Laboratory provides space and support for interactive art in Spokane, Washington. What is interactive art? We want to support artistic experiences that go beyond either ‘something on a wall’ or ‘something on a stage’. We’re interested in art that creates experiences, where the viewer/user is an integral part in their own experience, where they can touch, manipulate, and, well, interact with the stuff they’re seeing. We want people to feel that art is something that they’re a part of, not just something they look at from a distance and move on. [1]

Laboratory is focused specifically on supporting the development of interactive art. So, we’re interested in artists whose work changes or reacts to audience participation, the changing environment, or other sources of real-time data. Because of this, we tend to have a lot of people who do digital/new media work, but we try hard to be open to other media too. Is your project a wall of paint that people are encouraged to come up and smudge around? A sculpture to be climbed on? Great! Basically, anything that actively involves the viewer, or relies on some kind of data, we’re all for it. [2]

Founded in 1971, Trinity Square Video is one of Canada’s first artist-run centres and its oldest media arts centre. We are a not-for-profit, charitable organization.[1]

For 50 years, Trinity Square has been a champion of media arts practices. Our activities are guided by a goal to increase our members’ and audiences’ understanding and imagination of what media arts practices can be. Trinity Square strives to create supportive environments, encouraging artistic and curatorial experimentation that challenge medium specificity through education, production and presentation supports.[1]

As video-based practices have become increasingly present across disciplines, Trinity Square engages artists and curators in critical investigations into the changing conditions of perception, materiality and the virtual. We consider all of our artistic activities and structures through a process of critical self-reflection, continuously evaluating the ethical positioning of our programming, jury structures, inter-organizational relationships, et cetera. In addition to holding aesthetic worth in its own right, our artistic programming extends our education and production activities in order to generate new knowledges.[1]

Trinity Square’s programming is guided by three priorities: 1) promoting an expanded definition of media arts; 2) promoting the meaningful engagement of diverse voices in all levels of our operations; and 3) supporting and nurturing the production of new works by artists and curators. Our membership represents the diversity of the city and honours the original mandate of the organization—seeking to reduce barriers to access related to race, gender, sexual orientation, and socio- economic and physical ability. [1]

The Hand Eye Society is a Toronto not-for-profit dedicated to supporting and showcasing videogames made primarily as a form of creative expression. We aim to provide exhibition opportunities, education, creative support, mentorship, knowledge sharing and inspiration to artists, enthusiasts, and the game-curious in Toronto. Founded in 2009, it is one of the first videogame arts organizations of its kind in the world.[1]

Named after the pioneering critic of the commercialization of mass media, the late Professor Rose Goldsen of Cornell University, the Archive was founded in 2002 by Timothy Murray to house international art work produced on CD-Rom, DVD-Rom, video, digital interfaces, and the internet. Its collection of supporting materials includes unpublished manuscripts and designs, catalogues, monographs, and resource guides to new media art.[1]

Emphasizing multimedia artworks that reflect digital extensions of twentieth-century developments in cinema, video, installation, photography, and sound, holdings include extensive special collections in American and Chinese new media arts, significant online and offline holdings in internet art, and the majority of works in the international exhibition, Contact Zones: The Art of CD-Rom.[1]

The curatorial vision emphasizes digital interfaces and artistic experimentation by international, independent artists. Designed as an experimental center of research and creativity, the Goldsen Archive includes materials by individual artists and collaborates on conceptual experimentation and archival strategies with international curatorial and fellowship projects.[2]

Jack Straw Cultural Center is the Northwest's only non-profit multidisciplinary audio arts center. A community-based resource since 1962, we provide a production facility that is unlike any other in the region for local artists who work creatively with sound. Jack Straw focuses on annual artist residencies through our Artist Support Program, our Writers Program, and our Gallery Residency Program; art and technology education for all ages; arts and heritage partnerships; and radio and podcast production. Our full-service recording studio is also available for a range of arts projects.[1]

