digifest 2008
WATER’S EDGE: catastrophe, trauma, possibility
Saturday, March 29, 2008, 10am – 4:30pm
$25 ($20 for students and DX members)
Design Exchange
234 Bay Street, Toronto Dominion Centre (south of King St.)
Toronto, ON
416. 216. 2119
http://www.dx.org/digifest
The Design Exchange welcomes you to a day of presentations by Canadian artists, writers and professionals, each addressing a unique perspective on catastrophe, how it reflects the human condition and connects our past with our future.
Presentations include:
AA Bronson, the Vancouver-born artist widely known as one of the three artists of General Idea from 1969 through 1994, will use images of works from 1987 through to the present, to talk about his experience from the late 80s, when AIDS became their milieu, the very air they breathed, through his partners’ illness to their deaths… followed by the fallow period in which he was unable to produce new work, and then the work that immediately followed, first addressing death itself, and then more generally trauma.
Other keynote presenters include Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Upside of Down and Peter Robinson, CEO of the David Suzuki Foundation, former CEO of Mountain Equipment Co-op. The Upside of Down is a #1 non-fiction bestseller in Canada and was selected as one of the best books of 2007 in “Politics & Religion” by the Financial Times of London. Homer-Dixon will be speaking on “Catastrophe, Creativity, And The Renewal Of Civilization.” Robinson will be speaking on “Leadership In The Face Of Environmental Change And Challenge.”
Melissa Shiff explores the issues of historical consciousness through her compelling installation ARK. ARK is an outdoor site-specific video installation that is the keynote project for the Jewish Museum in Prague’s centennial year celebration. In this first time screening of the ARK in Canada, Shiff’s 30-minute video narrates the history of the museum and the Prague Jewish community during the last turbulent century.
The Portage research team at the Ontario College of Art and Design will report on their work, The Mobile Canadian Experience, with shared surveillance technology and the potentials that it holds for social upheaval.
Cathy Gordon’s poignant performance, ON MY KNEES, reveals the effects of a personal trauma through a public ritual, Liam Johnstone experiments with inventive visualization methods informing us about the world in compelling ways and Isabelle Rousset offers us alternative observations of the world with a her phenomenological reconnaissance.
WATER’S EDGE at the Design Exchange is just one day out of the three-day digifest festival also happening at Harbourfront Centre, Friday, March 28th and at the Ontario Science Centre, Sunday, March 30th. One $25 ticket ($20 for DX members and students) provides participants with a weekend of exploration and entertainment at all three venues.
Visit www.dx.org or contact Catherine Molnar, Professional Programs Coordinator, Design Exchange catherine@dx.org, 416-216-2120
Media inquiries:
Claudine Crangle, Director of Marketing, Sponsorship and PR, Design Exchange claudine@dx.org, 416-216-2134