Remixing Workshop with Reel Grrls

I’m excited to be leading a workshop on video remixing at Reel Grrls in Seattle Washington on December 9th. Reel Grrls is an after-school media & technology training program that empowers girls to critique media images and to gain media technology skills – in short it’s a very cool organization! We will be screening and discussing a series of remix videos that deal with issues of gender. Plus we’ll also be learning the software tools and technical process involved in creating new remix works in class.

Check out the Reel Grrls YouTube Channel to see some of their fantastic videos!

We Are Creators Too – Video Interview

The organization Public Knowledge recently did a four part interview series entitled “We Are Creators Too” focusing on media artists who push the boundaries of copyright law in their work. I was one of those video interviews which you can see embedded below. Also featured in the project are filmmaker Nina Paley, fan vidder Francesca Coppa and fellow political remixer Elisa Kreisinger.

Visiting Artist at Interactive Arts + Media in Chicago

I will be a giving a presentation on pop culture media hacking as a visiting artist at Columbia College’s Interactive Arts and Media program (IAM) in Chicago. I will focus on my recent Buffy vs Edward remix as an example of transformative story telling, political remix video and the potential for Open Video as a form of creative critical media literacy. My talk will be on November 19th at 5pm.

Speaking at the Open Video Conference

I’m excited to be participating in the Open Video Conference at NYU later this month (June 19th and 20th). During the event I will be giving a short presentation detailing my creative and technical process in hacking pop culture. Basically it will be a quick tour highlighting some of the tricks and tools I use to transform mass media and create political remix videos.  I will also be moderating a panel called “Who Owns Popular Culture? Remix and Fair-Use in the Age of Corporate Mass Media” which promises to be a fascinating discussion.

A little more about the event: “Open Video is more than just open codecs. It’s the growing movement for transparency, interoperability, and further decentralization in online video. These qualities provide more fertile ground for independent producers, bottom-up innovation, and greater protection for free speech online. The conference will showcase awesome cultural works, inspiring talks, and cool tech demos from around the world.”

Photographs on Bill Moyers Journal

Update: The episode aired on PBS Friday May 1st.
Watch it on the Moyers site or as a stand alone M4V file.

I just got news that a few of my photos will be featured on the PBS show Bill Moyers Journal. The images will accompany a story about the Boston organization City Life/Urbana Vida focusing on the eviction blockades they have been using to keep people in their homes after foreclose often due to predatory loan practices by large banks. For those of you in the US the episode will air on your local PBS station at 9pm (check local listings). Also see this months Progressive magazine for more on people fighting evictions in the Boston area.

24/7 DIY Video Summit Site Relaunched

Last February I curated and presented a show of political remix videos as part of the 24/7 DIY Video Summit at USC. Now they have relaunched the 24/7 website with extensive documentation of the conference panels and presentations including mine. Below is the new summit overview video with interviews and comments from the curators, presenters and panelists.

The new site also has downloadable high-res versions of the main screening and selected genre programs, curator’s comments and interviews. Including the entire political remix video genre screening with my comments at the beginning.

Continue reading »

The Open Video Alliance

In October 2008 I was invited to participate in the first meeting of the Open Video Alliance at Yale Law School. The event which brought together artists, organizations, media outlets and policymakers from around the world that have a stake in promoting, advocating and developing strategies for a new open video ecosystem online. This collection of brief video interviews with Alliance member (including myself) was put together by Ryanne Hodson and Jay Dedman of Ryanishungry.com to answer the question: “What’s Open Video?”.

I will also be presenting the Open Video Conference this June in nyc and am helping to organize a few panels on remix and fair use. I’ll post more info about that event as it becomes availible.

Screening and Panel at the Drake Underground

I just got word that my remix So You Think You Can Be President? will be shown before an advanced screening of my friend Brett Gaylor’s new film RiP: A Remix Manifesto. I will also be part of a Q&A panel discussion on remix afterward. The event is taking place at 7pm on Tuesday March 10th at the Drake Hotel Underground in Downtown Toronto. Check out www.firstweekendclub.ca for tickets and details.

Photos in The Progressive Magazine

Last year I did a series of photo essays documenting homeowners, activists and organizations like City Life/Vida Urbana in their struggle to stop sub-prime foreclosures in Boston. These evictions are still putting families on the street in record numbers across Massachusetts and across the country.  A few of my images are now appearing the March 2009 issue of The Progressive magazine. They accompany a featured article called Fighting Foreclosures by Colin Asher which talks about those efforts to stop forced evictions resulting from predatory lending by brokers and banks.

Street Art for the Capitol Climate Action

One of the things I love about digital image sharing sites is you never know where your photos are going to show up. In the spring of 2007 a few friends and I planned a Boston protest against big banks which were funding new dirty coal power plants. As part of that demonstration I made a few caution signs that said “Dirty Power Kills Communities” and we had participants dress in hazmat suits complete with masks and goggles. I took a set of photos at that action and put them on flickr and smugmug (at the time one even ended up on the Washington Post blog). This week, two years later, another of those images has shown painted on a wall in DC. as part of a street art campaign for another protest against coal power plants.

It a mass civil disobedience planned for March 2nd called the Capitol Climate Action. On that day thousands of people will descend on the Capitol Power Plant (which powers Congress with dirty energy) to demand a new clean energy economy based on solar and wind power. I have no idea who did this street art but I’m glad one of my photos is playing a small part in this action – plus its cool to see it painted larger than life on the side of a building.