AHA Media

AHA MEDIA congratulates the LifeSkills Collective for 5 Zeros – A screening of new video works!

TL Frederick

Ali Lohan

Quin Martins

April Smith

Juliet Van Vliet

and Christoph Runné & Allison Laing!

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AHA MEDIA is very proud to present at 5 Zeros - A screening of New Video Works in Pigeon Park on Thurs March 11, 2010

The 12 Days of Olympics (2010)

Digital Video, Colour, 8:39 minutes

The 12 Days of Olympics is a short video presented in two parts, both of which offer differing social reactions and unresolved political anxieties associated with poverty, community representation, and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games held in Vancouver, Canada.

Formulated around the familiar Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” this project anticipates and contextualizes urban-specific dilemmas that pose the greatest threat to some of the most vulnerable members in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Highlighting issues such as budget cuts, heightened security, seemingly never-ending road closures, corrupt Olympic games, and an “eternal” deficit, while also providing a balancing viewpoint of friendly sports competition and world – wide happy camaraderie that is both insightful and inspiring, this project – which was shot just a few months before the Winter Games – offers two competing and humorous perspectives associated with living in a city that is about to host the Winter Games.

To be sure, the Olympics are not designed for marginalized communities such as Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, but it is through their unrestrained opinions and curiously contagious enthusiasm that the viewer can acknowledge the inherent contradiction made obvious by the Olympic games themselves: despite attempts to unify the world, this large-scale event, by its very nature, has the reverse effect, because it excludes the majority of the population (most specifically, the poor) from its celebration.

April Smith is a Vancouver-based videographer and documentarian who lives and works in the Downtown Eastside. Through art, music, and community promotion, she is a self-taught advocate for social outreach and neighborhood unity.  Using social media, new media, mobile technology, and video, she concentrates on sharing the stories and voices of an otherwise-silenced community with a global audience.

Co-founder of AHA MEDIA, her practice includes educational and political cartooning, facilitating social, new and mobile media literacy workshops, as well as recording subversive and situational observations of her own community.  Most recently, her work was published in Megaphone Magazine.

Photo of April Smith by Simon Hayter

AHA MEDIA was very honored to meet Filmmaker David Rimmer – pioneer of experimental moving images at Interurban Gallery in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)

http://www.DavidRimmerFilm.com

Born and raised in Vancouver, Rimmer graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in English Literature in 1967. Inspired by Stan Brakhage’s films and writings, he made his first important experimental films, Square Inch Field and Migration, in 1968 and 1969 respectively.

At the time the artist-run Intermedia Co-op in Vancouver and supportive individuals in the Vancouver offices of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) were providing Vancouver-based experimental filmmakers with access to surplus film, processing, optical printers and other post-production facilities. These filmmakers, Rimmer included, soon became part of the international experimental/avant-garde/underground film movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

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Below is our teacher Christoph Runne with David Rimmer

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Rimmer was also making film loops for performance pieces. This led to the production of several loop films, including what is probably his most widely seen film, Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper(1970), made from a short segment of an NFB documentary.

Below are some photos from his film: Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper(1970)

AHA MEDIA is very proud to help announce Filmmaker David Rimmer – pioneer of experimental moving images and his presentation at Interurban Gallery at 7pm Tuesday March 2, 2010

Below is a bio of David Rimmer from…

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2009/book-reviews/loop-print-fade-flicker-david-rimmer’s-moving-images-by-mike-hoolboom-and-alex-mackenzie/

Born and raised in Vancouver, Rimmer graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in English Literature in 1967. Inspired by Stan Brakhage’s films and writings, he made his first important experimental films, Square Inch Field and Migration, in 1968 and 1969 respectively. At the time the artist-run Intermedia Co-op in Vancouver and supportive individuals in the Vancouver offices of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) were providing Vancouver-based experimental filmmakers with access to surplus film, processing, optical printers and other post-production facilities. These filmmakers, Rimmer included, soon became part of the international experimental/avant-garde/underground film movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Rimmer was also making film loops for performance pieces. This led to the production of several loop films, including what is probably his most widely seen film, Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper(1970), made from a short segment of an NFB documentary. Found footage was also the source forThe Dance (1970), Seashore (1971), Surfacing on the Thames (1970) and Watching for the Queen(1973). In the last two, step printing reduces movement to a minimum, giving the viewer time to contemplate minute details in each frame of the film, including the changing patterns in the grains of emulsion. While Rimmer returned to found footage for a few later films such as As Seen On TV (1986) and Divine Mannequin (1989), he was also drawing upon his own filmed images of his West Coast environment – the ocean, the coastal forests and inlets – for personal, poetic films of subtle beauty and an introspective appreciation of the shapes, colours, textures and rhythms of nature. Narrows Inlet (1980) and Local Knowledge (1992) are notable examples. Rimmer also discovered fascinatingmise en scènes by setting up his camera at a window and periodically recording what transpired outside – in the street in front of a New York pizza parlour for Real Italian Pizza (1971) and in a Vancouver railroad yard with water and mountains in the background for Canadian Pacific I (1974) and Canadian Pacific II (1975). Taking a very different tack, Rimmer made Al Neil: A Portrait in 1979. It was the first of nearly a dozen films that perhaps can be best categorised as experimental documentaries. Since 2002, he has been hand-painting frames of 35mm film for works released on video, best represented by An Eye for an Eye (2003). Rimmer’s oeuvre of nearly 50 films and videos also includes works shot and released on video, as well as pieces prepared for gallery presentations.

