Next up on the Image Bar... "Dan Carter" by Alison Kobayashi

Video still from Alison Kobayashi's Dan Carter, 2006

In her 15-minute video installation, Dan Carter, Alison Kobayashi presents as a series of characters inspired by a discarded answering machine tape. Her sarcastic and exaggerated performance reflects on the human condition by examining identity and exploring the imaginary.

Kobayashi is captivated by found objects that contain traces of private experiences. She has collected over 70 answering machine cassettes donated to second-hand stores over the past two years. Her fascination lead to the creation of Dan Carter, named after the original owner of the answering machine tape.



Alison Kobayashi is a student in the Art and Art History program at University of Toronto at Mississauga. Among numerous honours, in 2006 she was the recipient of The Bill Huffman Award for Excellence in Studio Practice. Her work has been screened at Justin M. Barnicke, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts, and Pleasure Dome.

The William Huffman Award for Excellence in Studio Practice is an annual award that recognizes an exceptionally gifted student from the University of Toronto Art and Art History Program – a joint BA offered by the University of Toronto at Mississauga and Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (Oakville). Huffman honors the student with an exhibition where the recipient presents works alongside respected contemporary artists.

William Huffman is a 1991 Art and Art history Program alumnus. He has worked with a number of arts organizations and institutions such as the Blackwood Gallery, Arts Toronto, The Power Plant, A Space, Canadian Art Foundation and Art Gallery of Sudbury. Huffman is currently the Associate Director for the Toronto Arts Council.

The William Huffman Award has recognized Marko Bursac (2007), Alison Kobayashi (2006), Tejpal Ajji (2005), Carolyn Tripp (2004), Jared Carlson (2003), Tannis Nielsen (2002), Erin Finley (2001), Amie Tolton (2000) and Heather Robinson (1999).

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Dan Carter will be available on the Image Bar:
- All day on February 26 & 27
- In the evenings from February 28 to March 11
- All day on March 12 & 13
- In the evenings from March 14 until March 25

Jesus Camp – the movie! – at UTM

Now on the Image Bar, and until February 25, 2007:

Jesus Camp, a Magnolia Pictures release directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing -- who previously made The Boys of Baraka together -- is a 2006 documentary about a "charismatic Christian" summer camp for children who spend their summers learning and practicing their "prophetic gifts" and being taught that they can "take back America for Christ." According to the distributor, it "doesn't come with any prepackaged point of view", and it tries to be "an honest and impartial depiction of one faction of the evangelical Christian community”.

Jesus Camp is a documentary about the "Kids On Fire" summer camp, located just outside Devils Lake, North Dakota and run by Becky Fischer and her ministry, Kids in Ministry International. The film focuses on three children who attended the camp in the summer of 2005--Levi, Rachael, and Victoria (Tory). The film cuts between footage of the camp and a children's prayer conference held just prior to the camp at Christ Triumphant Church, a large charismatic church in Lee's Summit, Missouri; a suburb of Kansas City.

All three children, despite their youth, are very devout charismatic Christians. Levi, who has ambitions of being a pastor, has already preached several sermons at his suburban Kansas City church. Early in the film, he is watching a cartoon that preaches that Earth is 6,000 years old. He is homeschooled, and learns physical science from a book that attempts to reconcile the creationist account with scientific principles. He preaches a sermon at the camp in which he declares that his generation is key to Jesus’ coming back. Rachael is seen approaching a woman and offering her a Christian tract and telling her that God has a special plan for her. She is disdainful of non-charismatic churches, feeling that they aren't "churches that God likes to go to." Tory frequently dances to Christian heavy metal music, and feels uncomfortable about "dancing for the flesh."

At the camp, Fischer stresses the need for children to purify themselves in order to be used by God. She strongly believes that children need to be in the forefront of turning America toward conservative Christian values.



For more information visit: http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com