Renovating CICAC

Yes, it's true, after some to-be-expected delays, the renovations at CICAC are underway. The seminar/classroom space, Room 1487 in Old Main (the building that houses Visual/Performing Arts amongst all else), is being retooled to fit the design aesthetics of the Centre. Most specifically, the room is being wired to and modelled to create a dynamic and modifiable artist space. One side of the large room is being sectioned off to operate as a separate studio space -- in the photos below, it's that long and narrow framed-in area. The rest will remain "open" with various and contemporary room dividing technologies that are both effective and moveable. More images as this takes shape.





all photos courtesy Bill Greene

wes' coast space

Having been accused by RLC of being a bit of a blogtease, promising posts but never coming through, I'm going to try to be more reg, even though the news/research quotient of the blog will certainly drop o'er the summer. I am back in the 'couve as of a few days ago. Bidng my time with touchups on the novel and decompressing from the production sched of the summer. Taking long walks with da dog (and have taken the plunge to put her on the rawfood diet, so will see how that goes) and trying to catch up with colleagues about various things, personal + political. Yesterday, went to Emily Carr to see Henry Tsang's talk on his recent work, an interactive video entitled "Olympus" that passes between Torino and Vancouver, sites of recent and soon-to-be winter olympics. It was interesting to see the responses of students — it was part of a lecture series at the school — and to discuss the work which brings into play questions of labour, globalization, technology, and representation of various orders. More on this at the Ciao da Vancouver site. That's an image of Henry hisself in the smartcar that is, quite literally, one of the driving vehicles of the video project. Tonight will see dub artists Lillian Allen and Clifton Joseph performing at Rime on the Drive. They are also in for the folk festival, so will catch up with them, no doubt, there and elsewhere o'er the next week or so. Meanwhile, in the cracks in between, keep peeking at the tail end of the ms. What's it at now, you ask? Closing 430 pp and 114k words but, alas, don't think it will be done at the projected 450, though shall be mighty close. Turning a corner here, just waiting to see if it's a hairpin bend or a gentle curve that leads to a horizon, setting sun and all that. Planning a celeb by the end of next week though, for four of us — the two Davids (Bateman and Chariandy), Hiromi Goto, and me — who have or will have finished mss by that time. Good occasion to mark. More enjoyable, too, than the actual and separate and somewhat detached book launches that will forthcome in a year or two or three. More on that later.

Little Distillery, final push

With the Babble/Babel residency behind, finishing this endless ms looms large. I took the last couple of days of the residence off so I could travel to Vancouver to see off the inimitable Rita Wong who will be spending the next year in Miami. It was good to see her and to take that necessary break at rez end to recoup and regroup. I decided to extend my banff stay by a week, to return to the relative post-rez quiet -- the studios in ceramics, where i'm situated, are dead silent now -- to perform a bit of a marathon exercise toward finishing the book. Yesterday, Monday, was the first of four such days I have planned out, tucked away in the studio for probably 12hrs+ per. My original goal when I arrived was to wrap this ms at 450 pages and I still hope/intend to perform to that. Some of the writing is coming out well, other stuff rather slippery on the page but will wait for a good edit (and editor) to work it through. And now, it becomes a numbers game, reminiscent of college/uni days when i typed away, and if it was late enough, simply looking to hit a certain length (then, 2500 or 5000 words, 10 to 20 pages, whatever the assignment required). Now, with the way the ms is coming together, three sections each about 150 pages, I have a good sense of the body and the completion. My research lines the desks, crawls up the walls. During the open studio i visited the space of Janice Gurney and noticed that, late last year when i inhabited that same studio, I must have left a small figure of Ahura Mazda on the windowsill. I reclaimed AM and now it sits alongside my massive paper trail. Here it is, propped up on what is now exactly 383 pages of ms; next to it, coilbound, are the memoirs of my mother on which some of this story is based. Countdown to Friday, then, rolling and writing away. And when I get back to vancouver, planning to have a celebratory manuscript-finishing party with friends/colleagues Hiromi Goto and David Chariandy who both have mss in similar (though more advanced editing) stages. Important to mark those occasions, rather than waiting for the sometimes denoumentishness of the actual book launch. For now, though, back to the project.

the final push

Off blog for some time, caught in the other rythms of writing. The "Babble, Babel, Rabble" arts residency has shut down now. Below, some photos of the open house, a rez-end event. In no particular random order, images of Mé in her "Lafin" studio, a semi-fictional institute around the arts; Emilie in Tom's studio where he showed image/texts connecting with his travels on a container ship; Bobby, Michelle, and Nate pore over books, of which there were a surfeit at the rez; Rob with his banffcentre slogan project, a collab affair typed in on an endless roll; and Michael and Joey on the ceramics deck...







The residency was full of language and its associated forms of materiality and performance, so quite spectacular in all that was going on. Watch for a special issue of West Coast Line that might/should feature a number of these artists. BBR wrapped up on July 1, studios cleaned up, and folks back to their various abodes. I stay on for a final push on the manuscript...