No Experience Necessary: A Workshop Series by Momentum Film & Video Collective

4x6 FRONT

No Experience Necessary – Experiments with Video: Hosted by Momentum Film & Video Collective

Saturday, December 7th from 12-5pm – CIVIC Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor)

This workshop, hosted by Windsor’s very own Momentum Film & Video Collective and happening at Broken City Lab’s CIVIC Space, will explore several historical and contemporary concepts and practices of experimental video through screenings, discussions and a hands on video production and editing project. If you’re interested in digital and analog video, this workshop will help you sharpen your skills in visual experimentation and allow you a chance to create with others. We hope to see you there!

Feel free to bring your own camera for shooting & computer for editing.

WORKSHOP OVERVIEW

Presentation / Discussion / Screening
Tech Talk: Digital and Analog Video Capturing / Editing Strategies
Themes / Concepts / Imagery for Experimenting
Shooting & Editing
Present in-workshop Experiments

There is a nominal fee of $10 to attend this workshop. Please pre-register by emailing momentumfilm@live.com.

Desire and the City Day 1: The Results

IMG_3064

This past Saturday, CIVIC Space saw the first session of Desire and the City, the first of a two-part design workshop created by our friend Kiki Athanassiadis. Kiki is interested in the potential that abandoned lots suggest, and since Windsor has many of them, there was an abundance of source material to pull from. She put together a kit for everyone to use; it consisted of survey forms to use at the abandoned lots, large black and white images of lots in Windsor, and images of objects printed on vellum that could be taped and overlapped. These materials allowed us to visualize our ideas in a very gratifying way (as you’ll see below).

IMG_3054

Kiki also posted some colour shots of general areas and a “master map” of where the sites are located in the city.

IMG_3058

Here Kiki explains her survey forms and what we might want to note once we head out to our desired lots.

IMG_3061

After Kiki describes the project and the instructions for how the session will work, we start to think about which lots we might visit. Sara and I decided to go East and visit a lot near Caesar’s Windsor.

IMG_3062

Here’s a closer shot of the survey forms. They are about half the size of a regular sheet of paper and bound with a think glue. They’re nice.

IMG_3066

Kiki shows us where the lots she’s photographed are located in relation to the downtown core.

IMG_3068

…and we’re on our way. Most of the pack decided to head West, but we went East.

IMG_3069

Embarrassingly enough, I forgot to get a shot of the property we chose. It looked like it was for sale, but the real estate signs and wooden posts were left in a heap in the middle of the lot. When we returned, we briefly shared our ideas. The ideas ranged from community garden proposals to a manmade volcano. We used the pages Kiki laid out to mock up our ideas in space. Obviously, there wasn’t a volcano printout, but most people found what they needed in the stack.

IMG_3073

Everyone got really invested in his/her creation and, consequently, we didn’t realize how quickly time was going by.

IMG_3078

Here’s a little covered garden / naturalized area tucked into the corner of this lot.

IMG_3079

Here is a celebratory lot between two commercial spaces, complete with bunting and all.

IMG_3080

I didn’t know a pallet pathway was a possibility until I saw this idea. The pallets could also be filled with something, or be used as planters.

IMG_3083

Here’s something you don’t see enough of: public tree houses. There really isn’t a compelling reason why something like this couldn’t exist, besides the issue of accessibility. It also looks like the main treehouse is a garden…interesting.

IMG_3082

Here is a pretty serious community garden proposal that covers a whole abandoned lot with greenery. It looks like it might also house a massive compost bin. Impressive!

IMG_3085

This proposal looks like a fairly substantial gazebo structure or performance stage. I like the way it works with the shape of the railroad ties pictured beneath it.

IMG_3090

There’s more to come, so please join us for the second day of Desire and the City on Saturday, September 14th from 1-4pm at CIVIC Space. Don’t forget to register here. Hope to see you!

