CFC Media Lab community newsletter
< December, 2007 >
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Table of Contents
1.) CFC Media Lab Events
2.) CFC Media Lab Updates
3.) Alumni Updates
4.) Local and non-local Events, Calls & Deadlines
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CFC MEDIA LAB EVENTS
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** CFC Media Lab Karaoke Super Alumni Holiday Party
There is serious fun to be had at the CFC Media Lab’s annual holiday party. The Flashboyz, consisting of 66% CFC Media Lab Alumni (Kori Golding and Owen Milburn), will be performing and will, hopefully, inspire you to do the same when the karaoke begins!
It is also a fabulous time for you to meet our newest residents!
Friday December 14, 2007
7:30pm – 2am
Magpie
812 Dundas Street West
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CFC MEDIA LAB UPDATES
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** IAEP 2007 Fall Session
As usual, we have a stellar group of residents inhabiting the stables for the Fall 2007 IAEP session. They come from a wide range of disciplines including music, graphic design, performance art, programming, painting, dance and documentary filmmaking. They are Andrew Mallis, Simone Maurice, Carlos Ghioni, Ulysses Castellanos, Isabella Stefanescu, Genevieve Godin, Tristan Brown, Sharon Rotman, Zan Chandler, Eliot Woolner. If you would like to find out more about these fine individuals their bios are attached.
They have now moved into groups and have begun production. Three groups have formed:
SEZ- Sharon Rotman, Eliot Woolner, Zan Chandler
GEST – Carlo Ghoini, Isabella Stefanescu
GUSTA – Genevieve Godin, Ulysses Castellanos, Andrew Mallis, Simone, Tristan Brown
We are all excited and intrigued to see what develops during production. The soft launch for this group will be held at the CFC Media Lab on February 8 so that you can see what has been developing as well!
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** IPL
Accessible Action Pact took Xmedia conference by storm! Deborah Hession and Faisel Anwar presented the newest incarnation of their Accessible Action Pact project. A major part of the conference for AAP was the opportunity created by Xmedia for them to meet with mentors to further develop their project. Their work was well received by their mentors, companies and content producers from around the world. The conference was held this year itself was held at Singapore’s newest technological arts university. The IPL provided support to help them get there.
IPL at BNMI
The BNMI put on their annual IPL workshop from November 26-28, 2007. This workshop is aimed at furthering Canadian digital media content and technology creators’ skills for the interactive media market.
This year Alumni project InVUze [nee VirJ] was presented by Jacqueline Nuwame. As well, two current IAEP residents, Carlo Ghoni and Genevieve Godin, were selected to attend and develop their project. The mentors include CFC Media Lab Faculty member Marty Avery along with Yoshio Amira, Michael Ede, David Kretz, Wm Leler and Ravi Shukla.
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** INFP – Late Fragment
After three years of planning and production, CFC Media Lab, in partnership with the NFB, has completed North America’s first interactive feature film, Late Fragment, which has been garnering worldwide attention. Its world premiere was at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007 and also screened at FCNM in Montreal this past October. It is currently being submitted to other major festivals around the world.
Intended as a console experience, the DVD of Late Fragment is currently under production and will be released in Spring of 2008 by Mongrel Media.
An intense cinematic experience, this film explores three strangers, three lives — fractured by thoughts and acts of seething violence. In the interactive feature film Late Fragment, you unravel their interlocked stories with a simple click.
This was the INFP’s inagural film and it featured a host of CFC Media Lab staff, faculty and alumni including Daryl Cloran [writer/director], Ana Serrano [producer], Galen Scorer[Interactive Video System Designer as well as the Quality Assurance Tools Designer], Christina Santiago [interactive line producer (along with Caitlin O’Donovan) and Quality Assurance lead], Susan Gorbet was our User Test designer, with Bronwyn Anderson in tow, Siobhan O’Flynn was our story editor, Shelly Simmons was one of our User Test coordinators, Tahir Mahmood and Sarah Townshend were on our Quality Assurance Team and Maxim Fishman was our DVD Authoring Researcher and Randy Horton was our form Quality Assurance consultant.
