Freed the Puppet - Video 3

Freed the Puppet - Video 3

We've begun work on a third video for the Freed the Puppet project with a shoot at SFU in Vancouver with dancer Karissa Fyrrar. Using collective choreography and image animation, Video 3 explores the nature of fragmentation and fusion, and continues the journey of limits through sound, image, and movement. The next shoot is Saskatoon with the help of Free Flow Dance, followed by Winnipeg with longtime Freed contributor Alexandra Elliott. 

Copyright/Copyleft

The New Music Festival, tagged A Festival of Sonic Collagism and the Art of Sampled and Repurposed Sounds + Images, hosted a panel discussion yesterday about copyright, intellectual property rights and art. Featuring Peter Hatch - composer and organizer of the Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound (openears.ca), Doug Horne - founding member and host of Frequent Mutilations radio art show on CKHS FM in Waterloo, Mark Hosler - sound artist with Negativland (negativland.com), Martha Rans - copyright lawyer working with Artists' Legal Outreach in Vancouver (allianceforarts.com/artists-legal-outreach), and Vancovuer artist DJ Tapes aka Aja Rose Bond. The panel discussed various topics including but not limited to the differences between fair use/dealing, copyright, copyleft, and the differences between perceptions and laws in the US and Canada. The reader may recall that in 2008 Bill C-61, which proposed major changes to Canada's copyright act, was tabled by the Conservative and died when Parliament was dissolved in September 08 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_C-61). Peter Hatch situated copyright in history by pointing out that since the 9th century musical tradition has including the use of other artists work in the creative process. According to him, and generally accepted by the room, it wasn't until the 19th century and the commodification of culture that copyright became a legal and economic issue. The audience was interested to know what the panel thought about the ethics of copyright, but Hark Hosler pointed out that "good or bad doesn't matter because [appropriation of work is] happening". The group debated the line that defines infringement and appropriation, and the ethical and legal elements of the topic, but the most poignant comment in my opinion was from DJ Tapes who asserted that for her, the only economic issue is one of subsistence of the artist, and whether or not they have the tools and time to continue to create, while the only ethical issue is one of exploitation, as when an artist's vision is rendered moot by the use of their material by out of context. An engaging discussion to say the least! 

New (and Old) work by Bill Beso (and Travis Macloud)

The Critique of Kant

Bill Beso

The above is a new drawing from Bill Beso, and below is a Beso/Macloud slideshow first created for our website launch party of last February. I reworked the sound in the early summer, and recorded it, but could never put it up what for the sllllooowwww internet in the woods. Enjoy!

Speaking of Dance

Last night I joined a small but enthusiastic crowd of dance supporters at the Vancouver Public Library downtown for Speaking of Dance, a lecture series presented by Dance House (dancehouse.ca). According to producer Jim Smith, Dance House hopes to not only promote dance events, but to encourage "conversations" in the Vancouver community about dance. The lecture opened with a survey of the upcoming dance season by Janet Smith, dance critic and arts editor for the Georgia Straight (straight.com). Smith observed that "...dance in Vancouver constantly leaves [us] with an impression", and she proved it by running clips from a few of the many diverse works being mounted here in the near future. The sheer volume locally produced, choreographed, and danced works demonstrates that Vancouver is teeming with talent. Emerging groups such as the 605 collective (605collective.com) and the Plastic Orchid Factory (plasticorchidfactory.com), established companies like Joe Ink (joeink.ca) and Kidd Pivot (kiddpivot.org), and dance supporters and promoters like Dance House fuel a rich west coast contemporary dance culture. This week is packed with dance events as The Dance Centre (thedancecentre.ca) presents its biannual series Dance In Vancouver. Add to a 4 night showcase featuring 11 dance companies a double bill of choreographer Serge Bennathan's The Strange Adventures of Myself and Joe Laughlin's (In)habitat (firehallartscentre.ca Oct 15-17), and top it off with Unbound from Wen Wei Dance (wenweidance.ca) at the Kay Meek Centre on Friday, and the week really is jam packed with dance!

SUBMERGED and Freed in Vancouver

SUBMERGED is the newest offering from The Contingency Plan, an emerging Vancouver based dance collective composed of Vanessa Goodman, Jane Osborne, and Leigha Wald. Their two-night program of various works by visiting and local choreographers was both exciting and inspiring to behold. For me, it kicks off a run of dance events, and I'm not sure if it's always like this in Vancouver or simply the season. Last year, October was as filled with contemporary and urban dance events as well.

I'm working steadily on the vids for Freed. I bought pegboard today, for the Freed vid1 stop mo shoot, and I'll begin shooting after Thanksgiving. Lien Cayer, a sonic producer from Halifax and new contributor, has taken the reins on vid2, and I'm making steady progress on the newest vid, trying to connect with dancers and greenscreens across the country to make Humanination.

Tonight we're out for comedy at The Kingston, and then this open mic I heard about at ANZA club....peace