Artcite Inc

Incorporated in 1982, Artcite Inc is a non-profit, registered charitable artist-run centre Artist-Run Centres & Collectives Ontario [ARCCO]. Windsor's only artist-run centre dedicated exclusively to the presentation and promotion of contemporary and experimental art forms, Artcite Inc maintains a balanced and diverse program of visual art exhibitions and events, including: performance, film and video screenings, artist's lectures and workshops, and presentations of experimental music and interdisciplinary art production.
The organization is directed by a volunteer Board, staff and voting members, the majority of whom are working artists of various disciplines. Artcite Inc has been a focal point of the arts community since we opened our doors in 1982. The only gallery in Windsor committed solely to the presentation ofcontemporary artforms, Artcite Inc fills a need within the community that speaks of its accessibility and value to the public at large.
Currently located in the Capitol Theatre and Arts Centre in Windsor's burgeoning downtown core, Artcite strives to present new and experimental art and exhibitions that are politically and socially engaged; changing monthly exhibits in the gallery space showcase a variety of local, regional, national and international artists. During our 20 years of operations, Artcite has featured diverse emerging and reknowned visual artists, collectives, performers, critics & curators such as Monty Cantsin, NYC's Naked Eye Cinema, Jim Shaw, Peter Greyson, Jamelie Hassan, John Scott, Kiki Smith, Claus Oldenberg, Donna Ferrato, Kurt Kren, Edward Poitras, Allen Belcher, Eugene Chadbourne, Robin Rimbaud a.k.a. Scanner, Negativland's Mark Hosler, Harvey Pekar & Joyce Brabner.
As well, Artcite has originated such vital shows as 'Industrial Impact', 'Re:Store', 'Between Machine And Story', and the annual off-site exhibition "Artseen".
Located 3 minutes from metro Detroit, Artcite is in an envied position in the connections that it has with the arts community of Detroit and the surrounding areas. In this manner, Artcite is not just Windsor's artist-run centre for the contemporary arts, but also reaches across the border to speak to the community of metro Detroit and the surrounding area. This unique position has led to a variety of dialogues between the two communities, sometimes in more concrete forms such as gallery exchanges or in the more abstract ongoing exchange of ideas.
Artcite benefits its members & the community at large by offering information and equipment resources crucial to producing art in today's society. Our staff is available to assist by providing current grant information as well as exhibition information, and other artistic opportunities in the region & beyond.
Artcite is supported by its members and volunteers and by The Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Windsor.
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February 8 - February 23, 2008
“BOILING POINT” featuring the work of Alana Bartol and Justin A. Langlois
Opening reception : Friday, February 8, 7:30 pm with artists in attendance; free & open to the public
The public is invited to join Alana Bartol in her interactive performance “Wrapped Rocks” at 8:00 pm
Artcite Inc., Windsor's Artist-Run Centre for the Contemporary Arts, is pleased to present "Boiling Point", a two-person exhibit by emerging Windsor, ON artists Alana Bartol and Justin A. Langlois, and Artcite's latest installment of labour-related visual art exhibitions (presented in conjunction with the annual Windsor Labour Arts Festival). As the title "Boiling Point" suggests, the specially-created work in the exhibit investigates "the point of crisis; the turning point".
In "Boiling Point", Bartol's and Langlois' different interactive approaches are intended to create a dialogue around issues of Windsor/Detroit's rapidly changing economic landscape. With the area experiencing a continuing downturn in the automotive sector, we have seen an increasingly negative spin-off effect on our manufacturing industry and parts sectors and massive layoffs and job losses. The high paying manufacturing jobs of former years have been replaced by much lower-paying telemarketing and service jobs. While Bartol and Langlois each address different aspects of unemployment, insecurity, displacement and the physical and mental impact that "decommissioned" workers experience in an uncertain economic climate-the artists also attempt to offer creative solutions on how to address and emerge from this impending crisis.
In her 2008 viewer-interactive performance/installation "Wrapping Rocks", Alana Bartol attempts to connect the participant/viewer with "issues of labour" by engaging them in a symbolic act of repetitive, physical work. For Bartol, the contemplative act of wrapping rocks with gauze bandages suggests "the ability of creative energy to transform (people), objects and actions, recognizing connections between art and healing".