Late Fragment recent and upcoming events include:
***Official Selection
Toronto International Film Festival
September 2007
***Official Selection
Festival de Nouveau Cinema
October 2007
***Nuit Blanche Premiere
October 2007
***Keynote Interactive Cinema Talk
Ghent International Film Festival
October 2007
***Whistler Film Festival Interactive Cinema Workshop
November 2007
***Victoria Film Festival
Trigger Points Pacific Symposium
February 2008
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** CFC Media Lab Exhibition 2007: Digital Alchemy
With a new venue and a new date, this years’ CFC Media Lab Exhibition 2007: Digital Alchemy was an exciting and memorable event. Held during Nuit Blanche this year’s prototypes were seen by over 2300 people! Showcased this year were the following projects:
Strata is a mobile based, GPS enabled, interactive mediascape that features historic Canadian sites. Over the last thousand years, Canada has developed from wilderness to townships, from townships to urban sprawl. Guided by a GPS enabled mobile phone to various locations, or waypoints, visitors can explore these changes through the stories that Strata has created that depict the early development of each site.
Katie Kehoe, Sanjay Papinazath, Gregory Richardson, Brule Seignoret
World Without Water makes hand washing and the everyday convention of facing a bathroom mirror into a global action. Wash in the sink and enter an immersive play of images from desert dunes to icefields. This interactive installation is a one-of-a-kind experience that may transform you, and in turn, the world.
Suzette Araujo, Tahir Mahmood, Kalli Paakspuu
Witness That Place is a locative media project that explores interactivity through a series of online mappings and marked site-specific locations. By indicating stories of trauma in public spaces the public interrogates notions of space, memory, trauma, and restoration by sharing their stories and documenting the act of witnessing to create an evolutionary storytelling framework.
Patricia Lee , Sarah Shamash
LMNO-Pics is an interactive language game for children to explore their online family photos. Using playful letter blocks, a unique spelling board, and an interactive interface, kids explore their world!
Jason Goodman, Mary Plasterer, Dave Reynolds, Sarah Townshend
We also showcased our projects in our production and research initiatives:
CulturALL
Move, play and learn with CULTURALL ACTION PACT. Through the use of an interactive sculpture of a flying bat, Accessible Action Pact engages kids with physical disabilities to learn by using their bodies to control the bat as it explores a virtual world before them. The bat’s metal skeletal frame easily adjusts to accommodate most sizes of wheelchair. Different sensors and adaptable buttons can be plugged in for alternative interactive play. An adjustable touch-video screen is attached so that teachers or attendants can assist in the play if the user is having difficulty. Accessible Action Pact was created by Deborah Hession and Faisal Anwar and produced by the CFC in partnership with the CulturAll network (The Banff New Media Institute and The University of Toronto’s Adaptive Technology Resource Centre). Future applications may include use by educational environments and therapeutic centres. Visit www.actionpactdesigns.com <http://www.actionpactdesigns.com/> for further information.
Faisal Anwar, Deborah Hession
INFP
Late Fragment – North America’s first interactive feature films and the INFP’s inaugural production, Late Fragment was VJ’d in the gallery’s theatre and was also available in the lounge for visitors to control the action themselves! This project was well received and was a great opportunity for visitors to see new ways of exploring the film genre. More information about this project can be found further down in the newsletter.
Directors -Daryl Cloran, Anita Doron, Mateo Guez / Writers – Daryl Cloran, Anita Doron, Mateo Guez / Producers – Anita Lee (NFB), Ana Serrano (CFC)
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** CFC Media Lab Staff
CFC Media Lab is thrilled to have a fantastic new Programs Coordinator — Leonardo Dell’Anno. Lenny, like Julie and Tina, hails from Humber’s Production programs. His specialization was producing and has in his short career already produced a handful of short films. He also has an impeccable background in administration and executive assistance.
Julie DeAngelis, our previous stellar Programs Coordinator, is now busily working for DeAngelis Entertainment, her family business. They are currently in production for several events including their annual performance at Roy Thompson Hall, a stint at Carnegie Hall in January, Joey and Gina’s Comedy Wedding, and various musical events in between. www.bobdeangelis.com
Randy Horton, previously our Network Developer, is now devoted full time to his MFA Documentary Media. We are very excited to see what he produces during his time there!
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** CFC Media Lab Job Posting
The CFC Media Lab has a job opening for a creative hacker and network developer. This part time position provides essential network technology support to the full range of new media training, production and research programmes at the Media Lab. Position also provides development and designing of innovative new media applications using a range of online technologies. For further information please contact Galen Scorer at galen@cfccreates.com.
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ALUMNI UPDATES
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**Jacqueline Nuwame wins 2007 Quebecor BWTVF Mentorship Award!
Jacqueline Nuwame wins the 2007 Quebecor BWTVF Mentorship Award presented by WIFT [Women in Film & Television] in association with the Banff World Television Festival, June 10-13, 2007.
