Posts Tagged ‘collective’
Debate: Museums are bad at telling us why art matters
…. to skip the long role call skip to 2:30…
written by Becka Viau
I challenge you to consider this debate and then mix it up with your thoughts about a Prince Edward Island Provincial Museum. I am not suggesting another animatronic display of the father’s of Confederation … but how significant is the closing of Founder’s Hall? What will become of that space? Is a true museum the answer?
In Between Spaces – a short film by Millefiore Clarkes
IN BETWEEN SPACES is an experimental video project that explores the notion of a communal gaze. This collaborative documentary follows 12 individual perspectives from within a community; and through their eyes a sense of objective reality emerges. The community is Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
In the summer of 2011, four video cameras were placed in the hands of four people who filmed one hour of their lives over the course of 3 days. When their hour was up they handed the cameras on to four others of their choosing to repeat the process. This cycle happened once more and in the end, 12 hours of footage from the daily lives of individuals in Charlottetown was collected.
The Director/Editor Millefiore Clarkes onethousandflowers.tv then acted as the organizing principle (with the help of original music composed by Roger Carter rogercarter.bandcamp.com) ordering and filtering these layers of perspective into a whole.
This project was part of the 2011 Cultural Capital Designation in Charlottetown PEI.
City Nights
A short chronicle - by Will Beckett, and featured on the new site Arts on PEI – of the semi-monthly City Nights events hosted by Charlottetown, PEI artist-run organization This Town is Small.
Aganetha Dyck: Guest Workers – a mini doc by Milles Clarkes
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Aganetha Dyck: Guest Workers
Something in the Water
On the 5th of February, 2011, photographer Anna Karpinski gathered the musicians of Charlottetown, PEI, Canada together for a historic photo shoot (ala. Art Kane’s 1958 photo ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.)
This video installation by Millefiore Clarkes onethousandflowers.tv documents the occasion.
This video, the photograph, and other related artworks were exhibited at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in the show Warming Up. confederationcentre.com/en/exhibitions-archive-read-more.php?exhibition=21
Featuring music by Racoon Bandit myspace.com/racoonbandit
and Milks and Rectangles milksandrectangles.bandcamp.com
Letter to the Editor – Freedom from sexual indoctrination
Engendered 01 - Becka Viau 2009 - colour photograph - http://www.beckaviau.com
This opinion article was printed June 03 2011 in The Guardian
Dear Editor,
I am deeply troubled by the proposed PEI Family Party. Their policy on “Freedom from sexual indoctrination” in education compares lesbian and trans identity to pedophilia and bestiality. It also implies that these sex crimes are “normalize(ed), promot(ed) or propagate(ed)” in the public school system. These policies are deeply offensive and have no place in Island politics.
Yes, there is “sexual indoctrination” in schools, but not because the curriculum is promoting sex crimes, or even doing enough to acknowledge the existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) identities. All youth are pressured, harassed, and intimidated into expressing their gender and sexuality in restricted and/or unhealthy ways. Even straight boys are the target of homophobic violence if they fail to act masculine enough – if they figure skate, for example, or (god forbid) cry.
The cost of not teaching about and “normalizing” identities in the school system is extremely high: island families risk losing their children. LGBT youth have a much higher rate of suicide and attempted suicide because their schools, their peers, their families, and their communities do not recognize or accept their identity. LGBT youth will also seize the first opportunity to move away since they experience harassment, intimidation, and/or violence in the school system from students and teachers alike.
The PEI Family Party’s policies on “freedom from sexual indoctrination” are but the tip of the iceberg. Also on the agenda is revoking the rights of non-traditional families, including common-law couples with children, and eliminating all legislation recognizing same-sex marriage. Also chilling is their policy requiring women seeking abortion to read materials and watch videos made by pro-life groups. They would also effectively privatize education by taking money away from the public school system to pay for private schools. Employment equity and pay equity policies are also on the chopping block. It is clear that the PEI Family Party’s concerns are rooted in American-style evangelical Christianity, and I, for one, do not welcome this addition to PEI’s political landscape.
Josie Baker
Charlottetown
** for more information follow these links … Queer Theory, LGBT, ARC PEI … I tried to find even a curriculum outline for the current sexual education program in Island Schools but I couldn’t find anything …. If you would like to find that information you can most likely request it from the PEI Dept. of Education – becka
The Creativity Project
untitled - colour photograph , Monica Lacey http://www.monicalacey.com
written by Jill MacCormack
We are living in a world defined by our image of ourselves, and choices we make based on that image. That self image is in turn being defined by internal and external forces, both large and small.
The Creativity Project
hopes to be an external initiating force towards reconciliation of the internal and external, between the self and the society it creates.
We live in an age that demands urgent, creative, and compassionate attention to the suffering of the world. The suffering can be viewed as imponderably great and binding in the manner of its complexity and reach, but also as grounds from which new ways of understanding and responding can emerge.
In short, The Creativity Project hopes to elevate awareness, and provide an impetus for change.
