Engage with imagineNATIVE's New Media Programming

Posted: 
Friday, October 12

**Just announced**

Engage with imagineNATIVE’s New Media Programming
Web-based and Installation New Media Works Presented at #iNFest2012

13th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
Presenting Sponsor: Bell Media
October 17 – 21, 201

(TORONTO –  October 11, 2012) The 13th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 17 – 21, 2012, presents an innovative and engaging collection of new media programming throughout its 2012 festivities. Web-based works, public exhibitions and gallery installations at the Festival are FREE to the public.

“New media works by Indigenous artists remain a vital component of imagineNATIVE,” say Jason Ryle, Executive Director. “Innovation and adaptation to new technologies have been inherent in the work of Indigenous artists worldwide for centuries. We’re excited, as always, to showcase a selection of these digital, web-based and installation works at imagineNATIVE.”

The Festival’s selection of web-based new media works is available now through www.imagineNATIVE.org and from October 18-21, 2012 at the Radio & New Media Lounge at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St. W). They include two new works by Cheryl L’Hirondelle (http://spiderlanguage.net) and Archer Pechawis & Sheila Urbanoski (http://lovingthespider.net) honouring and re-imagining the groundbreaking interactive website isi-pîkiskwêwin-ayapihkêsîsak (Speaking the Language of Spiders) created by Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew. L’Hirondelle features for a second time with NDNSPAM.com along with artists Jennifer Wemigwans (Wampum Interactive), Beth Aileen Dillon (Ginebigoog Ezhi-ayaajig/The Nature of Snakes), and Leena Minifie (Sense of Home). Their work is joined by new creations by The Ullus Collective (The Picto Prophesy Project) and The Indigenous Routes Collective (Indigenous Routes).

In partnership with A Space Gallery, imagineNATIVE presents Concealed Geographies, a group exhibition featuring the works of KC Adams, Jason Baerg and Justine McGrath along with three new works commissioned exclusively for this exhibition by Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Merritt Johnson, and Nigit’stil Norbert. Concealed Geographies is on now until October 27, 2012 at A Space Gallery (401 Richmond St. W., Suite 110). An artist talk and reception takes place October 19, 5:30pm.

The Festival also presents a special sneak preview installation of De Nort, an artistic collaboration between imagineNATIVE, the National Film Board of Canada, Vtape and ITWÉ Collective (Kevin Lee Burton, Caroline Monnet and Sébastien Aubin). This interactive installation preview takes place October 17-20 at VMAC Gallery (401 Richmond St. W., Suite 452), and in discussion Saturday, October 20, 10:30am at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. 

The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI) is the Festival’s first simultaneous national exhibition and presented in partnership with Pattison Onestop and Amnesty International Canada. Four commissioned one-minute silent digital works reflecting on the strength and importance of Indigenous women by artists Jesse Gouchey & Xstine Cook, Lisa Jackson, Cara Mumford and Angela Sterritt will be screened on more than 300 Toronto Transit Commission subway monitors to over one million viewers daily and nationally on 254 digital monitors in 33 shopping centres across Canada. The films have an accompanying website driving viewers to a resource page featuring artists, issues and links to organizations to find out more about the history and movement surrounding Indigenous women’s rights.

Join new media artists and thinkers for Alternative New Media on Screen, an innovative and interactive screening and discussion on Saturday, October 20 at 10:30am at the TIFF Bell Lightbox ($7/FREE to students/seniors/underemployed). A selection of the Festival’s alternative and new media offerings will be presented by attending artists, followed by a lively discussion on the creative and technical processes behind their works. This screening is followed by the Alternative Audiences and Interactive Storytelling panel, moderated by Steven Loft, at 1:00pm at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. 

imagineNATIVE extends a special thank you to its public funders who made these projects possible: Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Sport, and Toronto Arts Council. For more information about all new media works and events, please visit www.imagineNATIVE.org.

About imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio, and new media. Each fall, imagineNATIVE presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the globe. The Festival's programming, cultural & social events, and Industry Series attract and connect filmmakers, media artists, programmers, buyers, and industry professionals. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world's Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of our art and culture in contemporary media.

 

2012 Sponsors:

Presenting Sponsor: Bell Media

Gold: Astral Radio • Deluxe • Slaight Music • Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Silver: Global Toronto • RBC Royal Bank • Canada Media Fund

Bronze: TD Bank • TVO • Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund • CBC • Casino Rama

Media: NAPT • NOW Magazine • Muskrat Magazine • Voices 106.5FM • Media Indigena

Public Funders: Ontario Arts Council • Canada Council for the Arts • Canadian Heritage • Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training • Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport • Telefilm Canada • Toronto Arts Council

Community Partners: A Space Gallery • ACTRA Toronto • Beehive Design • Charles Street Video • Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto • National Film Board of Canada • V tape • William F. White • Native Canadian Centre of Toronto • The Brant House • WIFT-Toronto • Pattison Onestop

Official Airline Carrier: Star Alliance

Festival Hotel: Hilton Garden Inn

Festival Restaurant: The Ballroom

Hospitality: The Charlotte Room • Smoke’s Poutinerie • Café Crepe • Kind Exchange • Manitobah Mukluks • Art Gallery of Ontario • Global Village Backpackers • Super 8 Hotel

Friends: DHL • SABAR • Technicolor • Niagara Custom Lab

Foundations: Ontario Trillium Foundation • McLean Foundation • Dreamcatcher Fund

 

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For more information and interviews, contact GAT:

Ingrid Hamilton  |  ingrid@gat.ca  |  + 1 416 731-3034