SAW Video: Public Domain
Wednesday October 5th, 19h
no.w.here
First Floor, 316-318 Bethnal Green Road. E2 OAG London, UK

Library and Archives Canada holds thousands of film documents which are now free of copyright. These documents cover a wide range of historic events which played a role in the collective history of Canada, such as the First and Second World Wars and our industrial development. In addition to documents of these historic events, the large collection of materials also includes home movies of private events such as garden parties, a sporting matches and scenes of camaraderie amongst friends, soldiers and workers. These audio-visual recordings are traces of the private history of individuals, and each provides a different perspective on the passing of time.

In June 2009, SAW Video commissioned 7 media artists to create new video works using public domain materials from the Film/Video/Audio Collection of Library and Archives Canada. The result is Public Domain, a programme of six new videos.

The range of mid-career and established media artists selected for this project represent a broad cross-section of media artists working in Canada. Bringing critical perspectives to bear on their found materials, the artists mine the nature of the image for its visual, narrative, mnemonic and evocative potential. While some highlight the fragility and disappearance of images, others focus on their renaissance through recontextualization.

New work by Gennaro de Pasquale (Montreal), Sara Angelucci (Toronto), Véronique Couillard/Ryan Stec (Ottawa), Suzan Vachon (Montreal), Maureen Bradley (Victoria) and Steve Reinke (Chicago/Toronto)