January 22 2009

Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society is excited to present The Soft Revolution, an interactive cinematic installation by Vancouver-based media artists Brian Johnson and Anthony Roberts.

Curate by cheyanne turions.

The Soft Revolution explores cinematic narrative form in a highly abstracted, tangential way. Just as the phenomenon of persistence of vision allows the human brain to perceived a series of rapidly presented still images as fluid motion–one might suggest an analogous phenomenon that we will call the persistence of narrative. In such a scenario, despite continuous digression, little exposition and a structure that engages the chaotic nature of the I-Ching, scenes accumulate meaning and ultimately story, through a continuity of theme, character and the common referent of the aforementioned Taoist philosophical text. Just as we look for representational elements within the abstract [faces in clouds, astrological figures], mankind's desire to understand causal situations in terms of narrative is deeply ingrained. The Soft Revolution explores this nexus between reverie and story.

Created by independent media artists Brian Johnson and Anthony Roberts, The Soft Revolution is a three-channel video installation. When participants interact with the work by making narrative choices on the control consoles, a simple local network of computers running on a combination of purpose built hardware and software translates and transmits their decisions to installation screens. The Soft Revolution is an action, a performance, and will never be read the same way twice. Though not explicitly about the technology behind the scenes, the improvisatory nature of The Soft Revolution is an innovative exploration of cinematic forms because it shifts the weight of narrative framing squarely to the particular interacting participant.

The Soft Revolution
Opening 22 January 2009, 7-9 pm, artists in attendance
Friday, 23 January, 1-5pm
Saturday, 24 January, 1-5pm
Wednesday, 28 January, 1-5pm
Thursday, 29 January, 1-5pm
Friday, 30 January, 1-5pm
Interurban Gallery [1 East Hastings]

Cineworks gratefully acknowledges our exhibition supporters: the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver, CiTR, Electric Theatre Company, the Western Front and the Interurban.