MEDIANETAnnual report 2015-2016

510 Fort Street, second floor, Victoria BC, V8W 1E6 250-381-4428 www.medianetvictoria.org �1

Alex MacKenzie’s two projector performance in the FLUX media art gallery

MediaNet’s 2015-2016 fiscal year was marked by significant positive changes, starting with the move to a downtown location, inside of the Open Space Arts Society building, and the creation of the 500 square foot FLUX media art gallery there! For 10 years MediaNet had been operating at the 2750 Quadra Street location, and inside of our small office space we developed the first version of the FLUX gallery, presenting the work of Indigenous media artist Terry Haines in the spring of 2015. By October, 2015 we had moved downtown, trading a reduced office space for a larger gallery space. The first exhibition was a collaboration with the media art festival ANTIMATTER, sponsoring a video installation by Victoria artist Brandon Poole. For the past year MediaNet has been able to greatly increase its programming of media art in FLUX, and use the space to support artists with the creation of new works.

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In November MediaNet presented a program of video works from Videographe, by Quebec women artists, called “Feminitude” curated by filmmaker Lysanne Thibodeau, who spoke at the event as well. The 2017 new year saw the FLUX present its first film installation exhibition with works by Vancouver artist Alex MacKenzie. Alex did a double projector performance on the opening night, and the exhibition included 4 different projectors running film loops continuously. The exhibition was combined with a symposium on film art, which featured a documentary on Canadian experimental filmmaking pioneer Arthur Lipsett, and a panel discussion on presenting media art in gallery settings, featuring filmmakers Alex MacKenzie (Vancouver), Eric Gaucher (Victoria), Dr. Nina Belmonte, Associate Professor of philosophy and film at the University of Victoria, Michelle Jacques, Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and moderated by Peter Sandmark, MediaNet Executive Director. In conjunction with MacKenzie’s exhibition and the film symposium, MediaNet launched the first issue of its media arts journal, called InFlux, edited by Programming Director, Catlin Lewis.

The Handmade and Analogue film creation program ran from February until April; participants learned how to use film cameras, hand develop film, and draw and paint on film as well. The completed Super-8 mm and 16 mm films were shown in the FLUX gallery. Throughout the year, we have also used FLUX to host screenings of art films for the Cinema Salon series. Having the FLUX gallery space enabled us to help artists with the creation of new media arts works, through workshops and the development and presentation of new pieces. In December 2015, Patrick Jenkins from Toronto’s Animated Image Society (TAIS), presented several of his films and gave an artist’s talk/workshop on his paint-on-glass techniques.

510 Fort Street, second floor, Victoria BC, V8W 1E6 250-381-4428 www.medianetvictoria.org �2

Videographers “Feminitude” Alex MacKenzie’s installation Handmade & Analogue

In 2015 MediaNet had supported Open Space’s Indigenous Youth Art Project, providing video and computer equipment and technical support from Kirk Schwartz for the production of numerous media arts works. In 2016, MediaNet offered to present the completed media art installations by the participating artists in the FLUX gallery, throughout March and April. The works by Indigenous artists Sionainn Phillips, Audie Murray, Chesa Abma, Meagan R Musseau, Jesse Campbell and Keilah Lukenbill-Williams ranged from multi-projector installations to single channel videos.

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Over the summer of 2016, MediaNet transformed FLUX into a workshop/creation space for artists and members to develop new works. Technical Director, Kirk Schwartz provided technical support for numerous productions over the year, with some highlights from 2015 - 2016 including work by Stephen Thomas Davies - who filmed his First Nations dance piece here in the gallery and presented it in the summer on the wall of the Yates Street parkade; work by Lindsay Delaronde (City of Victoria - Indigenous artist in residence) - MediaNet supported experimental documentation of her performance art piece "Bondage" that was video'd live at Dallas Rd beach, presented at the Comox Art and at the wall on the Yates St Parkade; and 2 films that were created by artist Margaret Briere. From the Activate program - Kat Zimmer made 5 videos about Permaculture as part of her Masters in Environmental Studies at UVic; presented at MediaNet and distributed to the Permaculture  community on YouTube. Media artist Allison Moore gave a projection mapping workshop in August.

The documentary “Joan Morris, Heart of Chatham Island”, a 12 min film, was produced in co-operation with Pacific Peoples Partnership and the Songhees Nation, and played at The Robert Bateman Centre as part of the exhibition on Songhees (for 4 months) and used as a tool at the Songhees Wellness Centre. MediaNet also collaborated with the Pacific Peoples Partnership, for the Pacific Voices Expressions. 6 short videos were made documenting the Puppets for Peace Parade on World Peace Day. MediaNet member Brian Bernard created a short film on mitochrondia, which screened at the Roxy Theatre and the Victoria Event Centre as a fundraiser for the local Michrondia Society. MediaNet member and dancer, Lori Hamar worked on video projections for the performance of The Weight, performed outdoors in Centennial Square as part of the Bounce Around the Square dance performance series. A time-lapse workshop was held in Flux Gallery space, during the summer of 2016. Finally MediaNet rounded out its 2015-2016 programming year with a screening of films by the Ottawa based Windows Collective, and a workshop by their member, Roger Wilson, on drawing on film techniques!

510 Fort Street, second floor, Victoria BC, V8W 1E6 250-381-4428 www.medianetvictoria.org �3

Meagan Musseau and her work InFlux journal film issue Film and talk by Patrick Jenkins