She had a little lab area in the storefronts the whole time as well, with educational posters about her [...]
In Store: From Scratch
The next instalment of In Store, a documentary on our SRSI project! We follow Broken City Lab as they take possession of the storefronts, get them ready for the residencies, and discuss the location and the ideas behind the project.
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 [...]
Sergio Albiac’s ‘Content is Queen’
Content is Queen is a new generative video painting by Sergio Albiac. Using computer programming language, he modifies the tools a painter would normally use and creates dynamic “paintings” from found video. If you’re having a hard time discerning what the image is, take a few steps back. Now the title makes sense! Sergio states, [...]
BCL Report: End of April, 2011 (the Art of Planning & Collaboration)
Over three days this week, we got a lot done. And, as I write this, stuff is still getting done. This is why collaboration is such a valuable model for art practice. But, it’s not just about getting stuff done, it’s the challenges, the insights, the novel perspectives that can be brought up around a [...]
Border Interviews: Kero
To get a jump start on laying the groundwork for our upcoming How to Forget the Border Completely project, we have decided to interview a small group of individuals who may be considered “experts” of the Windsor-Detroit border in some way. Kero, a musician/graphic designer/video artist, was our first candidate for a video interview. He [...]
A Homage to Detroit
Just thinking about HFBC, wondering how we might start capturing our view of these cities… Jessica Care Moore’s poetry interpreted by filmmaker Stephen McGee for Ted X Detroit. Via AshleyEN
![Over the last week or so, we’ve added a few new things to our little website here. It’s funny because there’s a lot of research that goes on in the background, in terms of things we come across and don’t blog about, ideas that we email to one another, and documenting our process and posting [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/bcl-sidebar-dec09-150x150.jpg "How we use this site for research (in-part)")
![In order to keep things moving with Eric Boucher’s Micro-Residency project, I invited Eric to interview my oldest (in terms of age) friend Terry Marentette yesterday afternoon. I met Terry two years ago in an Art History class at the School of Visual Arts and was immediately astonished by his immense knowledge of Windsor’s past. [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/042-150x150.jpg "Eric Boucher Micro-Residency Iteration 3/5")
![While we prepare for the launch of CIVIC SPACE on June 21st with the Letter Library project, we’re also settling into a routine of being in the space at 411 Pelissier. The idea of having a space of our own is really new to us. Four years after starting BCL by meeting in the classrooms [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/IMG_8921-150x150.jpg "A Week in the Studio: Some Documentation and Reflections on Last Week at CIVIC SPACE")
![Not that we don’t already have our hands full, but seeing as it’s nearly March, we’re starting to look ahead to summer time activities. These activities might be somewhat related to this ongoing conversation we’ve been having on the blog. We’ll be posting more information soon, but for now, just know that if you’ve been [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/srsi-screenshot-poster-150x150.jpg "New Project Soon (Keep Your July Open)")
![We’ve been really lucky. For a couple of years now, we’ve been able to do the work that we’ve wanted to do, make the kinds of changes that we want to see, and create a set of projects that have kept us interested in staying in Windsor. The Storefront Residencies for Social Innovation wrapped up [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IMG_2211-150x150.jpg "How to Briefly Describe Amazing Things: A Recap of 30 Days of SRSI")
![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, Hiba, Sara, and Justin tackled some initial planning for the installation of the CIVIC SPACE / Letter Library sign. The Letter Library idea came out of trying to think through how we might make our own sign for the space, so it’s really great to finally see the letters going up. Hiba got on the [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/IMG_9982-150x150.jpg "Installing the sign for CIVIC SPACE, take 1")
![On Day 2 of our ATTC Calgary with Truck Gallery’s CAMPER Urban Discovery project, our ongoing work finds us asking questions about a city that we’re still just getting to know. The questions are, necessarily, basic and straight forward. We’re not conducting deep sociological or statistical research, but rather trying to tease out a series of narratives that [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_3290-150x150.jpg "ATTC Calgary Day 2: Stories of a Distanced City")
![Justin heads to Portland to present at the PSU MFA Art and Social Practice Conversation Series this week. The PASPWACS is a brand new series of presentations by people and organizations related to Art and Social Practice including artists, non-profits, writers, and architects. The presentations are free and open to the public and take place [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/PSU-logo-150x150.jpg "BCL @ PSU MFA Art and Social Practice Conversation Series"){kind=logo}
![Courtesy of the always brilliant Steven … There’s now a new submission form that allows you to get a quick preview of what your Text In-Transit panel could look like, along with a fun little colour swatch. If you’ve already submitted, it’s worth submitting more just to try this out, and if you haven’t submitted yet—get [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bcl_textintransit-submit-150x150.jpg "New Text In-Transit Submission Form!")
![It was a beautiful day in Windsor yesterday. Something like 30 degrees fahrenheit cooler than it was just a couple days ago when we were installing at Forest City Gallery. We started and finished our project for this year’s Windsor Biennial. We’ll have a lot more photos soon. The show opens on September 21, 2011, [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/IMG_0784-150x150.jpg "How We Spent Labour Day Afternoon")
![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 [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IMG_9785-150x150.jpg "SRSI, Day 1: Cleaning up the Storefronts")
![Day two of Create Here‘s City Share Conference was just as busy as the first, but we got tons of work accomplished, and we were even able to take a short tour of the city at lunch! After breakfast, we broke off into our groups once again. We were still trying to come up with [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/IMG_0531-150x150.jpg "Day Two of the City Share Conference in Chattanooga, TN!")
![Danielle and I spent the better part of the afternoon a couple days ago going through wheatpaste recipes, ultimately going with the simplest. We had wanted to avoid having to use a hot plate to make it, and after 4 different recipes requiring varying amounts of heat, we were successful. Flour. Flour + cold water. [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/the-setup-150x150.jpg "Wheatpaste Research")
![For part 4 of Eric Boucher’s Micro-Residency, we trekked all the way out to Harrow to interview my good friend, and local musician, Derek Harrison. I met Derek way back in my first week of University and became friends very quickly. Since that first semester in Windsor, Derek has been leaving Windsor left and right, [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/derek-150x150.jpg "Eric Boucher Micro-Residency Iteration 4/5")
![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")
![We were only about half strong this week, but Josh, Rosina and I plowed ahead on the letters, this time focusing on just the front and back faces of the letters K, A, E, T, and I. We figured that since we had the projector set up anyways, it was worth doing as many faces as we [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/IMG_2985-150x150.jpg "Cardboard Letters Continued")
![Yet another extremely productive weekend at BCL HQ! We’ve been finishing up the last preparations for our cardboard letters, which we hope to be unveiling them in our first chosen spot next week! On friday night, we cracked open the paint once more to paint the final coats on before we begin to add the [...]](http://d1ugx41kvdwavn.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/IMG_0578-150x150.jpg "Prepping for Next Week- Last Coats and Beads!")