World in Flux

Films that chronicle the destructive impact of the modern world on the environment

On the Image Bar














In conjunction with the Blackwood Gallery’s exhibition EQUINOX

On view March 20th – April 3rd, 2pm to 12pm the following day, Monday to Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday



TURNING DOWN THE HEAT
Narrated by David Suzuki
The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, which warms the atmosphere, leading to increased floods, droughts and hurricanes. Turning Down The Heat addresses the crisis of global warming and offers renewable energy sources and energy conservation as economically viable solutions to climate change.

Two films from the QATSI trilogy: Koyaanisqatsi and Naqoyqatsi
Directed by Godfrey Reggio

KOYAANISQATSI
The title is a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance." Created between 1975 and, the film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds -- urban life and technology versus the environment. The musical score was composed by Philip Glass.

NAQOYQATSI
Naqoyqatsi chronicles the most significant event of the last five thousand years: the transition from the natural milieu, old nature, to the "new" nature, the technological milieu. Technology is the big force and like oxygen it is always there, a necessity that we cannot live without. Because its appetite is seemly infinite, it is consuming the finite world of nature.

RAINBOW WARRIOR: THE BOAT AND THE BOMB
A documentary that explores the French Government terrorist bombing of the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior.

THE GREAT WARMING: AGE OF UNCERTAINTY
The Age of Uncertainty looks at the legacy of climate change and the consequences of a "business as usual" scenario. In the end, no one knows exactly what The Great Warming will bring in the decades to come -- but it has already delivered a powerful warning - Earth's temperature is rising at the fastest rate in recorded history, and our climate is changing.


The Image Bar is conceived of as an audio-visual venue to raise critical contemporary cultural issues concerning mass media, cultural identity, current affairs, and matters of heart and mind in the context of university life.

Programming is subject to change. For up-to-date info and scheduling contact the Gallery at 905.828.3789

Tests and Precedents: Early Experiments in Film and Emergent Media

On the Image Bar March 13th – 16th, 2006, 2pm - 5pm
The Blackwood presents a selection of compilations that bring together seminal films and media experiments. Includes works by Edison, Porter, the Lumiere brothers, Georges Melies, Emil Cohl, Stuart Blackton, Michael Snow, the Brothers Quay and many other pioneer moving image makers.

SIGN UP NOW! New Media Workshops @ Blackwood

SPECIAL PRICE FOR STUDENTS
- sign yourself up with a friend and pay $30/EACH

The Blackwood Gallery is expanding its programming to include an exciting series of new media workshops in March 2006 at the CCIT building, UTM.

The workshops are aimed at newcomers to new media and those who wish to further their skills in areas such as animation, video recording and editing, audio production and performance art.


MARCH SCHEDULE:

Schedule and Application Form

ANIMATION WORKSHOPS

TITLE: Animate with Digital Software

INSTRUCTOR: Riaz Mehmood

DESCRIPTION: Learn the ins and outs of digital animation using computer software such as Photoshop & Flash. You’ll be introduced to the main terms and technical aspects of the medium in order to create your own masterpiece.

TIME & DATE: Monday, March 13th 10am – 2pm (5 hours)
LOCATION: Room CC 3160 - MAC Lab in CCIT building, University of Toronto at Mississauga
MAX. # OF STUDENTS: 10
FEE: $40


TITLE: Cut Paste Scan Play

INSTRUCTOR: Suvi Kuisma

DESCRIPTION: Create a frame by frame animated collage using a scanner to capture and combine bits and pieces of images, text, textures and small objects. Final projects will be burned to DVD for you to bring home. Please bring interesting or sentimental items to be scanned.

TIME & DATE: Tuesday, March 14th 10am – 3pm (5 hours)
LOCATION: Room CC 3160 - MAC Lab in CCIT building, University of Toronto at Mississauga
MAX. # OF STUDENTS: 10
FEE: $40
STUDENTS SHOULD BRING: Collage materials (magazines, books, images, text, textures, fabric pieces, small objects, etc.)



AUDIO WORKSHOP

TITLE: Sound as art, Art Audio Assembly

INSTRUCTOR: John Kuisma

DESCRIPTION: Using basic audio recording software and editing techniques you will produce short audio art compositions. Your sound creation will be burned on to CD to take home.

DATE & TIME: Friday, March 17th 2006 10am – 3pm (5 hours)
LOCATION: Room CC 2130 - MAC Lab in CCIT building, University of Toronto at Mississauga
MAX. # OF STUDENTS: 10
FEE: $40


PERFORMANCE AND SCULPTURE WORKSHOP

TITLE: Socially Engaged Art: What is it exactly…..?!

