When We Were Young
[Source: Saw Video press release]
OTTAWA – November 24, 2011 – On Thursday, December 8th, SAW Video will celebrate its 30th anniversary with the screening, When We Were Young: Videos and Stories from the SAW Video Youth Program
Launched in 1997 and consisting of 6 editions until 2006, SAW Video’s full-time video training program for youth aged 18-30 was highly successful and stands as a model for such programs across the country. During its time at SAW Video, the youth program fostered a whole new generation of videomakers who transformed the face of the centre. Former youth program participants include Bear Thomas, a rising star in Canada’s art scene, Ryan Stec, new media artist and Artistic Director of Artengine, as well as past and present SAW Video staff and board members Ariel Smith, Linda Norstrom, Ashleigh Horricks, Kerry Campbell, and Maria Belisario who are just 7 of the more than 85 participants who took part in the program.
Funded by the Government of Canada, the program offered full-time training to underemployed youth and youth-at-risk for nearly a decade. According to SAW Video Director, Penny McCann: “As part of our 30th anniversary, we wanted to celebrate a program that truly transformed lives. The purpose of the program was to build skills in digital media, what it really did was open up a whole new world for the youth who participated.” Many of the participants still work in the field in Canada and internationally. Some have gone to the Canadian Film Centre and the Berlin International Film Festival Talent Lab, while others are now working for film festivals, galleries and broadcasters, including CBC, TVO, the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation and CPAC.
Join us for a reunion of these talented individuals and a special screening of some of the fantastic work made through the program, curated by SAW Video Youth Program alumni Jason St-Laurent & Anne Clarke.
Screening details:
When We Were Young: Videos and Stories from the SAW Video Youth program
Thursday, December 8th
Arts Court Theatre & Studio, 2 Daly Avenue
Screening 8pm
Free admission
Event sponsors: Sparrow Floral Design, Kichisippi Beer
The SAW Video Celebrates 30 Years with the Best of City
[Source: Saw Video press release]
OTTAWA – July 20, 2011 – In conjunction with our 30th anniversary, SAW Video is pleased announce HOT BOX, a multi-disciplinary summer social and fundraiser.
The first of several anniversary events coming later this fall, HOTBOX celebrates SAW Video at a time when the media arts have become a ubiquitous part of our global culture. Whether someone is capturing video on their mobile phone, or recording a sound installation on their laptop, the media arts are no longer on the fringes, but are an ever-expanding facet of our digital lives.
We are bringing together some of the city’s best VJs, DJs, restaurants and bands, to highlight SAW Video’s award-winning programs and raise a glass to the thriving artistic community we call home.
We will be featuring food stands from: Murray Street, The Manx Pub, Black Cat Bistro, Jak’s Kitchen, Pascale’s Ice Cream, Strata Pizza (Ottawa’s newest wood-fired pizza) and Kichesippi Beer.
Live music and video projections from: Bear Witness (A Tribe Called Red / Electric Pow-Wow), Holy Cobras, Adam Saikaley (electronic musician/dj & host of CBC’s Bandwidth), and more!
Rounding out HOTBOX will be a 30 prize raffle representing 30 years of SAW Video including prizes from NAC English Theatre, Top Of The World, ByTowne Cinema, GCTC, and many more.
Jeff Morton Bends Circuits And Rewires Minds
Created by Regina-based artist/performer Jeff Morton, this installation piece consists of multiple (6-12) small interactive stations for the creation of live, circuit-bent sound. Participants interact with push-buttons, sliders, dials, and other electronic controls to activate re-wired and modified toy electronic instruments. The installation is both a performable instrument and a composition written with physical objects, and is intended to communicate the impracticality of, and sometimes seemingly malicious intent of, electronic children’s toys that carry educational messages, particularly about music.
Jeff Morton will perform live in a showcase that encapsulates many of the ideas and concepts behind All The Horses and The Egg, using DIY modified instruments to produce new and unexpected musical forms.
