Outdoor Projection Series Presented by SAW Video to Transform Public Spaces Into Urban Screens

Five outdoor projections will take place July-October 2019, beginning with artist Hélène Lefebvre’s Open Water July 27th - August 10th on the facade of the Les Suites parking garage, visible from Arts Court (2 Daly Avenue), Monday to Saturday 9pm-11pm.Ottawa, July 22, 2019 - SAW Video and Knot Project Space are proud to announce Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics – an extended public projection series taking place at multiple sites throughout Ottawa from July to October 2019. A series of public video projections that will occur at multiple sites in Ottawa this summer and fall represents the culmination of SAW Video Media Art Centre's yearlong commissioning program Knot Projections. Funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the program was designed to build capacity for local media artists in Ottawa to realize moving image works that are intended for large-scale projection in public spaces. As part of its capacity-building ethos, the program funded the support of the Video in the Public Sphere speaker series, which took place at Knot Project Space from October 2018 to April 2019 and featured presentations by five national and international artists, curators and critics who highlighted the challenges and opportunities of art in public space. The guest speakers also conducted intensive follow-up workshops and discussions with a cohort of five local commissioned artists: Hélène Lefebvre, Ryan Conrad, Pansee Atta, Maayke Schurer and Sasha Phipps, as well as the program’s ‘Resident Critic,’ Carleton University film professor Malini Guha, who worked directly with the group over the span of the program. SAW Video also secured a high-lumens digital projector capable of transforming outdoor architectural surfaces into ‘urban screens’ to create temporary moving image experiences for passersby. “This was an extremely comprehensive program, one that involved various forms of ‘making’, ‘doing’ and ‘thinking’,” says Malini Guha. “In my view, this program should be seen as a model of how a ‘school’ can be developed in ways that prove productive for all participants, irrespective of their roles … The community building component of such a program, both among commissioned artists but also, beyond them, is of immense value.” “This is the first opportunity Ottawa artist have had to animate urban public space at this scale,” says SAW Video’s executive director, Annette Hegel. “SAW Video is proud to support the incredible talent of the region’s media artists with all the resources available to us.” Five outdoor projections will take place July-October 2019, beginning with artist Hélène Lefebvre’s Open Water on July 27th on the facade of the Les Suites parking garage, visible from 2 Daly Ave. For more information about the series, including artists’ bios and hi-res images, visit: sawvideo.com/knot/projections/knot-projections-2019.