Social Media Drawings

These drawings are sourced from social media: facebook, email and the rest of daily disposable digital culture. These images circulate as mere nothingness, a split second in the endless twitter. I draw the images of friends that strike me, that declare a rich inner world amidst the nothingness of digital chatter. Then, I give the drawing to the original source, and insert a moment of gift culture into that of the commodity form, and reinforce the haptic nature of lived experience.

Since this work is still in production, its final displayed form is yet to be determined. The work could be printed, and displayed as prints, or could rotate as a slide show of digital images.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decomposing leaf drawing (with Ben Mikuska)

As one of our many experiments, Ben and I created a set up where time and the elements would cause the leaves to draw themselves, then photographed the resulting image. A print, dry-mounted onto medite, was auctioned for the Small Feats fundraiser for the NAC (Niagara Artist Centre) April 2, 2011.


Paradis

PARADIS/Paradise
PARADIS/Paradise is a cross-continental dance project between Canada and France led by Vancouver choreographer-dancer Alvin Erasga Tolentino in collaboration with French musician-composer Emmanuel de St Aubin and Vancouver media artist Donna Szoke. In exploring the relationship and breath of dance through live music and visual images, PARADIS streams within the moments of synchronicity between three art forms.
Length: 55 minutes

Choreography and performance by Alvin Erasga Tolentino, Co. ERASGA
Music by Emmanuel de St Aubin
Video by Donna Szoke
Lighting by James Proudfoot
PARADIS/Paradise is dedicated to Larisa Fayad (1976-2007)

Vancouver International Dance Festival (VIDF), March 25-26, 2008 (World Premiere), at the Roundhouse Community Centre Vancouver, BC

The Music and Dance Conservatoire Laon, France, May14-15, 2008 May 21, 2008, Jean Marc Chamblay Saint Gobain

June 21, 2008, French Music National Day, Mal Studio/Theatre, Laon, France

Touring Dates

* November 2010 (France, Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, Laon and St Etienne)
* July- August 2009 (Festival Avignon)

 

Kashgar Mulberry

The Road To Kashgar (Inter-Title Card: Mulberry)
In 2004 / 2005 I created an immersive video environment for the Orchid Ensemble. A Canada Council for the Arts Media Arts Commissioning Grant funded this project. The video was mixed live, using software created with Max/MSP+Jitter. The imagery was from data banks of still images and videos I created for the show. Since the theme was the Silk Road, I created images of historic and contemporary trade goods: silk, spices, food, etc. The images were composed in close up and macro modes to imply an embodied, haptic viewer. I also chroma-keyed real time calligraphy in Chinese, Farsi and Hebrew. As well some video clips were used such as a dervish dancer, shot from high above, and the shadows of bamboo as the sun set. Using Max/MSP+Jitter, I created a unique patch for each song, which I performed live during the concert. The patches were projected onto a 16′ wide rear screen with a 3000 lumens projector. A side projection screen was used for inter-title cards. Currently I am developing the full documentation of this project.


Kashgar

The Road To Kashgar
In 2004 / 2005 I created an immersive video environment for the Orchid Ensemble. A Canada Council for the Arts Media Arts Commissioning Grant funded this project. The video was mixed live, using software created with Max/MSP+Jitter. The imagery was from data banks of still images and videos I created for the show. Since the theme was the Silk Road, I created images of historic and contemporary trade goods: silk, spices, food, etc. The images were composed in close up and macro modes to imply an embodied, haptic viewer. I also chroma-keyed real time calligraphy in Chinese, Farsi and Hebrew. As well some video clips were used such as a dervish dancer, shot from high above, and the shadows of bamboo as the sun set. Using Max/MSP+Jitter, I created a unique patch for each song, which I performed live during the concert. The patches were projected onto a 16′ wide rear screen with a 3000 lumens projector. A side projection screen was used for inter-title cards. Currently I am developing the full documentation of this project.