Jeff Morton
Composer/performer Jeff Morton completed a Masters Degree in Music Composition at the University of Victoria. Jeff Morton performs as an improvising and electro-acoustic musician, and works with dancers, visual artists, and media artists across Canada and internationally. In addition to performing and composing, Jeff is a recording engineer, gallery technician, and graphic designer. He currently works out of Regina, Sk, Canada. See also www.nuthre.ca for recent activities and full CV.
Opening reception – Tuesday 26th, 6 – 9pm
Exhibition – Tuesday, April 26th 2011 – Saturday, May 7th 2011
Artengine – Arts Court, Room M70, 2 Daly Avenue, Ottawa Ontario
Gallery Hours: 12pm – 6pm, Wednesday to Sunday
Free admission
Performance – Thursday, April 28th 2011 at 9:00 PM
Club SAW – 67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa Ontario
Free admission
Presented in collaboration with the National Arts Centre’s Prairie Scene
SAW Video presents PUBLIC DOMAIN / REDUX The post‐earthquake screening
Public Domain / Domaine public
A media art commissioning project drawn from
Library and Archives Canada’s collection
SCREENING
Wednesday , 15 September 2010, 7pm
Library and Archives Canada Auditorium
395 Wellington St.
Free admission
OTTAWA – August 2010 – The June 23rd Val‐des‐Bois earthquake happened just hours before the premiere of SAW Video’s greatly anticipated national media art commissioning project, Public Domain. The tremors resulted in the temporary closure of the venue for SAW Video’s screening – the auditorium of the Library and Archives Canada. With the help of Facebook and other social media, the event was quickly rescheduled and took place the next day at 5pm at the Mayfair Theatre.
SAW Video is pleased to give the public another chance to view these groundbreaking contemporary video works with an encore, post‐earthquake screening taking place Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at the Library and Archives Canada auditorium, 395 Wellington St., at 7pm. Launched in June 2009, Public Domain is the first commissioning project of this scope undertaken by SAW Video. With the support of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts Media Arts Commissioning program, SAW Video commissioned seven accomplished media artists working in Canada to create new video works using public domain films and videos footage found in the Library and Archives Canada. The result is Public Domain, a programme of six new videos that present a unique and valuable opportunity to contribute to the ongoing discourse around copyrighted images. According to SAW Video director Penny McCann, “Works that are in the public domain are, theoretically, free from copyright restrictions, however the process for obtaining permission for these ‘public’ works can be expensive and time‐consuming. The purpose of Public Domain was to offer media artists the opportunity and the resources to crack open the treasure chest of our national archives collection while at the same engaging in questions of which images in our collective past get archived and which do not.”
The seven Canadian artists chosen for this commissioning project present a variety of approaches and techniques to the use of archival documents. Steve Reinke (Chicago/Toronto), already known for the use of archival documents in his video essays, transgresses the nature of the archival images he employs by giving them a new context and a new meaning. Sara Angelucci (Toronto) links the fragility and physical evanescence of the image with the volatility of memory and identity. Maureen Bradley (Victoria) employs a feminist and political approach in the form of an essay which joins the force of documentary images with an investigation of family history. Gennaro de Pasquale (Montreal) collects images and sounds from multiple sources, which he then assembles in poetic video collages according to their formal and semantic properties. Suzan Vachon (Montreal) gleans archival collections looking for images with oneiric and evocative possibilities which she incorporates into her lyrical essays. The artistic duo Véronique Couillard and Ryan Stec (Ottawa) are particularly interested in the graphic qualities of analogue images, which they manipulate digitally using a process of live retouching and mixing that imparts a new rhythm and a new nature to the images.
List of works being screened:
Gennaro de Pasquale, Vortex, 12:08
Sara Angelucci, The Beauty Pageant News, 8:47
Suzan Vachon, chant [dans les muscules du chant], 23 :32
Maureen Bradley, Beyond the Pale, 16:00
Véronique Couillard/Ryan Stec, Library and Archives Canada Public Domain Reels Documenting Spots of Beauty and Interest in Ontario and Quebec Sometime Ago Remixed Today (VCRS): 19752010, 3:00
Steve Reinke, Not Torn (Asunder from the Very Start), 9:57
For more on Public Domain, visit www.sawvideo.com/publicdomain.
