Early April, we welcomed our first guest within the framework of our new residency branch, the VISITING CURATOR PROGRAM. With her project ‘The Mediatic Accident’, Gaia Tedone from Italy (1982, working and living in London) explores the abundance of visual material in contemporary media. Do we believe everything we see, and how does our attitude influence possible controversies surrounding images? Following profound research through various meetings with Dutch artists and academics, Gaia convoked a group of committed people at a so-called think-thank dinner in order to collect ideas for a next step in her project: an online, interactive image board is one of the concepts in the pipeline.

From his current home in Berlin, visiting curator Avi Feldman (1976), former lawyer practicing in Tel-Aviv, recently began researching the relationship between the arts and law practice. In ‘Image Law’, he is looking for ways in which these universal but only rarely interconnected key values of civilization may interact. In his encounters with law lecturers, artists and other experts, Feldman met with highly stimulating reactions. Following his two weeks at Impakt, these meetings have become the breeding ground not only for new possible assumptions but also for new concepts to be worked out in Imagine Law: a book, an exhibition or a symposium are all ambitions of Feldman, but until these ideas materialize, new concepts will take shape on a website.

Another fresh perspective from Berlin is offered by our most recent artist in residence Linda Franke (1980). In her work,  she uses humor and performance as strategies of endearment. Clichés from soaps and propaganda are dissected in an absurdist manner with a disturbing combination of existential questions asked in the hyper artificial world of 3D-animation. During her residency in Utrecht, she will not only use her synthesizer to test the patience of her neighbors but also to produce a series of video shorts that will be screened at an Impakt Event in June. Stay tuned!

Caetano Carvalho & Leandro Cardoso will take up residency in the city of Utrecht as from May. These Brazilians join forces in constructing a confined cave consisting of projections of Internet GIFs– an image file format allowing short, repetitive movement. In this cave, they plan to give an interactive live show meant to verify a variety of myths relating to perspectives of truth. In addition, they will give a workshop involving the creative use of GIFs. So, better keep a close eye on our website and Facebook page.

Canadian author, director and avant-garde filmmaker Daniel Cockburn no longer is a stranger at Impakt. Following a few very entertaining screenings, a screen-writing workshop and an ironic anti-artist talk about in November 2011, Cockburn visits Impakt for a second time in June and July. There is a new workshop planned, plus an evening of screenings and the very promising All the Mistakes I’ve Made, part II. We will keep you posted on these exciting new events.

Spanish artist Daniel Silvo, who will be Impakt’s guest from June through to August, uses his video work, photography and installations to question the political load of objects in a critical manner: from design originating from the Cold War to the ‘communist’ Lada – still the only car brand available to Cubans. Silvo approaches these controversial subjects with a good dose of humor and from various angles. In Utrecht, he wishes to make a fifties sitcom around the tongue-in-cheek question Are art and design able to protect us from an atomic bomb?

As from September, we are happy to welcome Mexican artist Ruben Gutierrez. Impakt selected him from the EMARE MEXICO Call. His work can be described as philosophical concepts on absurdity. Further details about his plans at Impakt will follow soon.

And for the second time in a row, Impakt is pleased to collaborate with LabMIS on organizing a residency exchange. 
LabMIS is the residency program of Museu da Imagem e do Som – museum for image and sound – in São Paulo, Brazil. A Dutch artist will be selected to work there for two months, while Impakt will welcome a Brazilian artist in Utrecht for a similar period. In order to extend the short-notice term of responding to this call, we decided to postpone the deadline to 2 May.

This means that we will be looking forward to your submissions for almost two weeks more!

Dutch artists and artists with a permanent visa for the Netherlands can apply for the residency at LabMIS São Paolo, that will be a two month-period between August 10 and 9 November. Because we have understood that time’s been short and that it should be more on your side, we have decided to extend the former deadline of 19 April: applications are still welcome through our entry form until 2 MAY.

If you’re a Brazilian artist who wants to apply for a residency at Impakt (Utrecht) – two months within the period between September and the end of December – the application procedure goes through LabMIS. Find more information about the conditions and the entry form here (in Portuguese).

