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resident work: CFC IAEPThe CFC Media Lab TELUS Interactive Art & Entertainment Program (IAEP) is Canada's oldest post-graduate training and production program. The work that the Lab's postgraduate residents do there proceeds from the philosophy that a collaborative process harnessing a wide range of creative skills and talents is the best way to create compelling content. I've been involved with the program since 2002, first teaching one or two short modules a term, then assuming faculty status in spring of 2008, which also involves me in the extensive critique sessions of residents' prototypes. The IAEP puts an enormous amount of responsibility on the shoulders of its residents to produce solid work rapidly, but it also places a wide range of people with a great deal of expertise in various aspects of digital media at their disposal. The results speak for themselves. Click on the thumbnails below for larger views of the images. Titles for each item link directly to the web project in question itself, where appropriate. Recent CFC IAEP resident projects:
Found Wanting
Why didn’t you...? Why don’t you...? Why won’t you...? Found Wanting is a multimedia installation piece that taps into the inner guilt associated with the relentless interpellations of digital communication. Seven heads serve as screens for projected bits and pieces of the faces of others, forming an animated collective representation of the social body. The heads appear to float above the audience like some sort of uncanny tribunal, confronting viewers with questions and judgments that have been pulled in real time from Twitter. After its initial installation in the CFC Media Lab, Found Wanting made its public debut at Nuit Blanche 2009.(2009) residents:
Zoom
Zoom draws attention to memories of the past, and to interesting ironies and strong consistencies of the currently changing environs of the corner of Ossington Avenue and Queen Street West, where the grounds of CAMH (The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) abut an increasingly hip neighbourhood of galleries, high-end boutiques, lofts and trendy restaurants. An observation deck binocular has been retrofitted with an internal digital screen to allow users to navigate not magnifications of the actual site, but photos and subtle texts that highlight the character of the neighbourhood and allow viewers to explore messages of identity that might otherwise be obscured by what's "actually" there. Zoom was initially installed in the CFC Media Lab, then on-site for its public debut at Nuit Blanche 2009. (2009) residents:
Pause
Pause is an interactive media machine that visualizes the intensities and affect of urban life. It invites its audience to experience the tension between two opposing audiovisual states: one intense and dynamic, the other, relaxed and langorous. Viewers can directly influence Pause in a manner that is intended to provoke contemplation and awareness of our own pace in the hectic environs of the city. Pause was initially installed in the CFC Media Lab, then was part of the public debut of resident projects at Nuit Blanche 2009. (2009) residents:
Bell Payphone Labs is a 'pataphysical think tank created to explore the role of telephone technology in the social sphere. The payphone is both ubiquitous and invisible at the same time; Bell Payphone Labs' our objective was to explore the payphone as a destination, to create new ways to experience it, and re-evaluate how we understand it. For the residency, BPL built a website (click on their name, above) and staged two installations -- PL1999, "a voice recognition, proximity activated payphone booth that uses space age technology and a recognizable user interface to connect users at other sites of installation" (i.e. a disco ball in a phone booth), and GMBLL, "a state-of-the-art payphone that utilizes heat and touch based sensors, as well as pulse width modulation to buffer the emotional impact of a rejected call or busy signal" (i.e. it dispenses gumballs). Alfred Jarry would weep with pride. Bell Payphone Labs has conducted several different installations of its projects, including a public debut at Nuit Blanche 2009. (2008) residents:
Another Round made its public debut at Nuit Blanche 2009. (2008) residents:
Shh Ahh Oh is an installation which digitally projects and mirrors the people who enter into its space as shadows on a large screen. Particular movements and combinations (such as overlapping shadows) trigger a series of special effects, such as the dissolving of figures, reversing of light and dark areas, and the movement of animated characters, such as a flying crow. An audio track of work by Canadian sound and dub poets Lillian Allen, a. rawlings and Rob Read also responds to the movements of the audience. The initial installation at the CFC Media Lab stables featured two chambers with reciprocal cameras and screens, but many configurations are possible. The project's prototype consists of very basic equipment: web cams, digital projectors, screens, and VVV, an open-source real-time video synthesis software package. The project met with great success at Toronto's Nuit Blanche 2008, and has a second scheduled installation at the Circa night club. (2008. Top photo by Richard Gilmore. Diagram by Nicholas Longstaff and Rea McNamara.) residents:
GAKU (Grandparents and Kids Unite) is a point-to-point Internet appliance that allows grandparents and their grandchildren (or any other loved ones) to exchange photos, video, and audio across great distances. People on one end of the appliance upload a still image or video, add an audio commentary, and submit it via a simple but elegant interface to the other device. The residents' approach to this project was thoughtful and comprehensive, involving extensive usability testing, multiple prototype scenarios, and the design of both the hardware form factor (actual fabrication was completed by a professional case modder) and the software that drives the device. The public debut of GAKU was at Nuit Blanche in Toronto, 2008. Its creators are currently pursuing the development of GAKU as a commercial product. (2008) residents:
My Time is set of USB-powered, whimsical computer peripherals that express the passage of time in innovative and entertaining ways. Each object has different programmable characteristics; some glow with ambient light; some play MP3s selected by the user; some allow the recording of audio samples; some feature small display windows which can either play short messages or indicate the time numerically. My Time had its public debut at Toronto's Nuit Blanche in 2008. GUSTA, the design team, hopes to mass-produce these objects as collectable designer toys for home and office. (2008) residents:
Greenwave
Greenwave is an application for the Facebook social network. Designed for people who care about the environment and are ready to make a change in their lifestyles, Greenwave shows its users that simple changes to their lifestyle can have a positive and lasting impact on the environment. Users form teams with their Facebook friends and propose taking on together a range of week-long green challenges. Geared toward reducing the consumption of energy and water and the production of waste, the challenges are suitable for both house and apartment-dwellers. Examples would include taking home fewer plastic bags, leaving excess packaging at the store, to turning off more lights and electricity hogging equipment, and hanging up the keys to the car. This project also led to the formation of SEZ Social, a media consulting company that offers strategic advice on building or extending web presence through the use of social media. (2008) residents:
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Darren Wershler (aka Darren Wershler-Henry) is the author or co-author of ten books, most recently, The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting (McClelland & Stewart, Cornell UP), and apostrophe (ECW), with Bill Kennedy. Darren is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, and is also part of the faculty at the CFC Media Lab TELUS Interactive Art & Entertainment Program. alienated.net is the most visible part of Darren's brain. links: status update
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Another Round