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Cacophony of Silence
There is a silence present now
so like death it takes my breath away.
A force so large, so deafening it quells
the brightness of the world.
It has no face or name or voice for none
it needs; it thrives on the life force of
the faceless, the nameless, the voiceless,
and the vice of those with plenty.
It will try to sell you beauty, joy, freedom
and security. Its sales pitch is image, youthfulness
and vitality without end.
With policies of mass production, a frantic pace,
confusion and alienation it’s insidious ways are
coordinated, tabulated, regulated: highly orchestrated.
It’s only end is money; power and control, and its only means, destruction:
destruction of land, sea, air, body, soul and culture. Death- deafening death.
What are you being sold…and at what cost?
Be heard above the loudness of the silence:
Get to know your natural environment
Dream, imagine, hope, and believe new ways of being
Seek alternatives
Be open to beauty
Be open to wonder
Turn away from fear and move in the direction of LOVE
Practice mindfulness
Be gentle with yourself and kind to others
Take time to be quiet
Respect different ways of being
Learn to value concepts of simplicity: lagom, wabi sabi
Cultivate an attitude of gratefulness
Learn to sit with uncomfortable emotions
Buy locally more often
Buy plastic less often
Don’t buy into images
Appreciate local arts and culture
Express your creativity
Talk to your neighbours
Practice community mindedness
Acknowledge the impermanence of all things
Be patient and tolerant in the process of change
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As artists we are called to use our creativity as a means of holding up to the light the hurt and fear of the world, so that we can penetrate those walls that silence has created: apathy, disillusionment, disempowerment, destruction, dis-ease. In doing so, we are redefining our confusion and pain, our fear and separation into something hopeful. We become the portal through which newness can emerge…. Softened and pliable once again, our society and culture can be re-created, sustainably, for the future, for the better.
This idea is a work in progress and by no means do I want to claim it as my own
By adding your voice the “Cacophony of Silence” will become less deafening. Please feel free to add your ideas, be it a rant or a hopeful image/ words.
Please respond.
Thank you,
The Creativity Project
* to respond to this post please email it to this.town.is.small@gmail.com or leave a comment
bells
bells in Hillsborough park - Becka Viau, Holly McGee, Allison Cooke 2011 -bells, silk ribbon, moss, found object - http://www.beckaviau.com
written by Becka Viau
This is a place to pray.
This is a place to play.
This is a place to live.
This is a place to breathe.
This is a place to enjoy.
This is a place to walk.
This is a place for community.
This is a place to live.
This place is public space.
And
To me
This is a place where I have fun.
To learn more about the history of Hillsborough square please visit here.
bells in hillsbourough park (detail)- becka viau, Holly McGee, Allison Cooke 2011 - bells, silk ribbon, moss and found object - http://www.beckaviau.com
Island Poems – digital catalogue now online!
design by Kirk Avery
written by Becka Viau
This town is small would like to congratulate all of the poets and artists that participated in the Island Poems: a collaborative art project! The show was a true success. It was amazing to see such diversity in subject and media, as well as the incredible amount of artists that participated!
This Project was our first collaboration with Peake Street Studios and the PEI Writers’ Guild and I have to say it was a very rewarding process.This town is small would like to thank Donnalee Downe from Peake Street and Yvette Doucette from the Writers’ Guild for all of their efforts in making this happen … including initiating the collaboration!
this town is small has put all of the poems and artworks up on the Island Poems page, in hopes that it will serve as a digital catalogue of the exhibition. Please visit the page and read the poems and view the artwork.
If you would like to see installation photographs of the exhibit please visit here.
If you would like to hear an interview from CBC Mainstreet about the exhibition please visit here.
I encourage the artists to send us an email with links to their web pages so we can link their work from this show to more information about them on the net.
Congratulations on an excellent show! We look forward
Vote. Everything Matters
Film by Mille Clarkes
This video is made by one Canadian citizen to implore all Canadians to participate in their democracy.
voteeverythingmatters.wordpress.com
May 2nd is a big day for Canada; our federal election day. We can beat our poor voter turn out from the last election. We can build a country that reflects our values. Values of strong social services, multiculturalism, healthcare, environmental stewardship, cultural and artistic legacy. We can care about all these issues while maintaining a robust economy.
On April 16th the citizens of the province of PEI held a “Vote. Everything Matters Rally” in the capital, Charlottetown. Over 200 people showed up to share their passion for democratic involvement.
There were a host of musicians out to join in for a ‘sing for democracy’ including Todd MacLean, John Connolly, Teresa Doyle, Meghan Blanchard, and Carmel Mikol.
Poet Tanya Davis spoke words to move a nation.
Other poignant speakers included Conor Leggott; a UPEI student and one of Canada’s concerned youth; Teresa Doyle, acclaimed musician and advocate for the Arts; as well as Jack McAndrew on behalf of the Friends of the CBC; Irene Novaczek Director of Island Studies Department of UPEI; and Mary Boyle of the PEI Health Coalition.
We’re going to be OK. This country is full of rational, caring, passionate people.