Short outline of the conditions:
- The residency for a Dutch artist at LabMIS [São Paolo] takes place on behalf of Impakt Works [Utrecht] between August 10 and November 9.
- The residency for a Brasilian artist at Impakt Works [Utrecht] takes place on behalf of LabMIS [São Paolo] between halfway September and the end of December.
- The institution welcoming the artist in residence will provide for accommodation, a studio, technical facilities and a maximum of 1000 euros for the period of two months.

We are looking forward to your proposal until the deadline on 19 april 2012!

Impakt WORKS gladly hosted Daniel Cokburn as artist in residence in November and December last year, during which he was not only a regular attendant to the Impakt Festival Panorama events where his work was screened, but also a great guide for the participants of the workshop Scriptwriting in which the one minute-entries were made, to the end of screening them on the DROPSTUFF.nl and CASZuidas urban screens.

During Impakt Festival 2011, a few Panorama screening programs were dedicated to Cockburn’s past work, as well as his applauded  first feature film You Are Here. As an artist in residence, Cockburn simultaneously worked on a one minute video piece “My Godfather”, in which a narrator reminisces beyond the grave about an old piece of film history, which everybody remembers, but nobody knows about.

Anyone who has heard Cockburn speak in public, will realize that witnessing the artist-talk – or rather, an anti-artist talk as Daniel put it – is both insightful and tremendously humourous. Leaning more towards performance than a conventional lecture, Cockburn traced the course of his artistic work at his sincere, own expense. Watch the report of All the mistakes I’ve Made here. A blog report was written about this three day workshop and the closing event, to give you an impression of the experience.

A list of the individual video works on view can be found here.

A report of Daniel Cockburn’s workshop script writing and his following anti-artist talk: All the mistakes I’ve Made – 1 december 2011

By Freyja van den Boom

At the Impakt headquarters students, artists, professional filmmakers and enthusiasts gathered for a workshop by filmmaker and video artist Daniel Cockburn. Having had his first feature filmYou Are Here successfully screened at the Impakt festival this year and being praised as a rare literary talent, I was curious to learn script writing from Toronto’s best new video artist.

Both funny and inspiring Daniel showed us some of his own works like his very smart and thought provoking short film Metronome, which is about a day in the life of a man who lives his day by a rhythm. By showing and discussing projects and films form other artists and film makers also he gave some insight into his own working process. His talk was not so much about the actual technique of filmmaking and script writing but more giving us an introduction and a sense of the many ways of using words and music and images in your own work.

Some examples that I found interesting were the conceptual video self-portrait Hand to Mouth by the American artist Michel Chevalier and  The Thing That Doesn’t Seem Tasty – Wood Technology in the Design of Structures (or, How to Live Happily Ever After) by Eric Henry. You can read a text Daniel wrote about this video on his website.

During the day we discussed the meaning of texts and context, the use of found footage and original versus remake/interpretations. Daniel talked a lot about rhythm and text and showed us examples of how both relate to each other. Words can get a whole different meaning by changing just the music or sound, or by the way the camera is posed you are able to shift the attention of the viewer and alter the context. A good example of this are the clips of Spike Jonze.

All these elements are very interesting to play with when experimenting with video.

On Thursday we got to see some of the (un)finished results people had made for the urban screen festival. In the evening Daniel gave his anti-artist lecture. Again humorously, he explained why an artist should not confuse being lazy with being open minded and he warned the audience for the invasion of the self introduced term ‘zombie text’, and how these can crawl their way into film and music unnoticed. Watch the report of Daniel’s lecture here.

I can definitely recommend you go see Daniel Cockburns feature film especially if you love philosophical plots and science fiction  films as much as I do.

The result of the workshops will be regularly screened on the urban screens by Dropstuff,  from 23 January onwards. These are currently locted at Central Station Den Haag, Eindhoven and the Amsterdam Zuid station. More information following soon!

Impakt Works residencies take place at Impakt in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The call is open to both Dutch and international artists. A residency period can run from February 2012 onwards, and generally lasts two months. This includes: accommodation, a studio, basic technical facilities and equipment, and reimbursement of traveling expenses up to 250 euro. Artists in residence can receive a “per-diem” stipend, not exceeding 1000 euro in the two-month period.