SAW Video presents world premiere of PUBLIC DOMAIN a national media art commissioning project
SAW Video presents world premiere of PUBLIC DOMAIN a national media art commissioning project
OTTAWA – April 2010 – The premiere screening of SAW Video’s national media art commissioning project, Public Domain, will take place Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at the Library and Archives Canada auditorium, 395 Wellington St., at 7pm. This ambitious commissioning project has brought seven artists from across Canada to Ottawa to create contemporary video works drawn from the traces of the past.
Launched in June 2009, Public Domain is the first commissioning project of this scope undertaken by SAW Video and the first of its kind in Canada.
With the support of a grant from the Canada Council Media Arts Commissioning program, SAW Video commissioned seven accomplished media artists working in Canada to create new video works using public domain films and videos footage in the Film/Video/Sound Collection of the Library and Archives Canada. The result is Public Domain, a programme of six new videos which, after its premiere in Ottawa on June 23rd, will tour across North America and Europe in 2011.
Public Domain: The launch of SAW Video’s national commissioning project
SAW Video is premiering their national commissioning project, Public Domain / Domaine public, Wednesday, June 23 at 7pm at Library and Archives Canada (395 Wellington St.). Admission is free.
Public Domain is a programme of six new shorts by seven media artists working in Canada commissioned by SAW Video in June 2009 to delve deep into the LAC collection to find film and images that have been released of copyright, and therefore in the public domain. The artists have taken found footage that would have likely never been seen by Canadians and brought these fragments of our history back to life.
The ARTISTS :
Sara Angelucci (Toronto)
Maureen Bradley (Victoria)
Gennaro de Pasquale (Montreal)
Steve Reinke (Chicago/Toronto)
Ryan Stec/Véronique Couillard (Ottawa)
Suzan Vachon (Montreal)
It is the first commissioning project of this scope undertaken by SAW Video and the first of its kind in Canada. In 2011, the videos will be touring across North America and Europe, showcasing Canada’s talent and history while contributing to the current discourse around copyright and art that is taking place in this digital age.
I’ve attached the press release for more information. Please contact me for more information or to arrange interviews. I am in the office Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. If I am away, please ask for Penny McCann or Mireille Bourgeois.
SAW Video presents JumpstARTed
On Thursday, May 20th, SAW Video presents JumpstARTed!, a programme of new short works by local emerging video artists, featuring Rob Thomas, Jocelyn Formsma, Mackenzie MacBride, Megan Turnbull, Guillaume Loslier‐Pinard, and Susannah Heath‐Eves.
This screening marks the culmination of the inaugural edition of SAW Video’s new JumpstART Mentorship Program for emerging artists.
Please find the attached press release or visit www.sawvideo.com for more details.
For more info go to: http://www.sawvideo.com/grants/grant-saw-jumpstart-mentorship.php
SAW Video and National Gallery of Canada Hosts International Curator Sarah Cook
SAW Video and the National Gallery of Canada present a Curatorial Talk by author, editor, and curator Sarah Cook on Thursday, April 29th, at 6pm, to mark the Canadian launch of her book Rethinking Curating (co-authored with Beryl Graham) and month-long writing residency with SAW Video in Ottawa.
“Curatorial Practice & New Media Today”
Thursday, 29 April 2010, 6pm-8pm
National Gallery of Canada, 300 Sussex Drive
Lecture Hall, Free admission
Writing residency for Public Domain, SAW Video’s commissioning project
April 26 – May 22, 2010
Arts Court, 2 Daly Ave
To book an interview, call SAW Video at 613-238-7648 or drop in (Room M76) on Tuesday afternoons (April 27th, May 4th and 11th) from 3pm-5pm.
Please visit www.sawvideo.com for more details.
SAW Video Presents Radical Polish Video Artist Artur Zmijewski – Apr. 21
OTTAWA – April 6, 2010
Radical Polish artist Artur Zmijewski is well-known and discussed in the international arts community, notably for his provocative video work. SAW Video is bringing a selection of these works to Ottawa for an exclusive one-night screening on April 21, 2010, in the auditorium of Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St, at 8pm.