INSTRUCTOR: Tej Ajji

DESCRIPTION: Explore new art practices that are based in performance and are socially engaged. You will be introduced to contemporary art and ideas that push the conventional notions of what art is. You will also work with the instructor to create unique and fresh works of art.

DATE & TIME: Thursday, Mach 16th 2006 10am – 3pm (5 hours)
LOCATION: Room CC 2130 - MAC Lab in CCIT building, University of Toronto at Mississauga
MAX. # OF STUDENTS: 10
FEE: $40


To apply contact:

Claire Eckert
Program and Outreach Coordinator of Film, Video and New Media
T: 905.828.3789 Fax: 905-569-4262
E: claireeckert@hotmail.com
http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/services/gallery/

Natalie of Wood by Shawn Cappelle

Monday, March 13th – Thursday, March 16th, 2006 12 – 2pm
On the Image Bar, CCIT ground floor, UTM

Natalie of Wood
Director: Shawn Chappelle (Canada, 2001, 2 min, video)

A remix of old Hollywood images comments on the film industry's notorious and persistent appetite to stereotype Indian people. Who is speaking for whom in this short work, and what is being said? Are the old images just re-presented or is the artist critically looking at self in the context of whiteness and the subjugation of Indian people?

The Image Bar is conceived of as an audio-visual venue to raise critical contemporary cultural issues concerning mass media, cultural identity, current affairs, and matters of heart and mind in the context of university life.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact the Blackwood Gallery: 905.828.3789 www.utm.utoronto.ca/services/gallery/

KHALID by Will Kwan and Marcella Rafaniello

as part of Image Bar Rotation

On view on the Image Bar 6-10, March, 2006, 11am – 5pm
CCIT ground floor, University of Toronto at Mississauga


KHALID
By Will Kwan and Marcella Rafaniello

KHALID is a two channel installation focusing on a Moroccan teenager, Khalid and his guitar. The artists met Khalid in the north Italy, where the teenager arrived without documents and is currently living in a detention centre for minors. In the main video, Khalid plays a guitar he made using an old olive oil canister and some scrap wood. The second video displays footage of an interview where the young Moroccan explains the conditions under which he created his instrument. The two videos are excerpts from a larger installation involving footage shot in Sarajevo, Berlin, Los Angeles, Napoli, and Turin, where the artists took Khalid's guitar and asked professional guitarists in these cities to create compositions with the instrument. This "interaction" is meant to highlight the discrepancy between the mobility of objects/culture and the mobility of bodies.

Will Kwan is an artist and writer born in Hong Kong currently residing in Maastricht, Holland. He received his BA from the University of Toronto (Scarborough, 2002) and MFA from Columbia University (2004). He has presented work at the Venice Biennale (2003) and the PS1 in New York (2005). Will is short listed for the 2006 Sobey Prize.For more information: http://www.willkwanprojects.org/

Marcella Rafaniello is an architect from Avellino, Italy currently living and working in Biella, an industrial city near Turin. She is currently developing an exhibition about games and society for Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella.

Will Kwan in conversation with Tej Ajji
Please join us at the Image Bar on Wednesday, March 8th at 12 noon for a public discussion and Q& A. Tej Ajji, a fourth year Art and Art History student, will speak with Will Kwan about his artistic practice.

Image Bar Rotation is an ongoing program of new media artworks by local and international artists. The Image Bar, located in CCIT building ground floor, UTM, is conceived of as an audio-visual venue to raise critical contemporary cultural issues concerning mass media, cultural identity, current affairs, and matters of heart and mind in the context of university life. If you have questions or concerns, please contact the Blackwood Gallery: www.utm.utoronto.ca/services/gallery/

(image from artist talk)

Evenings on the Image Bar

March 6th – 10th 5pm to 11am, & 11th -12th all weekend: The Documentary Channel

The DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL is Canada’s television destination for film-lovers, passion-seekers and those hungry for fresh ideas and perspectives. From Academy Award-winning features to cutting-edge independent films, The Documentary Channel is home to the most innovative, engrossing, edgy and entertaining documentaries and films from Canada and around the world. The Documentary Channel is a partnership of Corus Entertainment, the National Film Board and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

For schedule visit: www.documentarychannel.ca

Blackwood Docs @ Noon, March 2006

A series of documentaries and thought provoking films
All films are shown on the Image Bar, CCIT ground floor, UTM

THE TAKE
Directed by Avi Lewis with Naomi Klein
Friday, March 3rd 12 noon and again at 2pm

In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - The Take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. In the wake of Argentina's dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America's most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action. They're part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system.

