Graduating classes across the city are holding their final vernissages and celebratory events. In particular, we want to highlight the IMCA (Intermedia / Cyberarts program) of Concordia presentation of ORO at Eastern Bloc. We interviewed them in one of their fundraisers HERE. Now is the chance to see the golden fruits of their hard work.
Intermedia/Cyberarts combines so many different disciplines that we can expect a range of work from visual to immersive to interactive to performative. The graduates critically examine both on the role technology plays and how people interact with it through their works.
This year, the themes explored in the works include efficiency, otherness, the self and the other, and the importance of place.
According to one of the exhibitors and coordinator of the event Sophie Latouche, it is important for the students to step out of academia and present away from campus because it makes “a bridge between university and life after school.”
The artists presenting are Calvin Brett, Don Reginald Doret, Elisabeth Savoie, Heather Caplap, Ho Yin So, John Kavanagh, Paul Goodship, Perryn Kruth, Roxanne Lemieux, Sophie Latouche, Tracey Briscoe, Veronica Mockler, Vincent Viezzer, and Zoe Gagnon-Kiefl.
Latouche says “What is cool in the IMCA is that it puts together different practices like video art, installation, performance, programming and this exhibition is the time to show it.”
Attending in person is the only way to experience an event like this, partially because some of the works require the artists to be present, such as the three performances: Calvin Brett’s Folie à Cinq, Elisabeth Savoie’s habitus 46, and Jack Kavanagh’s Pitch Black Volume. Furthermore, Latouche says “There will also be a room constantly screening video and installations. The exhibition really includes the audience and blurs the line between different media.”
Eastern Bloc in particular has been critical in this event. “We’ve met a really nice team at Easter Bloc and their objective as a gallery to promote experimental and creative practices surrounding art, technology, and science fit with the Intermedia Cyberart Program,” Latouche says. “Some undergraduate and graduate students from the program are working there as interns and maybe some will have their solo exhibitions there one day. It is a very nice space and they also offer workshops and working spaces for their members.”
The Event takes place at Eastern Bloc (7240 Clark) on April 25 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Performance schedule can be found on the website.