The event is open to everyone and admission is free. Guest speaker Daniel Baird—arts and literature editor for The Walrus—has written extensively about contemporary Polish video.
The Films
Often inviting people living with infirmity, disability or illness to participate in social experiments, Zmijewski’s videos rip open the safety nets and social contracts built into the terms of contemporary representation. Questions about socially approved “norms” and how the body functions or looks different recur in his work. Zmijewski unabashedly confronts and depicts controversial viewpoints on historical and contemporary structures such as the Polish military and the church. The artist constantly draws a line between the manifestation of socio-political corruption and the innocence and purity of humanity. In doing so, viewers are left to consider their own limitations as they come face-to-face with potentially difficult or unfamiliar ideas.
The Program
THEM, 26:30 minutes, 2007
The Game of Tag, 4:25 minutes, 1999
KR WP, 7:10 minutes, 2000
Eye for an Eye, 10:00 minutes, 1998
Videos in Polish with English Subtitles
The Artist
Artur Zmijewski lives and works in Warsaw, Poland. He studied in Grzegorz Kowalski’s studio at the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1990-95). His video and photography has been extensively exhibited and critically reviewed. He represented Poland in the 2005 Venice Biennale and in 2007 was included in Documenta 12. Zmijewski is also on the editorial team of Krytyka Polityczna (Political Critique), a forum for left-wing political and cultural discourse in Poland. He is represented by Galerie Peter Kilchmann in Zurich, Switzerland.
Established in 1981, SAW Video is an artist-run-centre committed to support ground breaking artistic production, presentation and programming of independent video and media art. SAW Video provides many services to its membership including affordable technical facilities, and a wide range of programmes designed to create an atmosphere that will inspire production through the exchange of ideas around form, content and style.
SAW Video receives ongoing financial support for its activities from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Ottawa.
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For more information, contact:
Denise MacDonald
Communications Coordinator
SAW Video
67 rue Nicholas Street
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7B9
denise@sawvideo.com
613:238:7648
SAW Video Invests in HD Equipment with grant from Canada Cultural Spaces Fund
SAW Video will be investing in high-definition equipment in 2010 with the help of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Canada Cultural Spaces Fund. The Fund is part of the Federal Government’s $60M investment over two years to support infrastructure for local and community cultural and heritage institutions. The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund seeks to “improve physical conditions for artistic creativity and innovation” as well as increase access for Canadians to media arts and the acquisition of specialized equipment.
The awarding of this $36,000 grant by Canadian Heritage recognises that SAW Video fulfills a crucial role for the media arts community in the region by providing members affordable access to up-to-date video production and post-production equipment.
SAW Video will use this funding to purchase new HD equipment and upgrade its post-production facilities with new software and hardware. Purchases will include a new Panasonic HPX 170P HD camera, a Marshall 7” Lightweight Portable HD Field Monitor, a lightweight Matthews dolly, Apple’s Final Cut Studio 3, and a new HD monitor for use in editing. Also in the works is the replacement of their AVID editing system with a second Final Cut Pro system, which will complete the post-production HD upgrade of SAW Video’s editing facilities.
Details on equipment purchases can be found at www.sawvideo.com/production/equipment.php.
These investments will allow SAW Video’s producing members to continue to produce high-quality videos for screenings at festivals, galleries, and broadcasts around the world. According to SAW Video Director Penny McCann: “SAW Video’s thrilled to receive a tiny portion of federal infrastructure funding. This grant will help Ottawa artists stay technologically current and increase the opportunities for their work to be seen.”
Established in 1981, SAW Video is an artist-run-centre committed to support ground breaking artistic production, presentation and programming of independent video and media art. SAW Video provides many services to its membership including affordable technical facilities, and a wide range of programmes designed to create an atmosphere that will inspire production through the exchange of ideas around form, content and style.
For more information, contact:
Denise MacDonald
Communications Coordinator
SAW Video
denise@sawvideo.com / 613.238.7648