This national competitive program gives one talented Canadian female or male producer, of a visible minority or Aboriginal group, the invaluable opportunity to prepare for attending the 2007 Banff World Television Festival through an intensive three-month Market Mentorship and Festival Bursary with one of Canada’s leading broadcast executives, Karen King. The BWTVF experience is comprehensive, allowing the award winner to take full advantage of the business and creative opportunities available at this world-class festival.
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** Cieo Creative
Cieo Creative, founded by CFC Media Lab Alumni Jason Goodman, Mary Plasterer and Dave Reynolds, is currently working with 2 major US toy companies on their first interactive toy. This interactive language game enables kids to explore their online digital family photos in a fun and action packed way! This exciting new game will hit stores everywhere in August 2008. www.cieocreative.com
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** Network Touch, Galen Scorer, at IA25
Galen Scorer, CFC Media Lab’s Technology & Research Manager, will be presenting Network Touch as a part of InterAccess’ 25 anniversary exhibit, IA25: Mapping a practice of new media art. This exhibition co-curated by Nina Czegledy and Angella Mackey explores and pays tribute to the vibrant history of media art in Canada. The historical background and context of “logic in the machine” is also investigated by this event. Celebrating InterAccess’ 25th Anniversary, the exhibition features artists and curators with ties to InterAccess, including Norman White, Simone Jones, Galen Scorer and emerging artist Lorena Salomé. Workshops and master classes in electronics and interactive design will be held in conjunction with the exhibition.
January 25- March 8, 2008
Opening, January 25, 2008 8pm.
For more information please see www.interaccess.org <http://www.interaccess.org>
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**I See a Darkness, Ulysses Castellanos at Gallery TPW
Current resident Ulysses Castellanos is also part of a residency project at Gallery TPW and will be showcasing his work until February 2007.
Do you sometimes get the strange feeling that someone is in your room with you, but you are the only person there, so you get the urge to turn on every light in the house? Did you ever get creeped out by a certain TV show as a kid, maybe a science program with a spooky soundtrack that was only meant for the “grownups”? Were you ever afraid of clowns? The “I SEE A DARKNESS” curatorial residency takes these feelings and explores its possibilities for and in contemporary art.
As part of my residency I am using multiple sites of dissemination. Alongside a gallery exhibition in February 2007, I’m exploring the use of the Internet — in the form of YouTube, Blogspot, and the TPW website — for programming and outreach.
http://gallerytpw.ca/programming/0702-UCastellanos.html
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**Stitch Media
Evan and Shelley, CFC Media Lab alumni, are excited to announce the launch of Stitch Media’s newest project The Border: Interactive, funded by the Bell New Media Fund. It’s a cross-platform extension to a TV drama series airing on CBC in January called “The Border” divided into two elements: Mobile Contest and Interactive Episode.
The first is a mobile contest where people take pictures of these Quick Response codes or “QR codes” using their cellphones that decode into virtual passport stamps. There are as many stamps as there are border crossings in Canada. With each stamp uploaded from their cell phones to their virtual passport (which they can check online through The Border’s website), they are entered in a draw to win a big fancy prize (to be announced). We’re pretty psyched about this portion of the project because the QR codes will also be included in a heavy cross-Canada CBC-run marketing campaign.
The other is an interactive episode, if you will, that you experience through the show’s website. It’s a mix of live action with the characters from the show and game play where the user is asked to join the border’s defense team (or ‘ICS team’ [Immigration Customs Security]) and help solve border-related crimes, as they do in the show. Narratively, it starts before the first episode.
Evan Jones (Feb ’03) – Producer
Shelley Simmons (Feb ’06) – Project Manager
www.cbc.ca/theborder <http://www.cbc.ca/theborder>
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**element156_ Digital Media Centre Launches in Toronto
CFC Media Lab alumnus Tom Kuo teamed up with FITC Design &Technology Events Group as designer and project-manager to co-produce element156_ Digital Media Centre in Toronto ( www.element156.ca <http://www.element156.ca/> ). Located in Kensington market at 156 Augusta Avenue, this 3 story 5000 sq/ft building hosts Toronto’s first computer art based interactive gallery ( www.pixelgallery.org <http://www.pixelgallery.org/> ), a school specializing in Rich Media training
( www.richmediainstitute.com <http://www.richmediainstitute.com/> ), a combination of physical and digital design studios, and a store front containing awesome design, art and modern technology related books, magazines, gadgets, toys, and cool T-shirts
( www.function13.ca <http://www.function13.ca/> ).
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**[murmur] events and updates.