Mission

Jack Straw Cultural Center exists to foster the communication of arts, ideas, and information to diverse audiences through audio media. We provide creation and production opportunities in audio media, including radio, theater, film, video, music, and literature. Dedicated to the production and presentation of all forms of audio art, Jack Straw 1) produces high quality, innovative audio presentations; 2) commissions independent artists of all disciplines to create sound and audio productions; 3) provides arts and technology education programs for youth and adults; 4) collaborates with arts and heritage organizations to integrate sound and music into their programs; and 5) presents audio productions through events, exhibits, radio, film and the internet.[1]

Jack Straw New Media Gallery

The Jack Straw New Media Gallery opened in 1999 to support artists working with visual and installation art, with an emphasis on sound. The Gallery is one feature of the New Media Gallery Program, and is one of three residency programs at Jack Straw. The New Media Gallery exhibits artists' work through an open call process like the Artist Support Program and Writers Program. As one of a handful of exclusively sound art spaces in the world, it has been attracting applicants nationally and internationally, however Jack Straw has a commitment to local artists.[2]

Gallery residencies include an exhibition of up to three months in the gallery; 20 hours of studio assistance with one of our engineers; access to Jack Straw Cultural Center's audio recording, production, and presentation equipment; two public events - the opening and an artist talk; and an interview podcast. This residency is for exhibiting and performing artists in any medium who would like to incorporate sound into their work.[2]

VHS provides a physical space where people can gather to share ideas, equipment, opinions, and beer. Members work on personal projects, collaborate with others, and learn new skills. More than just a studio space, we focus on sharing all sorts of knowledge within a friendly and collaborative atmosphere. VHS is the community garage for a community without garages.[1]

Many of our members share an interest in 3D printers, laser cutting, machining, crafting, electronics, robotics, programming, electronic music, and art. We welcome anyone with skills to share or an interest in learning, and strive to be as open as possible in everything we do.[1]

Named DCTRL–pronounced “decontrol”–the location is a radical, artist-run basement that has acted as the crucible for the majority of the city’s blockchain companies. Local hacktivists debate ideas in a central room with well-worn, movable couches; congregate in a small jam space with a free-for-use keyboard and rudimentary soundproofing; and sit quietly in a separate, disorderly area earmarked for coding. The walls are covered with haphazard meme-related murals, and the washroom is marked with a sign that reads “cemetery.”[1]

The space, newcomers are told, is a do-ocracy: an organizational structure that lets individuals choose their own tasks independently. It’s part of the location’s aim to translate blockchain’s ideology of decentralization into the lives of its visitors. It’s also one of the reasons that Vancouver’s blockchain community is unique.[1]

At the New Westminster New Media Gallery, you’ll experience art that has been created in a world transformed by technology. Discover art that plugs in, lights up, responds, senses, and communicates. Encounter art that reflects our contemporary world and sheds light on our past. Respond to challenging materials, ideas, and issues. Take away a little bit of wonder and a wealth of inspiration.[1]

VIVO Media Arts Centre, a member of British Columbia Museums Association, brings together artists, video and filmmakers, researchers and activists interested in the history of video-making and its evolution towards the art form. VIVO’s educational program extends beyond the boundaries of video distribution and video archiving. The workshops program offers beginner and intermediate level classes on programming, projection mapping, lighting, sound recording by local experts. VIVO accepts research applications to work closely with the Crista Dahl Media Library and Archive thus contributing to the local and international art and research community and encouraging curatorial collaborations.[1]

VIVO’s mandate is to directly support artists and independent community-based producers to develop, exchange, and disseminate their skills in a supportive environment through accessible services and programs. Our vision is a robust, diverse, and vibrant media arts sector: a catalyst for critical and innovative engagement with the material forms and cultural meanings of media and technology. VIVO’s programs offer a broad range of services and opportunities to artists and the public. They include:

• Access to the material necessities for quality production through affordable equipment rentals, editing 
facilities, software, and production space.
• A broad range of skill development and education opportunities that encourage the exploration of 
technology and aesthetics within a critical, artistic framework.
• Public programming: events, exhibitions, residencies, co-productions, and critical forums.
• International distribution, work exchange, and media art preservation which supports the aspirations and 
livelihood of artists.
• Western Canada’s largest public reference library and archive of media art, independent video, and 
related publications, documents, audio recordings, and photographs.

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