Because of their variety of techniques, genres and subject matter, Rimmer’s films and videos defy the usual critical and scholarly efforts to label and generalise about an artist’s work as a whole. Much of his film work of the 1970s falls within the parameters of the structural and structural-materialist films that dominated experimental filmmaking during that decade, and a select group of his films can be placed in the category of “landscape films” (1). But, as Catherine Russell observed in a 1993 essay (to which I will return), “The body of Rimmer’s work…is a fragmented and historical text” (2). That “text”, which has continued to grow in variety as well as in number of “fragments” since Russell’s essay appeared, has not yet received the kind of critical attention accorded the work of other major Canadian experimental filmmakers, such as Michael Snow, Joyce Wieland and Jack Chambers. WhileLoop, Print, Fade + Flicker provides a useful introduction to Rimmer and his work, it does not provide the detailed critical study that Rimmer’s accomplishments as a film artist deserve.

AHA MEDIA is pleased to invite you to our global online screening and world film premiere of our  films both titled – 12 Days of Olympics” about life in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside during the 2010 Winter Olympics at Centre A – on this Saturday Feb 20, 2010 from 7pm to 9pm!

AHA MEDIA is so very honored to have this great opportunity to share our two Olympic films from Vancouver Downtown Eastside, Canada  with people in Yokahama, Japan during Jun Oenoki’s Yokohama-Vancouver, a Skype Festivity and LiveStreaming with Nine Key Art Organization, alternative space and live party http://www.worldteaparty.com/jun-oenoki-skype-with-yokohama

During this time, our films will be shown on the large front windows so both the online and street community of Vancouver Downtown Eastside can share in this global screening and exchange!

Through our linked online community presence using Social Media Tools such as Twitter, Flickr, Ustream and Skype, both cities of Vancouver Downtown Eastside  in Canada and Yokohama in Japan will be able to see, hear and share  a 2 way interactive conversation about our community, media, art, activism and most importantly – our neighborhood residents!

Large projections play on the Centre A’s exterior windows. Video content includes work by various artists, live broadcast of performances, “skype” teas and the documentation of the World Tea Party in different contexts.

Presented in partnership with the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. As a part of the City of Vancouver ‘s Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program: Bright Light

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Jun Oenoki, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Tokyo Keizai University and artist-in-residence at Centre A, will produce a teleconference from 7 – 9pm  in Japanese and English, with Nine Key art organizations in Yokohama, Japan which will be streamed live to the Internet and a live party by Skype between Yokahama, Japan and Vancouver, Canada will allow both cities share a 2 way interactive dialogue about media, art and activism with each other!

A live streaming with Nine key art organization, alternative space and live party in Yokohama, Japan by Skype. Including, “Sixsquarebridge“,”Yokohama Creativecity Center“, “Noge Hana*Hana“, “BankART NYK/KOJIMA RADIO“, “KOTOLAB,LLC/YOKOHAMA HOSTEL VILLAGE“, “KOTOBUKI CREATIVE ACTION“, “Kanagawa University SOGABE-ken“, “KOGANECHO AREA MANAGEMENT CENTER“, and “YOKOHAMA TRIENNALE 2011” talking about long term urban revitalizing projects initiated by the city of Yokohama in collaboration with artists and architects and  the local community

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April Smith of AHA MEDIA from Vancouver Downtown Eastside’s two films which are both entitled “The 12 Days of Olympics” gives viewers the two perspectives of how Vancouver Downtown Eastside residents and their lives are affected by this historic event of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Presenting 2 sides of this event allowed the residents to voice their opinions through a musical and film format to reach a world wide audience

April Smith is an avid new media videographer based in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside and is a co founder of AHA MEDIA.
Her interests are documention of daily life in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside area, highlighting the positive while bringing to light the injustices that occur in the neighborhood. April has filmed her observations, some subversive and situational, of the Vancouver Downtown Eastside over the last 2 years.

April is a cheerleader for Positive community building and outreach,  through arts, music, and advocacy in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside.

