It is tempting to think about how the performance interventions of Alÿs and Borsato, in their various forms, might function to undo the built environment. This deconstructive motivation was certainly at the heart of other walkers’ work, especially that of the Situationists. While I argue that each of their works contain a highly subversive component, […]
Walk This Way: Part Three
September 14th, 2013Walk this Way: Part Two
September 13th, 2013Describing his work, Mexico-based artist Francis Alÿs explains: “I spend a lot of time walking around the city…The initial concept for a project often emerges during a walk. As an artist, my position is akin to that of a passer-by constantly trying to situate myself in a moving environment. Each of my interventions is another […]
Walk This Way: Diane Borsato and Francis Alÿs Make the City
September 12th, 2013“Let everyday life become a work of art!” 1 “Rarely is walking considered as a distinct mode of acting, knowing, and making. As its necessity diminishes and its applications rarefy, the potential of walking as a critical, creative, and subversive tool appears only to grow.”2 Despite its ubiquitous place in everyday life, walking is an […]
Critical Blogging resting and waiting for the new year.
September 1st, 2010This announcement is notice of the early end to the Critical Blogging Residency undertook in partnership between Artengine and Vague Terrain. Our resident blogger, Rhiannon Vogl, is leaving the residency in order to take on other professional challenges which we know she will excel at. We are excited to start the next edition of the residency in the new year so keep an eye out for the call for applications in February 2011.
Pitch a tent in Meaford this long weekend
July 27th, 2010This is the Meaford I know. Nestled quaintly on the Southern shore of Georgian Bay, Meaford for me means farming, it means my grandparents homestead, rolling hillsides, markets and lazy summer afternoons. It hadn’t (until recently) meant anything related to new media or electronic arts. That is, however, until I discovered Electric Eclectics ; festival of […]
If you’re in Germany this summer…
July 27th, 2010…Museum Folkwang, Essen, is presenting Hacking the City – Interventions in public and communicative spaces. 16 July to 26 September 2010 www.hackingthecity.org “Hacking the City” is an innovative project reacting to changing structures in the public, mobility and communication in the city. The project is mainly focussed on Essen, Cultural Capital Ruhr.2010. Participants are artists, nerds, […]
Elektra Digest
May 17th, 2010Last week, I headed to Montréal for the 11th incarnation of the Elektra International Digital Arts Festival in Montréal. The five day event attracted artists and industry professionals from as far away as Dakar, Seoul, Istanbul and Shanghai, as well as various countries across Europe and North America, to the cosmopolitan Québeqois city, which is […]
Events and calls from Monday May 17
May 17th, 2010G’morning artengineers! These three events came to my attention this morning, and I’m now passing them onto you! The 9th version of the Deep Wireless festival of Radio & Transmission Art is being held in Toronto May 1 – 30, 2010. It is a month-long celebration of radio and transmission art including performances, installations, radio […]
Edwin van der Heide Laser Sound Performance Ottawa May 10
May 12th, 2010House of Orange, a two week celebration of Dutch and Canadian culture, held as part of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands by Canadian troops during World War Two, kicked off with a spectacular presentation of Edwin van der Heide’s Laser Sound Performance, Monday May 10 at the Mercury Lounge. Presented last week at Elektra, in the […]
Blogging at the speed of dial up
May 9th, 2010Elektra is over, and I’m left cold. Not just because it snowed on the last day of the festival, (leaving me no choice but to wear every single article of clothing I had brought with me to MTL at once,) but because last night’s finale, sadly, fell short of what I was hoping for. We were […]