Video works in new exhibition at Museum of Vancouver

We are excited to announce that a new exhibition has opened at the Museum of Vancouver which features more than 50 short films created by students in Moving Images (IAT 344) at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. “Real-Time Collecting: Documenting and Remembering Covid-19” helps to preserve the memory and experience of people in Vancouver and students connected to Vancouver through different phases of the pandemic.

Here are some examples:

Installation View, Museum of Vancouver. Photo by Kate Hennessy 2021.

From the MOV website:

#ISOLATINGTOGETHERMOV AND THE SFU SCHOOL OF INTERACTIVE ARTS & TECHNOLOGY

To learn about and document how Vancouverites adapted to the limitations and opportunities of quarantine life, in May 2020 MOV created a digital platform that invited people to talk about their new reality through stories, testimonies, performances, art and confessions. Hundreds of people posted videos, texts and photos on Instagram using the hashtag #IsolatingTogetherMOV. The stories people shared and continue to share are moving, humorous and, at times, surprising. They speak of a desire to connect and to show resilience.

Another offshoot of the pandemic was the creation of an entire university course built around #IsolatingTogetherMOV. As part of their Moving Images course led by Prof. Kate Hennessy, Simon Fraser University students from the School of Interactive Arts & Technologies (SIAT) developed a series of micro-documentaries depicting personal experiences of isolation. Forced to work from home, alone, in various parts of the world and with little access to sophisticated film equipment, these students developed new storytelling abilities. Entries can be viewed on this wall and on MOV’s YouTube channel.

 This initiative has prompted MOV to start collecting digital culture as well.