Bartol's earlier, interactive, collaborative pieces such as "The Bud B________ Project", "The Detroit Diamonds Project" and "The Detroit Windsor Journal Project" were all "community-building projects that illuminate the potential for transformation through altruistic activity, creativity and artistic production."
Justin A. Langlois' 2008 interactive media/video installation "Collapse/Relapse", layers and interweaves happy promotional video footage for the 'Town and Country' minivan (produced in Chrysler's newest Windsor Assembly Plant) with auto industry workers' stories of job loss and union strife culled by the artist from various internet online discussion groups, news sites, blogs, and forums.
"The video processing is a (literal) visualization of the engagement of affected workers and their families and communities in the online political discussion of economic and social realities surrounding the manufacturing industry. "Collapse/Relapse" illustrates (the workers') on-line activity in real-time, while also offering a collected view of the stories used in the installation as raw data in an accompanying website. "Collapse/Relapse" asks for immediate action by community members to enter the (workers') discussion being shaped by mass media for an online world, in which it is increasingly vital for a two-way conversation to occur." —Justin A. Langlois
Check out the Windsor Labour Arts Festival 2008 schedule of events: http://labourartsfest.tripod.com
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Saturday, January 19, 2008, 8 pm
"ARTS 1, 000, 045 BIRTHDAY" at Phog Lounge, 157 University Ave. W.; $5 at the door
(in conjunction with the "FAMiversary" event at the Coach & Horses)
(after 10 pm, pay an additional $1 (and get your hand stamped) to get into the FAMiversary events at the Coach & Horses/ same goes at the FAM event...$5 at the door and pay an additional $1 to get into "Art's Birthday" at Phog Lounge...it's an all out art celebration!)
Musical performances by:
NOT_digital
Vex and Furs
Also! Artist vs. Artist (facilitated by Dave Kant & friends) / Artist Trading Cards / Stitch 'n Bitch / birthday cake!/ door prizes
"Art's Birthday" has become an annual celebration/event for the Windsor arts community, presented with a nod to French fluxus artist Robert Filliou (who first commemorated art's 1,000,000 birthday on January 17, 1963). Organized annually by Artcite Inc, "Art's Birthday" is truly a community-based celebration of the arts, and is presented in cooperation with other organizations in the community such as the Arts Council - Windsor & Region, CJAM 91.5 fm, and Common Ground Gallery. Past "Art's Birthday" performances included: a number of live musical performances by City Wide Vacuum, Teach Yourself Piano (Sarah Atkinson & Kevin Atkinson); Six Guys Named Joe, who performed a tribute to the late Joe Strummer and the Clash; Brad Blackton, DJ Michael O'Reilly, members of Windsor's Sexecutives goofball DJ collective; burlesque performance by "The Rack Sisters" (Nadja Pelkey, Juliana Schewe, and Pricilla Miller); belly dancing performance by Juliana Schewe; contortionist performance by Evann Frisque, among many others. Event proceeds benefit the Windsor arts community.
For more info. about worldwide Art's Birthday celebrations, goto: artsbirthday.net
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January 4 - February 2, 2008
“APPLIED SCIENCE” by Susan Gold (Windsor, ON)
* Public reception: Friday, January 11, 7:30 pm with the artist in attendance
* Public lecture: "From Inside the Trophy Room", an animation of the "Applied Science" exhibition on Wednesday, January 16, 8:00 pm
images: Susan Gold; (top - botton, left - right): outside installation photo of no place, 2007, mixed media; installation image of Inside the Trophy Room, 2007 , mixed media; no place,mixed media, 2007 (detail); no place, 2007, mixed media; dimensions variable; courtesy of the artist
The Trophy Room project began with the legacy of 18th century Swedish Botanist, Carl von Linné, known for developing the binomial system of classification. His great project to name and systematize all of nature has formed the basis of modern science.
Literaria, the last category of Linné’s great outline, Systema Naturae, the category holding the sum of all unquantifiable knowledge has dropped off the table.
