Moving Pictures

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The Art Gallery of Regina, "Moving Pictures," 2020

Moving Pictures augmented reality poster in use to screen Lafleche vs Woodrow 1972 by Graeme Patterson (2007).

 Moving Pictures with artists: Lindsay Arnold, Ian Campbell and Heidi Phillips, Dennis Jackson, Graeme Patterson, and Theo Pelmus with Kristin Snowbird

The Art Gallery of Regina Brings Moving Pictures to Main Streets, Suburban Sidewalks, Town Centres and Smartphone Screens throughout Saskatchewan 

For the next two months, anyone with a smartphone will be able to screen Moving Pictures, a program of short video artworks by Saskatchewan artists curated by Sandee Moore for The Art Gallery of Regina (AGR) using a free app to activate posters located in public spaces throughout Regina and across the province. 

The first series, launched in mid-August, featured five videos by artists Linsday Arnold, Ian Campbell & Heidi Phillips, Dennis Jackson, Graeme Patterson, and Theo Pelmus with Kristin Snowbird. Beginning September 26, Saskatchewan artists Rania AlHarthi, David Garneau (with Peter Brass), John Graham and Lindsey Rewuski add their personal and poetic voices to Moving Pictures. They employ storytelling approaches that range from mournfully poetic collages to revealing juxtapositions of modern Canada with cultural traditions to abstract visions that provoke reflection on the universal mysteries of existence. 

Moving Pictures allows viewers to play short video artworks by Saskatchewan artists by viewing a poster through their smartphone camera. This project responds to the urgent need for programming that does not require people to gather in enclosed spaces.

As events and interactions move online, there can be fatigue that comes from this onslaught of Zoom video conferences and date-making with the computer. Instead of anchoring people to their computers and home internet connections, Moving Pictures encourages people to explore the streets, sidewalks and plazas in their communities. Viewers can encounter enchanting short videos by artists nearly anywhere: a big box store parking lot, bicycle path or well-travelled street. By placing artworks in spaces casually traversed by the public daily, Moving Pictures expands options for experiencing contemporary art and removing many physical, social and economic barriers, both real and perceived, that can exclude members of our community galleries.

Moore has programmed video works from artists many communities throughout Saskatchewan and adjoining treaty territories to paint a complex portrait of Saskatchewan, its land and its people and their languages and their experiences. Theo Pelmus with Kristin Snowbird, Ian Campbell and Heidi Phillips, Graeme Patterson, Lindsay Arnold and Dennis Jackson employ storytelling approaches that range from a poetic collage of found images to captivatingly personal performance to profoundly moving accounts of struggle recounted in quirky stop-motion animation. The five video works included in Moving Pictures activate empathy and create understanding about our complex identities, drawing upon memories, commonality, and offering new insights.

The AGR has partnered with The Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils to distribute the posters in partnering communities across the province, animating rural and urban communities with contemporary art experiences and empowering encounters with technology. Moving Pictureswill come to life in Regina, Shaunavon, Leader, Yorkton, and Estevan and additional locations.

Artivive, the free app that makes this project possible, is so easy to use that it is downright magical. The AGR has produced five posters that include a "trigger image" provided by the artist. When viewed through a smartphone camera using the free Artivie app, the image signals Artivive to play the video, including sound, as an overlay seen on the user's screen. Each poster includes easy to follow instructions:

• Download the free Artivive app from the App Store or Google Play.
• Open the Artivive App.
• Position the trigger image to fill your smartphone screen.

Download the free Artivive app in advance and look for the AGR's Moving Pictures posters in your community.

various public locations (see website for map) Website: www.artgalleryofregina.ca