CONTINUOUS JOURNEY
Directed by Ali Kazimi
Friday, March 10th 12 noon and again at 2pm

Continuous Journey is an inquiry into the largely ignored history of Canada's exclusion of the South Asians by a little known immigration policy called the Continuous Journey Regulation of 1908. Unlike the Chinese and the Japanese, people from British India were excluded by a regulation that appeared fair, but in reality, was an effective way of keeping people from India out of Canada until 1948. As a direct result, only a half-mile from Canadian shores, the Komagata Maru was surrounded by immigration boats and the passengers were held in communicado virtual prisoners on the ship. Thus began a dramatic stand-off which would escalate over the course of two months, becoming one of the most infamous incidents in Canadian history.

A PLACE CALLED CHIAPAS
Directed by Nettie Wild
Friday, March 17th 12 noon and again at 2pm

On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army, made up of impoverished Mayan Indians from the state of Chiapas, took over five towns and 500 ranches in southern Mexico. The Government deployed its troops, and at least 145 people died in the ensuing battle. Fighting for indigenous Mexicans to regain control over their lives and the land, the Zapatista Army, led by the charismatic, guerilla poet Subcommandante Marcos, started sending their message to the world via the Internet. The result was what The New York Times called "the world's first post-modern revolution." Filmmaker Nettie Wild travelled to the jungle canyons of southern Mexico to film the elusive and fragile life of the uprising. Her camera effectively and movingly captures the human dimensions behind this war of symbols.

Democracy Now!

IMAGE BAR
Blackwood Gallery

February 1st to March 6th, Monday – Thursday evening: Democracy Now! on the Image Bar

As part of If it’s Too Bad to Be True, It Could Be DISINFORMATION, the Blackwood Gallery will show broadcasts from the award-winning, American, independent and alternative media provider, Democracy Now!

Democracy Now's daily program, the War and Peace Report, provides access to people and perspectives rarely heard in the U.S. corporate-sponsored media. This includes independent and international journalists, ordinary people from around the world who are directly affected by U.S. foreign policy, grassroots leaders and peace activists, artists, academics and independent analysts. In addition, the War and Peace Report hosts debates between people who substantially disagree, such as debates between White House spokespeople and grassroots activists. Democracy Now! airs on over 350 stations in North America. It is also available as a podcast and on the internet.

1 – 2 February, 2006:
The War and Peace Report:
The daily War and Peace Report is streamed directly from the internet to the Image Bar.

6 – 9 February, & AGAIN, 28 Feb to 6 March, 2006:
From The War and Peace Trilogy:

Independent Media In A Time of War
Part scathing critique, part call to action, "Independent Media In A Time Of War" is a hard-hitting new documentary by the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center. This film is composed of a speech given by Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! illustrated by clips of mainstream media juxtaposed with rare footage from independent reporters in Iraq. The documentary argues that dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy. "Independent media has a crucial responsibility to go to where the silence is," says Amy Goodman, "to represent the diverse voices of people engaged in dissent." She makes a compelling argument that the commercial news media have failed to represent the "true face of war."

Voices Against War: F15 NYC
Chronicles the experiences of "ordinary" people on the streets of Manhattan as they joined millions around the globe in "The World Says No To War" protests.

Women’s Fast For Peace
With the invasion of Iraq looming, more than 125 women in upstate New York fasted to create a culture of peace rather than of war.

13 – 16 February, 2006:
Arundhati Roy: Public Power in the Age of Empire:
Famed Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong, India in 1959. She studied architecture in New Delhi, where she now lives, and has worked as a film designer, actor, and screenplay writer in India. Her first novel, The God of Small Things, won the 1997 Booker Prize, Britain's most prestigious literary award. It has sold six million copies and has been translated into over 20 languages worldwide. She is also the author of several non-fiction books: The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile, The Cost of Living, Power Politics and An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire. She gave an address on war, resistance and the presidency to the American Sociological Association in San Francisco on August 16, 2004. We give you her entire speech, followed by Q&A with the audience. 90 min

20 – 23 February, 2006:
Michael Moore at the Democratic National Convention:
Everywhere Michael Moore went in Boston, massive crowds followed him. On Tuesday, July 28, 2004, more than 2,000 people lined up in Cambridge to hear Michael Moore speak at a forum with Howard Dean. Only 500 or so were able to get in. Democracy Now! broadcasted both his speech inside and the impromptu speech he gave outside to the overflow crowd. 90 min.

