[spectre] TRANSMEDIA 2002 - FIFTEEN SECONDS OF FAME

[Inke Arns]

Date sent:      	Tue, 22 Oct 2002 20:10:24 -0400
From:           	YEAR ZERO ONE <curator@year01.com>
Organization:   	http://www.year01.com
Subject:        	LAUNCH >>> TRANSMEDIA 2002 - FIFTEEN SECONDS OF FAME

                  10.24.02 - 11.15.02,  24/7 broadcast
         RoadSide TV video billboard - Yonge/Isabella,  Toronto
   opening launch: October 24 @7pm - Brownstone Bar, 603 Yonge
   Street
                      programmed by Year Zero One

"In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes" - Andy Warhol

Fame is elusive, transitory, expensive and always in your face. In our 
expedient and saturated media culture, is Warhols 15 minutes too long? 
Year Zero One, a Toronto based on-line artist run network, presents 
TRANSMEDIA 2002 - FIFTEEN SECONDS OF FAME, a three 
week site-specific exhibition of 12 media artists from Canada, Mexico, 
USA and England. The bi-annual exhibition will debut October 24 @7 
pm on RoadSide TV's large video billboard at Yonge and Isabella in 
downtown Toronto. During the course of the show, which runs from 
October 24 to November 15th, fifteen second media artworks will 
appear every 2 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Featured in this 
year's exhibition are works that range from an ad for "Celibritoy" to an 
allegorical bio tech nano-opera.

Art on Video Billboards

Year Zero One first introduced video art to a public audience by
utilising a large advertising billboard in Toronto in an event
called Transmedia 2000.  It was the first of its kind in Canada
and set a new standard by which public art, in the age of outdoor
digital technology could be viewed. Like conventional advertising,
which loops endlessly in compressed time slots, the artists in
TRANSMEDIA 2002 were faced with the challenge of expressing their
vision in a standard 15 second ad segment. The works in TRANSMEDIA
2002 hyphenate our daily experience, momentarily transporting
viewers from their usual activities to consider art as part of
daily life. The video billboard displaying this year's TRANSMEDIA
2002 was generously donated by RoadSideTV.

The Art

AMBER - Ricardo Rendon,  Mexico
The idea of a virtual body - the perfect commodity of the
post-industrial age.  Like any other electronic information, this
body guarantees your complete satisfaction. Thousands of
pornographic images represents any kind of body; cheaply produced
and easily distributed. The virtual pornography is free of
infection, without any kind of physical and emotional risk. No
possibility of physical contact other than the keyboard or the
mouse click. Virtual pornography is an intimate exercise of
fantastic imagination and introspection. All that we save on our
hard drives surely represents an image of ourselves.

BUS STOP - Maris Mezulis,  Canada
How long will this salaryman wait for the bus?

CELEBRITOY - Alistair Gentry,  UK
Celebritoy represents the advertising industry=EDs logical (or
illogical) next step. It=EDs an advertisement for a product that
exists but is not directly purchasable.

15 SECOND BLOWJOB - Michael Alstad,  Canada
Andy Warhol created the seminal film Blow Job in 1964, the year I
was born.  He extended the duration of his early silent works by
having them projected at a slower rate than what it was originally
shot at (16 frames per second instead of 24).  For Transmedia 2002
I had to speed things up a bit, the 35 minute Blow Job has been
condensed into 15 seconds - the duration of a standard video
billboard ad slot.

THE HUB - Jason Bader,  USA
The Hub is a metaphorical video artwork relating to the idea of
how a hub works in a networking environment to how an intersection
works in a physical environment. This is the second version of
this work, reducing the original 3 minutes to 15 seconds. The
image captured within this work is one of the busiest
intersections in Los Angeles and America. The video shows the
activity (or absence thereof) of Los Angeles at 4:15 AM. The
viewer then gets a glimpse into 5 different times during the day
to see the massive contrast of activity at that intersection.

LIVE IN INFAMY - Jillian McDonald,  Canada
One year after the WTC was attacked, there has been a spotlight on
official memorials: TV network executives have promised to
exercise caution in their use of alarming images, already burned
into the collective memory. This detail of the falling buildings I
saw without leaving my Brooklyn doorstep is covered with poppies -
living memorials at once fragile, ephemeral, and alive.

LIPSERVICE - David Jhave Johnston, Canada
All human life arises from a mysterious ocean of swirling energy,
immersed in time so vast it's beyond comprehension while our
multiplexed identities frolic onward, demanding immediate
gratification, requited love and reciprocated desire.  Lipservice
is dedicated to the coexistent paradoxes of fame and famine in one
flesh

MISS CANADIANA - Camille Turner,  Canada
This video encapsulates highlights of the prestigious "Miss
Canadiana Pageant" which earns an "all Canadian girl" the
opportunity to make appearances across Canada and internationally
to promote Canadian culture. Who will she be?

NOTE TO SELF - Michelle Kasprzak,  Canada
Note to Self is an fantastic illustration of inserting private 
thoughts into a public space.  Imagine having the ability to
transmit warnings, messages, and reminders to yourself via the
landscape of the city.  If the city were a "programmable" space in
such a way, this customization of the public environment would be
both utilitarian and playful at the same time.

PARTHENOGENESIS -  Marina Zurkow,  USA
Rumi asked, "What is the heart? It is not human, and it is not
imaginary." Parthenogenesis is an animated, allegorical
nano-opera. It uses a vocabulary of mutated, pictographic icons to
tell the story of loneliness, heartbreak, and renewal.  This piece
was made in the aftermath of Sept. 11th with the hope that out of
heartbreak, compassion can come.

PLAISANCE - Isabelle Hayeur,  Canada
Time appears suspended above this peaceful district of the city of
Chicoutimi (Quebec) In this quiet world, everyone has its place
under the sun and its sightseeing on the waterfall. Plaisance
proposes a critical view on a rather widespread type of rural
development. This short animation raises the question of
responsibility - for our planning of space and for our imaginative
powers. The media promotes our common taste for the grandiose and
the landscape spectacle. When we see things in close-up, we can
only have one point of view on them. That's why I wanted to show
this postcard off-screen.

SWEET OR SALTY (Madonna's Poor Days) - Ana Rewakowicz,  
Canada
Sweet or Salty (Madonna's Poor Days) refers to the construction of
cultural identity in the context of stardom. In this piece, coming
from personal experiences of being compared to Madonna, I
impersonate her to examine how the image of a star creates a
longing and a sense of endless possibilities. The title of the
video references Madonna's line from her interview, in which she
describes her poor days in New York when she was eating popcorn
for dinner while watching films. She once said, "the only thing
that I keep in the fridge is popcorn". I use this line as a
pertinent example of the American Dream with its promotion of
becoming anyone you want (a star) from 'nothing'.

The works exhibited in TRANSMEDIA  2002, along with artist
statements and bios, are available for viewing on-line at:
http://www.year01.com/transmedia2002

Year Zero One gratefully acknowledges their supporters who made
TRANSMEDIA 2002 possible: The Canada Counci for the Arts, Ontario
Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and RoadSide TV.


Pubicist: Dara Rowland
Dara Rowland & Associates
675 King Street West, Suite 206
Toronto ON Canada
M5V 1M9
Telephone: 416-916-7377
Fax: 416-916-7375
dara@dararowlandassociates.com


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
YEAR ZERO ONE is an on-line artist run centre which operates as a
network for the dissemination of digital culture and new  media
through web based exhibitions, an extensive media arts directory, 
and the YEAR01 Forum - an electronic art journal.

http://www.year01.com
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