Perhaps the lost Literaria can still be found in the displays of natural history museums - each diorama installation imbedded with its own history and view of the natural world.
“No Place” inhabits the space of decoration, a porous space that surrounds us in the images and patterns of wall paper, as photographs, paintings, collectables, and the physical space of digital illusion - the space containing the flux of our knowledge, memories, desires, and treasures.
“Inside the Trophy Room” examines the working space of the artist/ scientist, creating a proscenium theatre for the laboratory.
Reifying the lost subject.
Following the subjects’ gesture and gaze.
Simultaneously allowing the process control and asserting the artist’s presence.
Entering and scrambling the systematic diagramme, examining inside and outside the perimetres.
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January 31, 7 - 9 pm
ARTIST TRADING CARDS create/trade/accumulate event at ARTCITE INC.
ARTIST TRADING CARD “TRADING SESSIONS” on the LAST THURSDAY of every month! This event is FREE!
* Location: Artcite Inc., 109 University Ave. W. (downtown Windsor, ON)
WHAT ARE ARTIST TRADING CARDS?
Artist Trading Cards (ATC) are teeny works of art (2.5" x 3.5") that are made specifically to trade. There are no restrictions of medium or theme and materials can range from collage, drawing, painting, glass, ceramic, metal, fabric and melted wax to computer-generated imagery and photography, etc. ATCs may also be 2D and 3D, unique works or a series or edition—the possibilities are endless! The creation intention behind the creations and trading of ATCs is to present a non-commercial, non-hierarchal avenue for artistic exchange—but more importantly, ATC sessions are meant to be FUN! Cards traded one to one and people of all ages and artistic abilities are encouraged to participate.
GENERAL ATC GUIDELINES:
1) Produce your own cards: any media, any theme!
2) Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches (64 x 89mm). ATCs *generally* should easily fit in the plastic sheets designed for hocket/baseball cards.
3) Identify your ATC w/ your signature, date, edition number (if necessary) on back of the card.
4) TRADE at Artcite Inc. Trading Sessions held on the LAST THURSDAY of every month; upcoming sessions include:
• February 28 (to be held at the University of Windsor School of Visual Arts -- LeBel bld.--located on the corner of Huron Church Road & College Ave.)
• March 27 (to be held at the University of Windsor School of Visual Arts -- LeBel bld.--located on the corner of Huron Church Road & College Ave.)
and onward!
TRADING SESSIONS:
Artcite Inc. is holding monthly "Trading Sessions" (LAST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH) in the gallery. Whatever your age or art background, you are invited to attend the Trading Sessions (observe for the first time if you like, but we guarantee you will be making your own cards soon after!) We may hold trading sessions in alternate locations from time to time—contact us for more info or stay tuned to our website for details!
SOME HISTORY...
The original concept was developed by Swiss artist m.vanci stirnemann, who wanted to make a catalogue to document his activities with other artists. Because the cost of printing a catalogue in hockey-card format was prohibitive, he decided, in 1996, to produce 1,200 cards by hand. This let to the first exhibition of Artist Trading Cards in April 1997. During the show, visitors were encouraged to produce their own cards to trade with stirnemann and others at the closing reception. From that first auspicious event, a Trading Session has taken place at INK.art&text on the last Saturday of every month. Canadian artist Don Mabie (aka Chuck Stake) was in Zurich, Switzerland to experience the first Artist Trading Card Session in 1997. He brought the idea back to Canada and on September 27, 1997, the first trading session took place in Canada at Calgary's The New Gallery. Through the magic of email, ATC groups are now routinely trading around the world! Now it's YOUR turn...
Since the moment we saw The New Gallery's handsome ATC card packages, we've been interested in the idea of Artcite Inc.-hosted ATC trading sessions...more recently, Susan Gold & A.G. Smith (local artists, activists and active Mailart artists and organizers) and Allen Bukoff (Fluxus Midwest) have assisted Artcite Inc. in distributing Artcite's 25th Anniversary "25 Years to Life" call for submissions that reached Mailart artists across the world with much success! Artcite Inc. received two ATCs by Chuck Stake—as well as ATCs from many of his international "trading partners" that was recently on display as part of the "25 Years to Life" at Artcite Inc. from May 25 - June 23, 2007.
