Winners of BNMI & Quebecor Production Fellowship Announced
BNMI is pleased to announce that two Ontario new media producers have received full Co-production scholarships through The Banff New Media Institute & Quebecor Production Fellowship initiative for visible minorities, providing an opportunity for these two artists to have intensive, focused production fellowships to create innovative and inspiring cross-platform works at The Banff New Media Institute.
Jason Baerg is a Métis artist and producer who has a long history with The BNMI. Originally from Saskatchewan, Jason is based in Toronto and has participated in the Interactive Screen 0.6 workshop and the first Liminal Screen Thematic Co-production Residency in 2007. BNMI was also proud to exhibit Jason’s work, “Northern Lights”, a collaborative immersive environment project, in the Advanced Research Technology Visualisation Lab, as a part of the 2007 Summer Arts Festival.
The Quebecor Fund has allowed Jason to enter into co-production with us again, this time to finish post-production on his project, three two-minute interactive spots and a six-minute demo for his documentary and online environment, “Metroscope”. The content of this piece is intended to capture the creative process of Canada’s Aboriginal cultural workers through a series of interviews and critical reviews; and consequently inspire dialogue between creative Aboriginals and the rest of the world. The piece is designed to connect urban Aboriginal artists with each other, with their communities, and reflect on themes of “techno-connectivity, gender, non-traditionalism, economics, ethnicity, consumerism, education and traditionalism”.
Debashis Sinha is a percussion and intermedia artist and Juno award winner from Toronto. He has used the opportunity facilitated through BNMI & Quebecor Production Fellowship to complete production and post-production on his video installation piece, “Harmonium”. Presented in surround sound, this piece is a multidisciplinary approach to the idea behind this instrument, its construction and performative qualities. Debashis has drawn parallels between its reed-and-bellows structure and the image and sound of the wind through trees; and its unique sound with the Bengali language and the horns and breaks of traffic in Kolkatta, India.
Debashis has used historical research conducted on the harmonium together with field recordings and other pre-recorded, real-time audio manipulation, musical improvisation and video captured from Banff and Kolkatta, in the construction of “Harmonium”, which he intends to perform live.