The rules: “List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.”
The Art of Giving show at Orb Gallery sends 20% of silent auction proceeds to a charity of your choice. And will probably be less of a terror than the Cheaper Show, which I hear was a little too busy. Our man Kris Krug has 5 photos showing, and one (or all) of them could be yours!
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Also tonight is the Life is a SKIM beach fashion show at the Lotus Sound Lounge. “The show will feature the essentials for an eco-friendly skim summer, including the latest bikes from Ride On Again and skimboards from industry leader Four Skims. Models will showcase the gear wearing skim-friendly bikinis from various designers like Sooke’s Dewar Couture, industry standard Cuché, new local favorite Carney Love and DVLP shorts from Pacific Boarder. Downtown Betty’s hand silk-screen printed skimboard bags will round out the west coast feel of the show as the perfect skim beach accessory.” All proceeds go to the Surfrider Foundation and Living Oceans Society, two very worthy causes. Entry is just $5.
Due to “extenuating circumstances” the BRAVEart show, which was supposed to open in Vancouver last month, had been postponed but will be officially opening on Friday the 13th (oooooh).
Here’s a small preview of what you’ll find at the opening event, in addition to music, adult beverages, food and a delightful array of artists and lovers:
The PopVox Awards and closing gala for VIDFEST was great, and the impromptu party that happened a couple warehouses down the way was more fun than any one person should be able to handle. The Mondo Spider was in attendance, and a number of meetings were called on the mobile boardroom (photos: daytime / partytime) as we did laps around the warehouse, it was very productive.
The parties were fun, but this is why VIDFEST is best: you could practically reach into thin air and pluck an idea out of nowhere, the energy was just electrifying. Everyone around you is doing something amazing, fired up about whatever it is they’re working on, and it was really inspiring to meet so many supercoolios in one short week. The other thing I appreciated was, unlike film industry events, nobody was too good to attend (an old boss used to say of film networking parties, “They all want to talk to me, but I don’t need to talk to them..”) The scope of panelists, attendees, and everyone involved spanned from folks like me to CEOs and master planners, and we had no trouble getting along.
Me in the red, eyeing a reporter asking Chris Anderson an irrelevant question.
The Hot One Inch Action opening reception happened tonight at the Gallery Gachet. 50 artists, 50 designs, and $5 for 5 buttons selected randomly. If you didn’t like what you pulled out of the box, it was tradesies time. A pretty stellar jean jacket adorned with all of the buttons from the last 5 years (that’s 250) was raffled off as well. Lots of excitement, especially since this was the last Hot One Inch Action ever!
Buttons are on display until June 1 at 88 E Cordova.
For the keynote address this morning at VIDFEST, Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson elaborated on his “Free! Why $0.00 is the Future of Business” article which was recently published in Wired (interesting side note, Chris is also publishing a book on the same topic that will be - you guessed it - FREE!). The point he brought up which I’d like to discuss is the statement that “waste is good.”
You could almost feel the audience tense up with apprehension, given our newfound propensity for conservation and saving this little planet. He explained by drawing an example from nature: biology “wastes” all of the time in a continual effort to improve the efficacy of species. Evolution is accomplished through gene mutations - most of which are horribly unsuccessful - until the right chord is struck and the species adapts and becomes more fit for survival. This process of natural selection was likened to both YouTube and the future of the virtual marketplace as a whole: in this new “free” economy, where we can download and upload as much as we please, parade ourselves on stage with unlimited bandwidth and forge entire online worlds without cost, most of the content is complete and utter trash. But like the process of mutations in nature, this trash is a necessary step in order to find the most efficient model for the future of digital and the economy of free.
I immediately thought of how this model could serve to dumb down culture permanently, as in “The Rise of the Idiots,” which is aptly profiled in the British television comedy Nathan Barley (and feature film Idiocracy.) I wonder if we aren’t inviting the evolution of idiocracy by encouraging internet users to produce junk, to exploit every available pocket while leaving a trail of shit in their wake in the process? If people weren’t watching and eating up every second of it, then I wouldn’t be so alarmist. But the public is watching, and they are responding. And that’s alarming.
How do we preserve intelligent, rational thought within this popular media format, which emphasizes fast, quick and mindless content? Won’t this “waste is good” and the subsequent user-generated trash (over 99% of the content is bum, by Anderson’s own mark) condition a vulnerable public into further lowering their standards, eventually resulting in a culture that is nearly devoid of creativity and objective thinking?
I’ve always thought the Vancouver International Digital Festival wouldn’t suit me. Superficial glances at the roster or a misguided interpretation of what VIDFEST is actually about continually prevented me from ever really looking into it or attending - I assumed it was too techy, that I wouldn’t understand the speakers or discussions, and that I would leave feeling scared and confused. The latter two points are yet to be determined, but after looking through the schedule of events I was happily surprised to find quite a few noteworthy sessions (and, ahem, parties) that I will most definitely be attending:
Opening Gala takes place tonight at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and syncs up nicely with the KRAZY! Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art exhibit which is showing there now. The Mondo Spider will also be in attendance.
Creative Exchange Conference Sessions: highlights for me will be Wired Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson discussing the new economy of “free”; striking the ideal relationship between content and audience within a blog format; utilizing digital mediums for altruistic purposes; and most excitedly, a panel discussion which includes Project Runway Canada winner Evan Biddell on creativity, design process, and making a living with your art.
PopVox New Media Awards, celebrating accomplishments within the creative media industry. These awards are fantastic because it was free for anyone to submit work for consideration, and the public voted for the winners. Truly the vote of the people.
For a complete schedule of events and to buy your tickets online, head to the VIDFEST site for more information. The festival begins today, May 21 and runs through May 24. Check back here for coverage over the coming days as I experience VIDFEST for the first time!
Two great events taking place around Mt. Pleasant tomorrow, May 18:
Scout is hosting a clothing swap in their retail location! Simply drop off your bag of goods by 1pm, head over to the Show and Shine (details below) to check out classic autos for an hour while the Scout staff set everything up, and return by 2pm to find those gems. If you want to participate but don’t have any clothes to swap, you can pay $5 and just show up at 2. There will also be cupcakes to enjoy, and how can you refuse that?
East Van Show and Shine, for Drivers and Survivors! Vintage cars, trucks, motorbikes, pedal bikes - you name it, it’ll be on display. This event isn’t for mint show cars, it’s for the beaten oldies with lots of charm and plenty of steam left. There will also be beer, a BBQ and music. Head down to The Whip at 209 e. 6th Ave between 1-6pm to ogle.
The 2008 class of Langara’s Professional Photo Imaging Program is graduating and you’re invited to the POST photo show! View the collections of 19 budding photographers during the opening reception on May 8th. They’ve thrown a couple of blazin’ dance parties/”fun”draisers at the Anza club during the past year so I know that not only will the photos be ogle-worthy, the company will be dandy as well.
Exhibition runs May 1-14 at the Moat Gallery at 350 W. Georgia.
Here’s a sampling of the graduates’ work:
Opening reception begins this Thursday at 7pm, don’t be square.
Civixen photo.