Impakt Works is a residency program for media artists, artists working with digital media, video, sound, interactive technologies etc. The Impakt Works residencies are project based, with a finished work – for instance an (interactive) installation, a performance or a video – as the end result. Applicants should be prepared to execute and complete their proposed project within the two-month duration of the residency.

Deadline for residency proposals: February 6th 2012 Please submit your project proposal for the Impakt Works residency to works(at)impakt(dot)nl before February 6th, using this form.

You may apply with the same project you enter for the EMARE MEXICO 2012 call, but please note that the financial conditions are different for the IMPAKT WORKS ARTIST RESIDENCIES. If you want to be eligible for an IMPAKT WORKS ARTIST RESIDENCY in the case you are not chosen for an EMARE MEXICO 2012 residency, then submit your residency proposal also via this form.

Thursday 1 March, John gave an entertaining artist talk, of which a report will be online soon.

The workshop results, as well as John Butler’s new work will be featured in the DEUS cycle, broadcasted on DROPSTUFF’s and CASZuidas’s urban screens in (respectively)  Eindhoven, Den Haag and Amsterdam Zuid.

In 2001 Impakt screened his film Full Throttle Engine at the Centraal Museum and this year the first part of his triptych, Rip in Pieces America was part of the Jailbreak program in the Impakt Festival 2011. After having finished part two of his triptych, Gagnon used his residency at Impakt to complete the third part. Gagnon has been staying at Impakt until the end of January 2012.

Soon we will offer an interview with more thorough insights on Dominic’s endeavours in Utrecht and the developments of the triptych.

Other Impakt works and pages about Dominic Gagnon:

Rip in Pieces America

Rip in Pieces America

Blog: Talking Jailbreaking with Curator Florian Wüst

Daniel is also presenting two pieces at WORM in Rotterdam: You Are Here screens on November 30th, and on December 2nd he will present Schizopolis as his choice film.

Daniel Cockburn was artist in residence from of 27th of November till Sunday the 4th of December 2011.

Other Impakt works and pages about Daniel Cockburn:

Live blog: Daniel Cockburn #2: You are Here

Live Blog: Panorama Event Night #2 – Let’s get Physical

Daniel Cockburn #1: You Are In A Maze Of Twisty Little Passages, All Different 

Panorama #1: Rediscovering the Cinematic

Daniel Cockburn #2: You Are Here 

During the residency, until January first 2012, Sassi has been working on the production of his new film After Everything. More about the screening is to be announced.

Other Impakt works and pages about Pekka Sassi:

Sissiaen Lahio (The Suburb Within) – Pekka Sassi

Rosa Menkman is a Dutch artist and scholar, currently living in Amsterdam. She holds at the Academy for Media Art in Cologne a practical PhD position and works as visual artist. Her work investigates the experience of the glitch. It is an ephemeral phenomenon, a failure of the computer system which leaves the recipient for a moment lost. Glitch studies can be located between theory and practice and Menkman realizes her glitch art mostly in the technologically based translation of musical effects into video. She uses different software and hardware, as each of these ‘-wares’ have their erroneous functionalities and can be exploited.

In Sao Paolo at LabMIS, Menkman is working on a project based on her “Glitch Studies Manifesto”. She develops an independent, audiovisual work for which she translates and reworks her manifest and former audiovisual performances into a video work. Rosa Menkman explains her work here.

LabMIS is the art labatory of the Museum for Image and Sound (MIS) in Sao Paulo and is dedicated to the research and production of contemporary practices in digital media, acting in the intersection of art, science, technology and society.

Rosa Menkman’s works have been shown at The Impakt Festival 2010, Gli.tc.h/ (Chicago, 2010), File (Sao Paolo, 2010), Blip (Europe and US, 2009), ISEA (Dublin, 2009), Cimatics (Brussels 2008, 2009) and Video Vortex (Amsterdam, 2008 and Brussels, 2009). She also collaborated on artprojects together with Alexander Galloway, little-scale, Govcom.org, Goto80 and the internet art collective Jodi.org. As organizer and curator, Menkman played an important role in the succes of Gli.tc.h/ Festival in Chicago, 2010.

More information on Rosa Menkman can be found here.

More information on LabMIS can be found here.