"Founded in September 1972, Open Space is non-profit artist-run centre located in Victoria, British Columbia. For over thirty years, Open Space has supported professional artists who utilize hybrid and experimental approaches to media, art, music, and performance. As an exhibition and performance centre, Open Space reflects the wide diversity of contemporary art practices in Victoria, across Canada, and beyond. Our commitment to contemporary artists is an inclusive situation, embracing work by artists of different disciplines, media, generations, cultures, and communities.
Open Space supports experimental artistic practices in all contemporary arts disciplines, acting as a laboratory for engaging art, artists, and audiences."
(Open Space Arts Society Vision Statement, 2010)
Fig.1 "Video as a Cultural Metaphor" Artist: Chris Creighton-Kelly, Date: March 9 and 10, 1979.
"Imagine that you have just got home late from a long day of work only to be confronted by an endless list of chores. You drag yourself and an old bag of dirty clothes to the laundromat around the corner. Suddenly some young film-maker is putting a camera in your face and asking you about your laundry, your life and your ever-fading childhood dreams. At first you want to be left alone-get out of my face! But after a while you relax. It feels good to talk and it feels good to listen. On your way home, you keep thinking about the stories you told and the ones you heard. Your mind just keeps on spinning...
The scenario of the short film ‘Laundrette’ transforms an anonymous public space into a dynamic one where stories are swapped and strangers are given faces. The film also acts as a remarkable metaphor for what Narratives for Europe wants to become: an open space where significant stories can be voiced, echoed and debated. Selected from the media collection of ECF’s Youth and Media programme, ‘Laundrette’ was awarded ‘Best Documentary’ at the BFI Futures Film Festival 2011 in London. You can watch this film and other shorts on ECF’s VIMEOchannel.
The BFI recruited this video and is one of the 6 partners of the Doc Next Network. This network functions as the core of the Youth & Media Programme of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF). Doc Next is a unique movement of independent cultural and media organisations working with young people and media in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and Scandinavia."
(European Cultural Foundation)
"Launderette": Director - Bertie Telezynski, Producer - Johnny Orme, Producer - Mark Davies, Cinematographer - Alex Nevill, Cinematographer - Rachel Lewis, Editor - Louis Rossi, Sound - Liam Cook
"this blog is nina wenhart's collection of resources on the various histories of new media art. it consists mainly of non or very little edited material i found flaneuring on the net, sometimes with my own annotations and comments, sometimes it's also textparts i retyped from books that are out of print.
it is also meant to be an additional resource of information and recommended reading for my students of the prehystories of new media class that i teach at the school of the art institute of chicago in fall 2008.
the focus is on the time period from the beginning of the 20th century up to today."
(Nina Wenhart, 26/06/2008)