Special thanks to The New Gallery (Calgary, AB) and Artist Trading Cards: a collaborative cultural performance websites for information for distribution.
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Previous events & exhibitions include:
Artcite Inc participates in a day of mourning each ..his annual art vigil is honored by members of the art community and various social service agencies. Activities/strategies undertaken to acknowledge this international day of mourning and action in response to the AIDS crisis have involved symbolic exhibition closings and the shrouding of public artwork, as well as the "blacking out" of websites in more recent years...
Declaration of loss...
Today we stand together.
Today we stand in silence.
Today we mourn the loss of painters, photographers, dancers, printers, actors, filmmakers, singers, choreographers, poets, sculptors, musicians, designers...all the artists who have died of AIDS.
Today we collectively grieve the loss of future work from recognized artists, as well as the absence of countless artists yet to be.
Today we declare our loss.
December 1 is a Day without Art, an international day of observance which focuses attention on the profound impact of AIDS has had on artists and the world arts community.
Since 1990, each year an increasing number of galleries, theatres, artist groups and individuals have participated in a vast array of commemorative events.
Day without Art celebrates the lives of colleagues and friends while mourning their loss in our creative communities.
World AIDS Day / Day without Art
Activities/commemorations include: gallery closings; shroudings of public art; special art exhibitions; distribution of commemorative pins and handbills; candle light vigils; announcements on CJAM 91.5 fm
Windsor’s Day without Collective 2007:
AIDS Committee Windsor
Artcite Inc.
Arts Council - Windsor & Region
BookFest Windsor
Citizens for the Capitol Theatre
CJAM 91.5 fm
Common Ground Gallery
House of Toast Film & Video Collective
Media City International Festival of Experimental Film & Video Art
Mackenzie Hall
MJM Entertainment Productions
Odette Sculpture Park - Cultural Affairs Office
University of Windsor - Out on Campus
U of W - School of Dramatic Arts
U of W - English Language & Creative Writing
U of W - School of Visual Arts
U of W - Visual Arts Society
University Players
Walkerville Collegiate High School
Windsor's Community Museum
Windsor Feminist Theatre
Windsor International Film Festival
Windsor Public Library
Windsor Printmakers Forum
...additional organizations TBA
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December 7 - 22, 2007
26th Annual "DOIN’ THE LOUVRE " Christmas FUN(d)raising exhibition
GALA RECEPTION on Friday, December 7, 7:30 pm
This annual event is not only important to Artcite as a fundraiser but is also an opportunity for many artists (some of whom have never previously shown their work) to exhibit and sell their works (paintings, drawings, prints, photographs (or a combination of these media), small scale 3-D works and artist made gift items (books, toys, cards, 'art wear', accessories, etc.). It features an immense amount of artworks (!) by over many artists from the area, and-as always, many pieces are created specifically for this special exhibit by old and new Artcite members (and many non-members); as a rule, all work is priced under $99.99!
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CAPITOL PETITION ONLINE!
SIGN ONLINE TO RE-OPEN THE CAPITOL THEATRE:
http://www.citizensforthecapitol.org/?page_id=33
Please distribute widely. We ARE the community Voice!
The Citizens for the Capitol Theatre (CCT) petition can now be accessed and signed online.
Please be directed to the following link (below) and show your support for this VITALLY IMPORTANT community theatre and public trust.Please also forward this petition to those who consider the Capitol Theatre to be an important community facility in the city of Windsor.
The CCT's main goal is to have community input at the table where future usage of the theatre is being considered.
SIGN NOW TO RE-OPEN THE CAPITOL THEATRE:
http://www.citizensforthecapitol.org/?page_id=33
MISSION STATEMENT:
The Citizens for the Capitol Theatre (CCT) is a community based organization formed to help facilitate the re–opening and ongoing usage of the Capitol Theatre and Arts Centre in a sustainable capacity as an established public trust.
CCT recognizes the interests of the artistic, entertainment, educational and business communities by adopting strategies to maintain this historical theatre and helping to establish the future cultural well-being of Windsor and region through diversity of programming, artistic excellence and ongoing dialogue with the community.
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