Call for Submissions: In Feed @ Blackwood

In Feed @ Blackwood video and film screening

In Feed @ Blackwood wants to be laughed at…
So the theme of the next In Feed is comedy and we want your wittiest short films and videos

DEADLINE: February 28th 2006

SUBMIT TO:
In Feed Programming Committee Blackwood Gallery, UTM
3359 Mississauga Rd. N.
Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6

FORMAT: DVD NTSC

More info: T: 905.828.3789 or visit http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/services/gallery/

In Feed @ Blackwood is an ongoing series of video and film screenings shown on the Image Bar in the CCIT building University of Toronto at Mississauga. In Feed platforms work by students and local and international artists.

Save this date: The next In Feed is on Wed., March 22th, 2006 7:15pm

Blackwood Docs @ Noon

A Series of Documentaries and Films on the Image Bar, CCIT

In conjunction with the Blackwood Gallery’s exhibition If It’s Too Bad To Be True, It Could Be DISINFORMATION, a string of documentaries and thought provoking films will screen in the afternoon on the Image Bar in the CCIT building.

This programme titled Blackwood Docs @ Noon begins Friday February 3rd at 12 noon with the acclaimed film “Control Room”, a documentary about the Middle East news agency Al-Jazeera. The series will continue with a film each Friday at lunch time.

Everyone, including classes, is welcome.
All films are shown on the Image Bar, CCIT ground floor, UTM

For more information contact: claireeckert@hotmail.com

Blackwood Docs @ Noon SCHEDULE














CONTROL ROOM
Directed by Jehane Noujaim
Friday, February 3rd 12 noon

A documentary which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.







CULTUREJAM
Directed by Jill Sharpe
Friday, February 10th 12 noon & again at 2pm

A new breed of revolutionary stands poised along our information highways waging war on logos and symbols. They're "Culture Jammers" and their mission is to artfully reclaim our mental environment and cause a bit of brand damage to corporate mindshare. Director Jill Sharpe's subversively savvy one-hour documentary film, Culturejam: Hijacking Commercial Culture, bursts our last bubble of illusion about free speech in public space and gives us brand-new hope at the same time.

THE YES MEN
Directed by Chris Smith
Monday, February 11th 12 noon & again at 2pm

The Yes Men follows a couple of anti-corporate activist-pranksters as they impersonate World Trade Organization spokesmen on TV and at business conferences around the world.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BUSH
Directed by William Karel
Friday, February 17th 12 noon & again at 2pm

The World According to Bush, a two-hour documentary about the inner-workings of the Bush administration, will alarm even the most hardened Washington-watchers. Fans and critics of the acclaimed Fahrenheit 9/11 will want to see this thoughtful and damning investigation of the U.S. administration.

MANUFACTURING CONSENT
Directed by Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick
Friday, February 24th 12 noon & again at 3:30pm

This film showcases Noam Chomsky, one of America's leading linguists and political dissidents. It also illustrates his message of how government and big media businesses cooperate to produce an effective propaganda machine in order to manipulate the opinions of the United States populous. The key example for this analysis is the simultaneous events of the massive coverage of the communist atrocities of Khmer Rouge regime of Cambodia and the suppression of news of the US supported Indonesian invasion and subjugation of East Timor.

Call to Art and New Media Students

Call to Art and New Media Students - VIDEO and NEW MEDIA submissions, From The Blackwood Gallery, UTM DEADLINE - February 10th, noon On March 2nd, 2006, the opening gala for the CCIT Building will include projections of student video and new media work on the Blackwood Gallery's IMAGE BAR as well as a adjacent lecture room. The Blackwood Gallery encourages all Art and Design students in the joint Sheridan/UofT program to submit samples of their work (on CD or DVD format) to be juried for possible presentation for this event. Examples of art and design work could include video, animation, web design or art. Preference will be given to material that can be projected via DVD or computer software. This event will be an excellent opportunity for students to showcase their work to an audience that includes the UTM community, government officials and the public at large. Please bring all submissions to the Blackwood Gallery, UTM campus, "ATTENTION SEAMUS KEALY/CCIT OPENING" by noon, February 10, 2006. For more information please contact cvictor@utm.utoronto.ca

Artist Talk: Farheen HaQ

The Blackwood Gallery is pleased to present an artist talk by Farheen Haq.







Farheen HAQ's videos were recently shown on the Image Bar in the CCIT main space as part of Image Bar Rotation (13 - 21 December, 2005 & 4 - 9 January, 2006). The Blackwood Gallery invites you to a discussion on Farheen's art practice by the artist herself.