Desire and the City: A Citizen’s Abandoned-Lot Design Consultancy (Sept. 7th & 14th at Civic Space)

Desire and the City

DESIRE AND THE CITY: A Citizen’s Abandoned-Lot Design Consultancy Led by Kiki Athanassiadis (Register Now!)

September 7th & September 14th, 2013 from 1-4pm – CIVIC Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario) 

Led by recent transplant and guest artist Kiki Athanassiadis, this is Part One of a citizen’s design workshop to imagine, design, build and deploy a non-permanent design solution for an empty lot near you.

Is there an empty lot that’s close to your heart? One that you think is great as is or, conversely, think could be put to much better use?

The aim of this 2-day design consultancy, where you become both client and designer, is to help you articulate via playful means, your desire for civic improvement.

For two Saturday afternoons in September, CIVIC Space will be transformed into your local pop-up design studio & consultancy. We will visit local empty lots, collect data and play with paper & reproductions of the sites and various design elements that each designer can assemble into their civic enhancement solutions.

Day 1: We concentrate on sites around Civic Space.

Day 2: Participants work on sites of specific interest to them – maybe ones located in their own neighbourhood!

This workshop is open to all! No design experience necessary. Please bring your camera if you have one.

For more information, please contact Kiki Athanassiadis here.

Please Register Below:


[gravityform id=”21″ name=”Desire and the City Registration Form” title=”false” description=”false”]

Slow Down the City: A Month of Alternative Transportation Workshops at Civic Space

Slow Down the City - Promo Card

Slow Down the City: A Series of Alternative Transportation Events throughout the Month of July

We’re pleased to announce a month-long series of workshops here at CIVIC SPACE that will explore the pace of our automotive city and how we might slow it down with our actions and transportation choices. We’ll be teaming with with local bike co-op City Cyclery and local longboarder Troy Linton to host four events throughout the month of July that will use skill sharing and group rides to open a dialog about the pace of Windsor.

All Slow Down the City events are free and open to everyone. Bring your bike, board, or come without. Looking forward to seeing you there!


Monday, July 8th (7pm) – Workshop #1: Bike Maintenance with City Cyclery

Monday, July 22nd (7pm) – Workshop #2: Bike Restoration with City Cyclery

Thursday, July 25th (7pm) – Workshop #3: Longboarding with Troy Linton

Monday, July 29th (7pm) – Workshop #4: Group Slow Ride

ALL EVENTS WILL BEGIN AT CIVIC SPACE – 411 PELISSIER STREET, WINDSOR, ONTARIO

Silkscreen Power with Mary Tremonte: This Tuesday, 4pm at Civic Space!

Windsor Youth Arts Week - Poster (2013)

Silkscreen Power: A Printmaking Workshop Hosted by Justseeds Artist Cooperative Member Mary Tremonte

Tuesday, May 7th at 4pm – Civic Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario)

We are proud to be involved in Windsor Youth Arts Week 2013, this city’s contribution to National Youth Arts Week, a weeklong celebration of creativity in Canada. Windsor Youth Arts Week will provide an opportunity for youth ages 13 to 30 to express and exchange ideas, get excited about creative activity, and celebrate their contributions to their communities and to Canadian culture.

On Tuesday, May 7th, join Mary Tremonte, Justseeds Artist Cooperative member and current Broken City Lab artist in residence, as she reveals the magic of silkscreening, using posters, bandanas, pennants, and t-shirts as canvasses. Also, feel free to bring your own materials for printing (t-shirts, etc.)!

To view a list of the other events happening during Windsor Youth Arts Week, please visit here.

Photography for Goods: A Skills for Good(s) Sharing Session

IMG_1438

Last Friday, Mike DiRisio, University of Windsor MFA candidate and artist behind the pop-up free store project Common Goods, stopped by to run a workshop on the art of the perfect object photograph. He started with a handful of found objects and led us through the process of studio setup, photography, and editing. All of this was informed by the photographic work he did to showcase the objects donated to Common Goods.

