FFWD REW

Arts Seen – week of Feb 7 2013

Those now ubiquitous vitriol-packed comments left on any given Internet posting were the unlikely inspiration for animator and artist Louise Johnson ’s latest video project Inside Voice now showing at the Stride Plus-15 space in the Epcor Centre.

Scanning a particularly abusive thread on a blog one comment in particular jumped out at her — it read “NOBODY EVER CHANGED ANYONE’S MIND BY CALLING THEM A F**ING IDIOT.”

As a result she ran with the idea of creating a piece that “draws a sharp contrast between the civility of… behaviour and the incivility of… thoughts.”

Johnson who has directed two films for the NFB created the resulting short in collaboration with the Calgary Animated Objects Society and the International Festival of Animated Objects which makes sense as Inside Voice uses sand and well other objects to animate her ideas. The piece is up until March 30.

Cat on a Leash Creations (a.k.a. University of Lethbridge art program grads Kathryn Smith and Geneviève Paré) is promising a Valentine’s event with more soul than any “commercial cash grab.” HeARTvark: An Experimental Art Gathering running from February 14 to 16 at the John Snow House will feature visual art dance music and performance art in every nook and cranny of the historic home from the main room to the closets. Tickets are $10 and the activities start at 7:30 p.m. on the 14th and 15th and at 2 p.m. on the 16th.

Also worth penciling in on your V-Day calendar of events: the University of Calgary has snagged CanLit icon Margaret Atwood as their 2012-13 Distinguished Visiting Writer (an honour previously bestowed upon the likes of Michael Ondaatje Timothy Findley and Art Spiegelman among many others).

According to the U of C Atwood will indeed commemorate the day during her February 14 reading at MacEwan Hall with a special “commentary on Valentine’s Day.”

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