3D PRINT-A-THON

March 5th, 2013

Saturday Artengine hosted a 3D Print-a-thon, to celebrate the Lab’s 2 new machines, The Ultimakers, and get the community inspired by inviting the region’s best 3D print enthusiasts to bring their machines, their designs, and their expertise to share with all comers. The M70 Lab was crushingly packed all day with over 400 people passing […]

Squatter un satellite… Étienne de Massy at DAÏMÕN

February 5th, 2013

Friday evening, while exhausted from an escalating cold, I took a planned-detour on my way home in order to be immersed in beauty. I went to DAÏMÕN, where a compilation of Montreal-based artist, Étienne de Massy‘s work was being screened. From beginning to end I sat with an audience of captivated fans, as de Massy’s […]

#BustOutYOW… it’s Maker: Nigel Vezeau

January 16th, 2013

This month I caught up with Nigel Vezeau, an Ottawa-based maker. This post is part of the #BustOutYow series which aims to showcase people and projects that are creatively intervening in and engaging with the architecture of our surroundings; that are discussing or revealing public stories –publicly. They are people who are playing and learning […]

Why *make*? To affect quality of life.

November 29th, 2012

Signs of Ear Infection in Cats & What To Do Are your cat’s ears red and irritated? Perhaps there is discharge in your kitty’s ear that looks a bit like coffee grinds? Could be an ear infection. Today’s post delves into the causes of ear infections in cats, symptoms to watch for, and available treatments. […]

Contemporary Art World – please drop the “”s around New Media and help establish the artists of this aesthetic.

October 31st, 2012

Time and life has changed radically in the last 20 years. Most people are now vested in, and depend on, multiple forms of digital technology in their day-to-day routines. Starting a post with this argument, even sounds antiquated, as Western dependency on the digital is woven in to so many elements of life and the […]

Art technically/ a sample of Nuit Blanche Ottawa artists

September 20th, 2012

On Saturday September 22nd, Ottawa will host its first Nuit Blanche, an all night event which sees artists take to the streets to animate them in new ways and to temporarily alter the pedestrian path into a new culturescape. Here are a few projects that are of particular interest to me for their sophisticated uses […]

What’s wrong with digital art? – Part 1 with Jonathan Shaughnessy

September 10th, 2012

In having been asked to lead off this discussion, the relevant issue that comes immediately to mind is a about autonomy and/or integration. Should new media be afforded a special or separate artistic status in comparison with more traditional media? Is this what artists want? If so then is the challenge for a contemporary curator to recognize distinction before integrating media arts into the fold of contemporary art and exhibitions? Doesn’t the nature of new media art itself often aim to challenge the very nature of traditional (gallery) art viewing contexts and behaviour? Isn’t it possible to accept that all contemporary art, from new media, to photography to painting are more or less different branches of one big diversely coloured tree? On the face of it I have always looked upon media arts this way, as one avenue artists have open to them for exploration. Of course particular knowledge and aptitudes are required (as they are for any artistic medium) but if the goal is to create an art object then is there really that much difference when it comes to reconciling media arts with everything else? Or do I have this all wrong? Like language laws enacted to protect the cultural fabric of a minority community within the broader mainstream, is this how those who speak in media art’s name feel with respect to the governing structures of the contemporary art world; i.e. that to make all sides compete as though the playing field is equal is to place the distinctiveness of what makes media art media art at risk?

#BustOutYOW → The Laser Musicbox

August 8th, 2012

It’s perhaps fitting that my last post opened the ‘#BustOutYOW’ project with an ambitious aim ‘to beam your content to the world’ and this post picks up the challenge with a tangible laser-based opportunity. Christopher Smeenk, a researcher working between the University of Ottawa and National Research Council within the Joint Lab for Attosecond Science […]

Ottawa: Where strange things can grow

August 4th, 2012

Hey Folks, Thanks for the platform Ryan! It’s a bit of an awkward one for me, I must admit. Some of my city hall colleagues have enjoyed a bit of a chuckle as a result of it. Anyone familiar with my blogging on Richard Florida’s Creative Class Exchange would know why. Ryan is asking some […]

#BustOutYOW/ I want to beam your content to the world.

July 10th, 2012

As Critical Resident Blogger across Artengine and Apt613 I want to initiate a project to get to know the readers, makers, and doers within these spaces and this city. I want to draw on the public mandates, philosophy’s and social nature of my hosts – Artengine and Apt613. And, I am keen to push the […]