IMG_1435

Mike did a demonstration of objects that would be easy and difficult to retouch using his method in Photoshop. Because of the contrast between the radio and his white paper background, this example was the easiest.

Common Goods is a project that creates a forum for the free exchange and circulation of used goods – everything from books to sofas to ceramic owls. All items that come through the Common Goods pop-up free stores cease to be owned, however, and are redesignated as common property (meaning not the possession of a single individual).

The drop off location is in the Lebel Building at the University of Windsor (click here for map and instructions).

You can also email Mike to arrange a pick-up time.

Photography for Goods: A Skills for Good(s) Event Hosted by Mike DiRisio

Owl

Photography for Goods: A Skills for Good(s) Event Hosted by Mike DiRisio

Friday, April 26th, 7pm @ CIVIC SPACE – 411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario

Photography for Goods, a Skills for Good(s) workshop hosted by University of Windsor MFA Candidate Mike DiRisio, will cover ways to light and shoot objects to white out the photograph’s background – methods similar to those used in product photography. However, we will be using very basic materials, like desk lamps and large sheets of paper, so that you can easily reproduce this at home. We’ll then do some basic edits using Adobe Photoshop software, to completely white out the background and make the photographs as sharp as possible!

Please bring a used object (preferably something no bigger than a microwave) to donate to the Common Goods freestore – we’ll be photographing these for the demo.

Please visit Common Goods to see examples of objects photographed this way, and to learn more about the project Common Goods.

The First Night of Blog Party

DSC_7520

Last night was the first night of Blog Party, a biweekly get-together hosted by me and Josh. Blog party aims to bring bloggers in the Windsor and Detroit area together to discuss ideas, get inspiration, and learn about blogging in a collaborative environment.

Since Blog Party is of course a party, we decorated accordingly.

blogparty2

The first meeting was all about getting to know each other and discussing why we blog and what we can do with our blogs. As a collective, we agreed on a meeting format consisting of a 15-20 minute tutorial to begin each session, followed by group “studio time” where everyone can work on their blog with help from me, Josh, and the rest of the group. Everyone had a lot of really great advice about what does and doesn’t work in the blogging world. It will be really beneficial to receive advice and opinions from such a diverse range of people.

We talked about what we want to see in tutorials; we’ll be covering information from how to take better photos and make web graphics to social networking and promoting your blog.

blogparty4

At the end of the meeting we all crowded around my computer and did a show and tell of blogs we all liked. Everyone who came got a stamp on their membership card and was sent on their way.

We plan on having accessible tutorials via Google Drive, just in case you miss a meeting. The next Blog Party is April 25, and even if you missed us yesterday, we hope you come!

Open Electronics Workshop Tonight: Introducing the Arduino

8077218145_94169de8bb_b

Photo by Zdjęcia Arkadiusz Sikorski on Flickr

Tonight at 7pm at Civic Space, our open Electronics Workshops continue with host Paul Anderson.

Tonight we are introducing and planning upcoming workshops with the Arduino, a popular single-board micro-controller used for a wide variety of tasks and projects.

It’s free and open to all skill levels. Come nerd it up with artists and electronically-minded thinkers and doers. No registration required!

Blog Party: A New Biweekly Get-together

block party!

Blog Party

We’re very excited to announce a new biweekly blogging night, Blog Party, starting Thursday, April 11th here at CIVIC SPACE! Blog Party aims to bring together local bloggers to discuss ideas, inspiration, and issues in the city and beyond, providing a time and space for writing, learning, and creating together, regardless of skill level.

Hosted by Sara and Josh, Blog Party is both an opportunity to learn and teach, and ultimately make great blogs. Blog Party works like a pot luck — you bring something you know how to do, and everyone else gets to sample it — together, we’ll learn how to blog better, faster, and smarter.


Upcoming Dates

June 6th & 20th

July 4th & 18th

August 1st, 15th, & 29th

@7pm, Civic Space – 411 Pelissier Street, Windsor