On Sunday I checked out the last night of the Forthwith Festival! Forth is a relatively new coffee shop on McDermot and they held a three day festival (perhaps more like an exhibit+performances) of experimental visual and vocal arts.
Here are some Sunday highlights:
"Infinity Rift" by Colby Richardson
This cube was cool. The base is a monitor displaying various morphing patterns which reflected on the sides. If you look at it from the sides it looks like it goes on forever (hence "infinity"). It looks like there's a top but there isn't and the sign encourages you to stick your head in. Once your head is in, it's like full immersion, very cool. More of Richardson's work here.
ID M Theft Able
The guy manning the booth on the right is making sounds into a balloon which is on top of a microphone. The result was...interesting. Throughout his vocal performance he used cups, banged a metal sheet against his chest, and for the finale he shook his man boob to change his sounds. Overall, his performance always kept me guessing and engaged. There was a moment of wet mouth sounds that was rough because that's a pet peeve of mine (smack your lips around me and I'll want to smack you). Obviously not for everybody, but to me it was quite interesting. Check out some of his stuff here.
Numerics 1-12 by Aaron Zeghers
This projection piece had a fairly elaborate set up and I liked the overlapping result. There was a lot of 3-D imagery and shapes, like cubes (see above) and live-action footage circling statues. Perhaps the 2-D projection is supposed to contrast the 3-D imagery (#CrazyInterpretationGuessTime). It ran for a while, maybe about 25 minutes total. There was a couch in front of the projectors, so it was nice to sit and observe. I wish the couch was off to the side so my shadow wasn't projected, unless that was part of the point...More of Zegher work here.
Staplerfahrer and Colby Richardson
This was an audio/visual collaborative piece. The music was kind of 'drone-y'. Some parts were cool and relaxing, but one section prompted me to cover my ears; it wasn't bad, just a very high pitch that hurt a tad. For the visuals, it was a wall projection (above right) of a monitor being smashed (above bottom left). There was a pole between me and the guy smashing the screen with a hammer, so it actually took me a while to figure out what it was. It wasn't as engaging as ID M Theft Able, but I had a nice time listening/looking. More of Staplerfahrer (audio) here. More of Richardson (visual) here.
Other
Included in the above:
Top left - Painting with the Man by Freya Olafson
Top right/bottom left - Didn't catch who this one was by! If anyone knows comment
Bottom middle - Surfaces a, b by Alyssa Bornn
Bottom right - Dark Tropics by Colby Richardson
Overall, the fest was really fun to attend. It was kind of like the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival but with more audio and interaction in the coffee shop environment.
Forth has been doing a whole bunch of cool stuff. Last week, I went to one of their weekly film screenings - Paris is Burning. They have monthly themes. Last month was music and this month is Black History Month. I really loved Paris is Burning and I may post a review later on.
Anyway, thanks for reading! If you attended the Forthwith Fest let me know what you thought.