UTOPIA: 2nd Annual Festival of Women in Digital Culture
The second annual Utopia Festival lands at W2 with film screenings, workshops, a free International Women’s Day community fair, and epic evening performances. The festival showcases women in the Vancouver community ‘making our future through technology
April Smith: Photo exhibit
March 5-30, Woodward’s Atrium, Vancouver
Social media maven April Smith presents some of her favourite digital images of women in our DTES neighbourhood.
April Smith works with AHA Media, a social media project, which has a massive archive of digital stories by and for inner-city residents. The exhibition is supported in part by DTES Neighbourhood Small Arts Grants.
The Audain Gallery will be hosting a panel discussion by the desmedia collective. desmedia will host Collective Futures in the Downtown Eastside, a public forum where DTES artists and residents will be invited to discuss the successes and challenges of, and possible futures for, cultural collectives in the community.
About desmedia
desmedia (downtown eastside media), a collective of artists committed to working on engaged collaborative arts projects with other residents and members of the DTES, began running drop-in workshops in May 2000. Describing their project as a “living archive”, desmedia challenged the “dominant media’s over-arching image of the DTES”, and facilitated the production of painting, video, photography, and text. Exploring ways of documenting life, histories, and the vitality and creativity of the area, the workshops provided an opportunity for the possibilities of self expression, reflection and self representation.
Collective Futures in the Downtown Eastside
Panel discussion by the desmedia collective
On the occasion of this exhibition, desmedia will reassemble their complete archive in the Audain Gallery, including a workstation, shelving, videotapes, paintings, and related ephemera, and discuss potential collective models and the dissolution or morphing of desmedia (and their archive) into another form. desmedia will host Collective Futures in the Downtown Eastside, a public forum where DTES artists and residents will be invited to discuss the successes and challenges of, and possible futures for, cultural collectives in the community. Although present in the gallery, the desmedia archive will not be available for public access, only on display.
Speakers included:
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre
Gallery Gachet
Vancouver Moving Theatre/Heart of the City Festival
Lower Mainland Painting Co.
Red Gate
AHA Media
Enterprising Women Making Art
Lifeskills Film & Video
Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts
W2 Community Media Arts
DTES Artists Space Coalition
Points/questions for Panel participant’s response
How do you work collectively, what methodology/structure/practice and guidelines?
What is the collaborative practices you do?
How do you engage your art practice as a collective with the DTES and DTES residents? What support can you offer to participants living with barriers to their practice; marginalized artists, homelessness, and health issues?
What are the best practices/strategies that you have found in working collectively in the DTES?
What are the challenges, difficult issues you have faced in carrying out your work? What support/services are you accessing in the community to further your skills in this regard?
If you have developed an ‘archive’ or body of work, how do you deal with the issues of ownership, copyright, presentation/distribution, and access? What if the participants change their minds a few years down the line and want to change the way material is used that they participated in producing or that includes them/their representation?
How can we work together to build alliances, to overcome fractures in the community and to build on our strengths? How can long-term resident’s voices, histories, and practices be included and what weight do they carry in relationship to new projects and spaces?
What would you propose we do to work on creating a sustainable art collective that is focused on providing support and opportunities for DTES residents and members of the community, as well as being open to people dropping in?
Soul Gardens is a W2 community public art project that investigates the cultural history of the Downtown Eastside as told through stories of food, gardening and community.
A collaboration between five muralists and five artist researchers, the project draw heavily on individual and shared narratives within founding DTES cultural groups including the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam Nations, and African, Chinese, Japanese and European settlers. In addition to a large public mural, Soul Gardens will create a dynamic online interface inviting individuals to share recipes, stories, photos and other information about how food has played a role in shaping their experience of Vancouver.
Muralists: Jordan Bent, Indigo, Scott Sueme, Melanie Shambach, Take5. Researchers: Wayde Compton, Lani Russwurm, Anne Marie Slater, Sid Tan and Cease Wyss. Project Coordinators: Irwin Oostindie, Lianne Payne.
September 21, 2011 is a memorable day. A diverse gathering celebrated the official opening of W2 Media Cafe and the Concrete Park music and break dance sessions.
Many thanks for entertainment to The Hastings Set who provided the music and the Hip Hop and B-Boys breakdancers. Also many thanks to the W2 volunteers, board and staff.
Mayor Gregor Robertson cut the ribbon. Also in attendance were Councillors Ellen Woodsworth, Heather Deal and Andrea Reimer, developer Ian Gillespie and architect Gregory Henriqez. First Nation welcome by ethnobotanist/media artist Cease Wyss while Magnus Thyvold represented the W2 board while Irwin Oostindie was MC.
Concrete Park is a celebration of urban culture taking place indoors in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, reminiscent of old school park jams and hosted by W2 and our friends The Hastings Set. Join us for this special urban event commemorating the offishal opening of W2 Media Cafe.
DJs will play to an open floor for dancers (Hip-hop and B-Boys). There will also be a 1 on 1 open b-boy battle with prizes from Sharks & Hammers, Welcome to East Van, Livestock, W2 Media Cafe, London Drugs, and Beats & Bikes.
City of Vancouver Mayor Gregor is going to drop down for a 6pm ribbon cutting and some delish cake, yummy treats provided by W2 Media Cafe, Cariboo Lager and Salt Spring Coffee Co beverages will be consumed, and shwag given out.
This is a free event and an open invite to the Downtown Eastside and Downtown communities.
Come join us in helping celebrate the opening of the W2 Media Cafe!!!