[murmur] launched a small project at the Toronto Reference Library
this month, to commemorate its 30th anniversary:
http://murmurtoronto.ca/
[murmur] will have a single-location pilot project in Sao Paulo
launching December 5th: http://mobilefest.com.br
[murmur] is partnering with the Playwrights Guild of Canada on Uth
Ink, a youth playwriting initiative with a strong community focus.
They will be launching this project in twenty communities across Canada in
the next three years!
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**Launch of Media Lab Toronto
CFC Media Lab alumnus, Gabe Sawney is part of Media Lab Toronto, a collective creating
work at the intersection of technology, media, art and experience design. They launched their collective and their site at the end of November 2007. http://medialabtoronto.ca <http://medialabtoronto.ca/>
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**Resolve Labs in beta testing for new project called Pax E-democracy
CFC Media Lab alumnus, Andreas Ua’Siaghail has started Pax e-democracy, a collaborative role-playing democracy “game”, and has hired Sara Townsend also former resident to manage this new project. They launched their beta-testing site here at http://www.resolvelabs.com/alphaBetaGaga/
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**A new band is born
CFC Media Lab alumni, Kori Golding and Owen Milburn have created a new ghetto rave music collective called FlashBoyz. You can see their kickin’ x-mas Myspace page here: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=70420882 <http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=70420882>
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**Virj has morphed into inVuze
CFC Media Lab alumnus, Rawl Banton has teamed up with Adam Bacsalmasi and Jaqueline Nuwame to launch inVuze — an interactive out of home broadband media network providing digital music and other forms of media to bars, lounges, nightclubs, poolhalls and other public spaces. You can see their beta stills here: http://invuze.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 <http://invuze.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1>
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** MOVERS & SHAKERS
The following list (obviously not exhaustive, so please send us your news if you have moved or shaken things latelyJ) of alumni in no particular order, have either switched jobs, found new ones, and now occupy interesting spaces and places in this whirlwind world of new media:
John Kalangis
Executive in Charge of Original Programming, Interactive
Arts and Entertainment
CBC Television
Tessa Sproule
Executive in Charge of Digital Programming
CBC Television
Factual Entertainment
Samantha Hodder
Executive Director
DOC Ontario
Geoff Siskind
Producer
Search Engine
CBC
Bronwyn Anderson
Design Director
Trapeze Media
Noam Muscovitch
Director of Operations
Ithentic
Gabe Sawney
Sessional Instructor
Interaction Design
OCAD
Rawl Banton
Partnership Executive
Achilles Media
Richard Kanee
Director Business Development
CTV Digital
(Now we know that there are a lot more of you who have changed positions and/or are doing amazing things. Please send us your news and we can circulate them to our community. Also we will be asking you to fill out our biannual resident information surveys in the new year, so stay tuned for that.)
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LOCAL & non_local EVENTS, CALLS & DEADLINES
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** Pixel Gallery officially opened November 17th with their inaugural exhibit -”The Touch Show”
Pixel’s new mantra is “touch” with a focus on creating discourse around new and emerging technology and how it relates to immersive art, design and techno-culture. The inaugural exhibit is called The Touch Show. This immersive exhibit is designed to bring people together to interact with art, design and technology.
Come and gaze in technological amazement as people create and interact with illustrations created in real-time, see amoeba like structures transcend the screen, immerse yourself in an interactive front window, play with a giant vinyl record you can scratch and see a 60MM laser tag our building!
The presenting artists are:
Zachery Lieberman > http://thesystemis.com/drawnInstallation/#video
Chris Sugrue > http://csugrue.com/delicateBoundaries
The GRL > http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=76#video
Nanika > http://www.nanikawa.com
Craig Swann > http://www.crashmedia.com
Greg Hermanovic > http://www.derivativeinc.com
info: www.pixelgallery.org
join the Pixel opening on facebook: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=5299094462
156 Augusta
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** transmediale.08 – CONSPIRE…
After two years as guest of the Academy of Arts, transmediale.08 returns for its next edition in January/February 2008 to Berlin’s landmark House of World Cultures giving focus to digital technology as an intrinsic element of worldwide contemporary culture .
Under the theme CONSPIRE… transmediale.08 aims to hear from a broad range of artists, media activists and academics working within the realms of digital art and culture in ways which may be read as elaborating upon and challenging our understanding of collaborative and network practice. As such transmediale.08 looks to the cross-disciplinary tinkerers, utopian spelunkers, conspiratorial hoaxsters and stealth tacticians who question, subvert, undermine and bypass the unspoken rules, hidden codes of conduct and assumed truths entrenched within our information driven communication cultures and ideological belief structures.