Friday, January 27th, 10am
CCIT building, UTM, Room 0150 - Studio Theatre


Article on the exhibition in the UTM Student Paper "Medium": http://
www.mediumonline.ca/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=9

Biography:

Farheen HAQ is a Muslim Canadian who probes at questions of identity and cultural difference through her visual art practice. Working primarily with photo, performance and video installation, she uses the tools and equipment of mass media to bring viewers into her socially and politically relevant work that explores ideas of cultural inscriptions, the body, gender and language. She has exhibited widely across North America, including New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver. Farheen lives in Victoria, BC.

In Feed @ Blackwood

Get excited about video and film...
come out to the 2nd In Feed @ Blackwood film and video screening!

Video by: Bret Battey, Chris McCarroll, Jennifer Porter, Alison Kobayashi, Sarah Knobel, Rory Leydier, Aubrey Reeves, Jennifer Matotek















image courtesy of Sarah Knobel

WHAT: In Feed @ Blackwood: film and video screening
WHEN: 7:15 pm, Wednesday, January 25, 2006
WHERE: Image Bar, CCIT building atrium on the ground floor, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Free parking after 7pm
COST: FREE
WHO: Co-presented with the Mississauga Art Council's Community of Young Artists

Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay & Cooper Battersby

as part of Image Bar Rotation

Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay & Cooper Battersby
TOGETHER AT LAST
6 mins / Digital Video / 2004

On view 9 - 19 January, 2006 on the Image Bar
Concurrently showing with Point of View: An Anthology of the Moving Image














Originally commissioned by the 640 480 Collective (www.640480.com), the collaborative efforts behind TOGETHER AT LAST are worth remark: one artist was given the task of producing a performance for the camera, the other artist had the job of editing. No communication was allowed between the collaborators.

Hypnotic and strikingly beautiful, TOGETHER AT LAST marks the frail boundaries between the what-is and the what-might-be.

www.bennybenny.ca
www.dukeandbattersby.com

Point of View: An Anthology of The Moving Image

On view 9 - 19 January, 2006 on the Image Bar
Concurrently showing with TOGETHER AT LAST

Anri Sala Time After Time, (5:22mins / 2003)
Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist

Gary Hill Blind Spot, (12:27mins / 2003)
Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist

David Claerbout, Le Moment (2:44mins / 2003)
Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist

Isaac Julien, Encore (4:38mins / 2003)
Interview with Dan Cameron

Pierre Huyghe, I JEDI (5mins / 2003)
Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist

For more information visit: www.newmuseum.org/more_exh_pov.php

Farheen HaQ

as part of Image Bar Rotation

3 videos by Farheen HaQ

(un)covering (5 min 3 sec / digital video / 2002)
Adrift (4 mins / digital video / 2005)
Purity is Half the Faith (1 min 33 sec / digital video / 2003)

13 - 21 December, 2005, Closed for holidays between 22 Dec & 3 January resumes 4 - 9 January, 2006















Artist Statement:

In (un)covering, Adrift, and Purity is Half the Faith,HaQ investigates the meaning of ritual and gesture in her life. By recording intimate gestures and placing them on the screen, the viewer (and the artist herself) can re-examine the layers of meaning behind everyday gestures such as covering, uncovering and washing. In (un)covering, HaQ is concerned with ideas of representation. Her gaze meets the viewer's in a direct way and her slow-motion covering and uncovering is an endless loop of changing meaning and representation of a woman's body.

Adrift is a lyrical, dream-like narrative of a woman's journey from the external world into a deeper internal space.

Purity is Half the Faith examines notions of purity and the mechanics of ritual. These videos examine the cultural inscriptions of the artist's subjectivity. With her work, HaQ re-examines and asks questions, hoping the viewer will do the same.

Farheen HaQ’s art is an investigation into the ephemeral quality of culture and the dynamic flux of identity. Using the language of mass media she contextualizes her explorations for the consideration of large audiences. The work does not aim to solve or resolve issues but rather to raise questions and heighten sensitivity.

Biography:

Farheen HaQ is a Muslim Canadian who is interested in asking questions through her visual art practice. Working primarily with photo, performance and video installation, she uses the tools and equipment of mass media to bring viewers into her socially and politically relevant work that explores ideas of cultural inscriptions, the body, gender and language. She has exhibited widely across North America, including New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver. Farheen lives in Victoria, BC.

http://www.farheenhaq.com/

ARTIST TALK with FARHEEN HaQ

Friday, January 27th 10am
CCIT building, UTM (room # tba)
Free, all welcome

Article on the exhibition: http://www.mediumonline.ca/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=9

In Feed @ Blackwood

Video and Film Screening

co-presented with the Mississauga Art Council's Community of Young Artists

Wed, January 25th, 2006 7pm start time
On the Image Bar, CCIT Building, UTM

Free parking in lots 2,4,8,9 after 7pm