Using social media, new media, mobile media, and now filmmaking, to get her people’s stories and voices across, April hopes to reach and communicate with a world wide audience by utilizing both online and offline ways for social change and justice

Photos of April Smith by Simon Hayter

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Centre A is pleased to present World Tea Party, animated by tea master and calligrapher Bryan Mulvihill (aka Trolley Bus). Truly one of Vancouver’s “living cultural treasures”, Mulvihill has produced a special edition of The World Tea Party for the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad.

Previous versions have been presented publics large and small in a wide range of contexts, including the Winnipeg Pan Am Games, the Venice Biennale, the National Gallery of Canada, the Hollywood Bowl and the Eiffel Tower.

The World Tea Party is based on the notion that humanity shares in the drinking of tea a spirit of generosity and understanding that both celebrates and transcends our cultural diversity. Tea is the most popular beverage in the world.

The World Tea Party is a “social sculpture” that involves the creative empowerment of the audience. The tea salon is a meeting place. Its interactive aspect makes it a suitable vehicle for a debate about the relationship between the Olympics and the Downtown Eastside.

Free Tea and Big Video

In the afternoon, tea is offered for free, both inside the gallery and at times on the street. From 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm, large projections play on the building’s exterior windows. Video content includes work by various artists, live broadcast of performances, “skype” teas and the documentation of the World Tea Party in different contexts.

http://www.worldteaparty.com/jun-oenoki-skype-with-yokohama

http://www.centrea.org

http://www.worldteaparty.com

http://www.bright-light.ca

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/world-tea-…
http://www.worldteaparty.com
http://www.bright-light.ca
http://www.flickr.com/photos/centrea
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/world-tea-…

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AHA MEDIA gives Great Thanks to Hank Bull and Makiko Hara of Centre A along with Christoph Runne of Interurban Gallery  for this wonderful opportunity for us to show our lives in the Downtown Eastside during the 2010 Winter Olympics

A Flickering light in the heart of darkness

Multimedia art show opens in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

Vancouver, BC—In the heart of Vancouver’s infamous Downtown Eastside, the InterUrban Gallery opens Far, Up Close on February 12 for the duration of the Winter Games. The show is made up of a number of multi-media works, providing a flickering counterpoint to the darkness, real and over-hyped, surrounding it.

• Where: 1 East Hastings St. (Google map)
• When: February 12 to March 21, Gallery Hours: Wed to Sun, 12 to 5pm; Window Projections: dusk to dawn

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“The media makes the Downtown Eastside out to be such a dark place,” says artist Christoph Runne. “In some ways, that is true. But this is also a place of community and people with stories to tell. We wanted to show that.”

Below is a photo of one of Christoph Runne’s portraits

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Far, Up Close includes works by Chris Welsby, Christoph Runne, Faith Moosang and Monique Mees
Chris Welsby’s Time After, a five-monitor new media landscape, is neither a movie, nor a photograph. It takes high-speed communications technology and slows it down to planetary speed. Revealing hitherto unnoticed atmospheric shifts and subtle changes in light and color, it turns the city into a landscape and places human activity within the larger time scale of the natural world.

Christoph Runne’s Portraits combines classical portraiture with overt allusions to Dutch masters, turn-of –the-century anthropological photography and police mug shots. Projected on the gallery’s windows, Portraits creates a spectral permanence for the residents of Vancouver’s most disputed neighbourhood.

Faith Moosang and Christoph Runne’s film installation, The Blair Bush Project, looks at the glamourization of warfare and suggests that there is a correlation between beauty and horror.

Monique Mees’ photographic series Specimen Plates exposes the visual culture of medicine by addressing the historical use of cinema in medical science to analyze, regulate and reconfigure the transient and uncontrollable human body.

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ARTIST BIOS

Chris Welsby

Chris Welsby is a graduate of the Experimental Media Department at the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London UK. He is currently Professor of Film and Digital Media at Simon Fraser University Vancouver and a member of ICICS (Institute for Computing, Information, and Cognitive Systems) at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Showing internationally since the early 1970s, his work has ranged across several media, but always concentrating on this central theme: how do we see ourselves in relation to the natural world and how should we position ourselves and our technologies within it?

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Christoph Runné is a Vancouver-based experimental film, video, and installation artist. Through his work, he explores the unhidden yet seemingly invisible world around us. He creates visual tone poems with a humanitarian heartbeat whose minimalist and impressionistic methodology contradicts the complex human conditions with which Runné engages.

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Faith Moosang graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and has received her MFA from Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts. Her work, while largely based in photography, has also included installations using video and film. She has shown in group and solo exhibitions in Canada, the United States and Europe. She is fixated on the constructed visuality of warfare and its mediation to and by the public at large.

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Monique Mees graduated with honors from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1987. She pursued a scholarship in Germany at the Staatliche Der Bildenden Kunste, Karlsruhe, where she studied painting and has since developed a multi-interdisciplinary practice.  Mees has  received numerous cultural grants from both the Canada Council and the BC Art Council for her work, which has been shown both nationally and internationally.