By exploring subversive artistic methodologies and developing (counter-) conspiratorial strategies to uncover new forms of expression and digital discourse CONSPIRE… will attempt to enter the increasingly prevalent yet ambiguous worlds of network induced narratives, cryptic environments and speculative inquiry.
Festival 30 Jan – 3 Feb 2008, Berlin, Germany www.transmediale.de <http://www.transmediale.de>
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** ICE 2008: Interactive Content Exchange is a high-level conference dedicated to the business of content on interactive platforms.
ICE 2008 sessions will offer delegates an executive-level interactive exchange and big picture opportunities to explore IDEAS, MODELS and MARKETS.
MARCH 26 – 28, 2008, Toronto, Canada www.ice08.com <http://www.ice08.com>
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** Digifest
WATER’S EDGE – CATASTROPHE, TRAUMA, POSSIBILITY
Taking place March 28 – 30 2008, digifest will explore the topic of WATER’S EDGE, focusing on artistic approaches and interpretations of the themes of crisis, prevention, relief, expectation, surprise, rebirth, emergency – and the emergence of new ideas. DX and participating partners will involve new media artists, filmmakers, videogame creators, designers, scientists and more, in investigations of such topics as “relief housing” and “drinking water”.
March 28 – 30, 2008, Toronto, Canada www.dx.org/digifest/ <http://www.dx.org/digifest/>
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**Siggraph 2008: Call For Submissions
e•volve | i’välv | verb 1. To change to meet the needs of a dynamic environment.
We are soliciting theme-based work to address the greatest challenges and opportunities facing us both as a community and as a society. The common denominator in all accepted work will be the high quality that has always been the hallmark of the SIGGRAPH conference. A jury of leaders in research, arts, science, education, and entertainment will evaluate submissions based on the quality of the work and its importance to our community.
Because one of SIGGRAPH’s main missions is to encourage and promote the work of future generations in computer graphics and interactive techniques, we encourage submissions from students, as well as from the world’s leading thinkers, researchers, and artists.
The submission and review process emphasizes the work rather than presentation format. We have a single general submission form that allows submitters to describe their work once and propose that it be evaluated for presentation in several different formats. For example, a single submission can simultaneously propose an installation, a performance, and a talk.
The SIGGRAPH community is in a new phase of energetic evolution, and the conference is moving in a new and dynamic direction. However, we can’t do any of this without you! Let us explore the future together.
www.siggraph.org/s2008/submissions
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** Western Front Gallery, Vancouver
Western Front Gallery has an ongoing call for submission for media arts projects. The curator of the Media Arts Program selects the artists in residence, and produces collaborative projects. Artists who are interested in participating in projects or as solo Artists in Residence, may contact the curator at media@front.bc.ca <mailto:media@front.bc.ca> . Please e-mail first with a brief decription of your interests and proposed project.
front.bc.ca/mediaarts
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** open call : SUBOTRON artist in residence spring 2008 wanted <http://subotron.com/595-open-call-subotron-artist-in-residence-spring-2008-wanted/>
As you may know, as part of the air-program of MuseumsQuartier´s quartier21, SUBOTRON invites artists in residence to work here in vienna on a regular basis. they get a studio at the museumsquartier for free and money to cover expenses.
background infos on the quartier21 site here <http://quartier21.mqw.at/Artist-in-Residence/> .
deutsch hier <http://quartier21.mqw.at/kuenstlerstudios/> .
artists in residence so far :
- indie game designer JANUZ <http://subotron.com/293-sa-280106-praesentation-alien-landing-vienna/> (Munich)
- streetartist SPACE INVADER <http://subotron.com/235-subotron-artist-in-residence-space-invader/> (Paris) space-invaders.com <http://space-invaders.com/>
- character designer RYOSKUKE TEI <http://subotron.com/147-fresh-subotron-artist-in-residence-october-november/> (Tokio) furifuri.com <http://furifuri.com/>
- gameboy-sequencer innovator OLIVER WITTCHOW <http://subotron.com/446-subotron-nanoloop-social-meetings-musikprogramm-entwicklung-als-work-in-progress/> (Hamburg) nanoloop.com <http://nanoloop.com/>
- gameculture videoblogger GAMEJEW <http://subotron.com/542-freitags-im-oktober-play-with-the-gamejew/> (Los Angeles) gamejew.com <http://gamejew.com/>
we are now looking for a female artist who suits this alignment.
topic :
games & gender
date of residency :
march & april 2008
requirements :
- concept of what you will be working on during your stay : fine arts / design / hard-soft-ware / theory / …
- cv
send to :
office@subotron.com <mailto:office@subotron.com>
deadline :
friday 14. december 2007
we are looking forward to exciting ideas !
