As a special event coinciding with Culture Days, composer and media artist Gordon Fitzell and the eXperimental Improv Ensemble (XIE) will perform a live soundtrack to accompany Winnipeg and Canadian experimental films, projected onto helium-filled weather balloons secured at three locations within the Manitoba Hydro building lobby in downtown Winnipeg. Handheld weather balloons will feature as a key element of the accompanying soundscape because they serve as mobile resonating chambers for induced sounds, something the group has experimented with to great effect in the past.
The eXperimental Improv Ensemble (XIE) is an interdisciplinary performance group of the University Of Manitoba Faculty of Music. Directed by Gordon Fitzell, the ensemble engages in a variety of creative pursuits ranging from live soundtrack performance to the mounting of media art installations.
Nude descending (After Duchamp) /Directed by Dan Browne, 2013, Canada, 2 min / A video reconstruction of Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 painting ‘Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2’ that updates the work’s inter-media and temporal concerns through paradigms of photography, video art and cinema along the way. The piece can function as a 2 minute long work of cinema, or a continuously looping installation.
White Rhythms, Short Breaths /Directed by Olga Zikrata, 2013, Canada, 6:50 min / A direct experience of tactile sensations, film texture and contact dance.
Blotto 649 /Directed by Mike Maryniuk, 2013, Canada, 2:34 min / A fantastic journey of colour using 6490 photographs of spin art micro paintings.
Max Dean /Directed by Zachary Finklestein, 2014, Canada, 3:42 min/ A visual portrait of the artist Max Dean (2014 winner, Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts) as he ponders art-making, performance and the responsibilities of the viewer.
Seasick /Directed by Eva Cvijanovic, 2013, Canada, 3:29 min / Soaking in the sand, a forlorn figure seeks the refuge of the sea. Drifting in the current, he enters an ethereal underwater world. Eva’s pen-and-ink drawings subtly conjure a dreamlike ambiance that pulses like a quiet tide in this animated maritime escapade set to traditional Croatian music.
A Stranger on the Land – a Ghost Story Nunamuliaqtalisaq Inuk /Directed by Michael Stecky, 2012, Canada, 11 min / Shot during an extreme Arctic blizzard, the film recounts a true story of a man hopelessly lost while traveling and his mysterious rescuer.
Against The Grain /Directed by Roger Wilson, 2012, Canada, 6:22 min / As an experimental look at the creative process, this film explores why artists take chances and push their art form beyond its possibilities.
KNOUT /Directed by Deco Dawson, 1999, Canada, 10 min / The film concentrates on a young woman who sets down to the task of tying rope. Meanwhile she has the same idea, and a confrontation of self endures.
Machine with Wishbone /Directed by Randall Okita, 2007, Canada, 7:30 min/ Featuring the artwork of internationally celebrated artist Arthur Ganson this remarkable journey follows a stoic, determined wishbone on its explorative journey through an imaginative miniature world of snoring beds, paper birds, clouds that come in a box and delightfully bewitching landscapes.
Tricks are for Kiddo /Directed by Rhayne Vermette, 2010, Canada, 2:22 min / In 2010, Winnipeg director, Guy Maddin exclaims “it’s impossible to collage a film!”
For Magicians /Directed by Scott Fitzpatrick, 2007, Canada, 2:40 min / Black and white found footage is laser printed directly onto the dreary Winnipeg skyline, then hand-painted and enthusiastically tortured.
Generously sponsored by Joanne Lesko and Cindi French, Royal LePage Alliance and IATSE 856. Presented with the support of Manitoba Hydro
