The DVD-ROM anarchive 2

Digital Snow

anarchive 2: Digital Snow DVD-ROM

Launched in October 2002 at Ex-Centris (Montreal), and at the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the DVD-ROM anarchive 2: Digital Snow is showcasing Michael Snow's body of work and has garnered several prizes. Among them are three Graphika awards given out by the Société des designers graphiques du Québec (overall grand prize for 2003, best DVD-ROM and best book design). The DVD-ROM also earned honourable mentions at the Creative Review Annual 2002 in London, at the How Interactive Annual in Cincinnati, and from the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). ARLIS's Canadian chapter cited the DVD-ROM as an exceptional search and reference tool in the field of Canadian art. In addition, the DVD-ROM was included in the major exhibition The Future of Cinema organized by the Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Technologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany (2002) and has traveled with the exhibit to the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland, the InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia (2003).

Digital Snow is co-produced by the Daniel Langlois Foundation and Époxy Communications, and is published by anarchive collection and Les Éditions du Centre Pompidou. The Daniel Langlois Foundation has transposed to the Web the DVD-ROM.

DVD-ROM Credits

Director of the anarchive Collection: Anne Marie Duguet (Paris).

A co-production of the Daniel Langlois Foundation and Époxy Communications. With financial support from Telefilm Canada. Additional financial assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts and Canadian Heritage, Museums Assistance Program.

Director of Prototyping and Producer:
Jean Gagnon, the Daniel Langlois Foundation.

Multimedia Director:
Jean-Christophe Yacono, Époxy Communications.

Online version: www.fondation-langlois.org/digital-snow/

To buy a DVD-ROM:

Canada: www.agencetopo.qc.ca 

United States: www.eai.org

Update:

Mac OS X Update : [patch], [read me]


Digital Snow DVD-ROM features:

- Texts by the artist
- Drawings and notes by the artist
- Texts on the artist
- 2-D and 3-D animation and simulation.
- Audio recordings: sound works and improvised music by Michael Snow and the group CCMC
- Film excerpts
- Photo reproductions of his work
- Bibliographies and directories
- Search engines (database)
- Other Film Excerpts: Telescope 70: Snow in Venice: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, TV Archives, Toronto, Toronto Jazz: Director, Don Owen, 1963, National Film Board of Canada, Montreal, Snowblind: Director, Hollis Frampton, 1968.

Synopsis :

The entry interface will be taken from a sequence in the film Rameau's Nephew by Diderot (thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen (1974). Key frames will be excerpted from this sequence, which lasts about 15 minutes.

A static shot of a table surface reveals several objects (a typewriter, boxes of slides, brushes, pencils, glue, a photograph of hands on a piano keyboard, a videotape). The artist's hands appear and move the objects in a way that seems random at first but that slowly reveals an order based on colour and forms. An off-camera voice describes the action of moving the objects, at times preceding the action and at times following it.

This sequence, picturing Snow's usual tools, clearly illustrates a particular dimension of his work, using several media and materials. It also explores links with perception and with what mediates perception, most notably language and technology (film and photography, in this case). The objects on this table, constantly shifted by the artist, will act as points of access to the databank on Snow's work and, according to groupings, will lead to different sections of the DVD. By clicking on the objects on the table top, the user will access different categories of work (painting, music and sound pieces, installations, films, photographs, public artworks) or more detailed sections presenting visual or audio clips and texts by or on the artist.

Media, Materials and Thematic Principles in Snow's Works:

With Michael Snow, we have chosen some 80 seminal works in all the media the artist feels are representative of his major themes and working methods. Among the works, Walking Woman Works is in a class by itself: it comprises numerous pieces dating from 1961 to 1967 and takes up an entire section of the DVD.

All these works, documented with images, 2-D and 3-D animation, video and audio clips, and archival documents such as notes, preparatory drawings and manuscripts, were then categorized in a database according to a set of terms that corresponds first to media used by the artist and second to thematic principles and materials that embody each work. Our approach represents the crossing of two axes, one medium-based and the other cross-media. Cross-indexing of the works is then possible beyond the confines of each medium. This allows for the creation of multiple links between works according to the choices of terms used to launch a request in the database.

Under the direction of Michael Snow

Director of Research: Peggy Gale, critic and independent curator, Toronto.
Creative Director and Scriptwriter: Jean Christophe Yacono (YAKO), Vice-president, New Media, Époxy.
Artistic Director, Designer and Scriptwriter: Éric Dubois, Époxy.
Technical Director: Adrien Claude (Ade Nihil).
Database Architect: Alain Depocas, the Daniel Langlois Foundation.
Director of Prototyping and the Producer's Assistant: Jacques Perron, the Daniel Langlois Foundation.
Coordinator: Audrey Navarre, the Daniel Langlois Foundation.
Researchers: Catherine Mussely, Isabella Pruska, Luba Galvanek, Sarah Germain, David Ledru.
Executive Producers: Daniel Fortin, Martial Vincent, Jean-Sébastien Ouellet, Époxy.
Associate Producer: Olivier Sirois, Époxy.
Producer of the Printed Material: Hélène Johanette, Époxy.
Programmer-Integrator: Mélanie Holder, Époxy.
Integrator: Virginie Hébert.
3-D Reconstructions: Luke McLellan and Yako, Époxy.
Compositing: Frédéric Bourque and Yann Monsieur, Ambidextre.
Photo: (Principles, Place des peaux and Still Life in 8 Calls): André Rider.
Shooting and Encoding: Yako, Époxy.
Computer Graphics: André Renaud.
Mastering and Replication: Magra Multimédia.
Printer: Litho Acme + CIB.
Paper: Rolland Évolutions, courtesy of Cascades Fine Papers Group Inc.
Interview with Michael Snow: Jean Gagnon.
Additional Texts: Jean Gagnon, Jacques Perron.
Translations: Françoise Charron for the Michael Snow with Bruce Elder conversation, Pauline Côté, Neil Smith, Susan Le Pan.
Proofreading: Nicole Gingras for the Michael Snow with Bruce Elder conversation, Colette Tougas, Matthew Sendbuehler.

Acknowledgments:

M.M. Serra, The Film-Makers' Cooperative, New York, NY
Jim Shedden and Alexa Frances Shaw, Toronto, Ont.
Marion Faller, Buffalo, NY
Louise Gauthier and Marc-André Ste-Marie, imprimerie Filigrane
Post-Production Services Studio Ex-Centris Inc.: Élise Voyer, Jean-Pierre Flayeux, Daniel Kent, Montreal, Qc.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.
Art Gallery of Ontario: Edward P. Taylor, Research Library and Archives, Toronto, Ont.
MindAvenue (AxelEdge 3D): Jean-Marc Belloncik, Justin Bur, Claudette Dwyer
Mireille Lachance, Montreal, Qc.
Isabelle Lemaire and Bruno Beauchamp, Cascades Fine Papers Group Inc.
Mary Alemany-Galway, Auckland, New Zealand
Arianne Cordeau, Paris, France
Éric Leblanc, Litho Acme
Gil Carignan, Magra Multimedia
Céleste Alemany
Alice Yacono
Violaine Lamarche
George Fok
Marie-Geneviève Parent
Marie Routhier & June McCabe, Marie & June
Jean-François Mayrand
François Comeau
Fanie Laroche
Nicole Gingras

anarchive 2: Digital Snow
Éditions du Centre Pompidou
© Michael Snow, FDL and Époxy, 2002
© Michael Snow, for reproductions of work
ISBN 0968469310