1. Home
2. Urban Screen Experiences

About Light Up Kelowna

Autolume Acedia

A new multi-disciplinary visual arts projection showcasing the creativity of artificial intelligence has launched in downtown Kelowna’s Cultural District. This exhibit is part of the digital urban screen series Light Up Kelowna.

The projections are free to view and will be shown on the exterior of the Rotary Centre for the Arts (421 Cawston Ave.) from 6:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. for the month of February.

Jonas Kraasch

Jonas Kraasch is a graduate student at Simon Fraser University’s School for Interactive Arts and Technology, where he is part of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI. With his prior studies in Cognitive Science with a focus on Deep Learning his goal is to combine both his passions for AI and creative expression by creating both creative systems and tools to assist artists in their work. In his research he focuses on deep learning, machine learning, creative AI, data ethics and generative models, trying to bend what is possible to create with AI.

Philippe Pasquier

Philippe Pasquier is a media art artist, composer, and designer focused on generative practices and the computationally sublime. Philippe is a professor at Simon Fraser University’s School for Interactive Arts and Technology, where he directs the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI. Philippe leads a research-creation program around generative systems for creative tasks. As such, he is a scientist specialized in artificial intelligence, a multidisciplinary artist, an educator, and a community builder. His contributions range from theoretical research on generative systems, computer-assisted creativity, multi-agent systems, machine learning, affective computing, and evaluation methodologies. This work is applied in the creative software industry as well as through artistic practice in computer music, interactive and generative art.

---

Past Exhibitions

2021 Pride

On display every evening from 6:00 p.m. -12:30 a.m. outside the Rotary Centre for the Arts (421 Cawston Ave.), 2021 Pride is a multi-disciplinary visual arts show.

2021 Pride is the first of the Digital Urban Screen winter series to be showcased in downtown Kelowna this year thanks to Light Up Kelowna — a partnership between the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan (ARTSCO) and UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies  https://fccs.ok.ubc.ca/about/events-workshops/light-up-kelowna/

Featuring Jacen Dennis and Kaytlyn Barkved, 2021 Pride explores the concept of being comfortable in your own skin. The artists’ work captures inner thoughts manifest in bodily form.  Metaphysical and physical imagery invites the viewer to engage in a conversation about identity.  

Jacen Dennis is a transgender new media artist and graduate of both the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master’s of Fine Arts programs at UBCO. He is currently a sessional instructor in the Department of Creative Studies. This animated artwork explores ideas of belongingness: in nature, in community, in one’s own body, spanning from a time early in his transition to the current day.

Kaytlyn Barkved is a queer disabled artist and a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program at UBC Okanagan.  Kaytlyn’s work contemplates the intersections of disability, sexuality, and gender identity and features images from her thesis work “Neuroqueer Imaging”

Kirsteen McCulloch, Executive Director at ARTSCO, is excited to launch the Fall/Winter season of Light Up Kelowna with 2021 Pride:

“A beacon of light during dark, cold nights, ARTSCO’s Digital Urban Screen is a must-see art experience in the Kelowna Cultural District.  2021 Pride is an exploration of being comfortable in your own skin.  Jacen Dennis and Kaytlyn Barkved’s work skillfully opens a conversation about individuality, acceptance, and being part of the community.  I am truly inspired by the images of vulnerability juxtaposed with fierce pride demonstrated in this show. Through the power of art, we can find new ways to share the human experience.   I invite you to swap the ‘small screen’ for the Digital Urban Screen, put on your warm jackets, and take an evening stroll by the Rotary Centre for the Arts from November 1 – 28!”

The showing is free and open to the public. Projections are shown on the exterior of the Rotary Centre for the Arts.

Please abide by COVID-19 safety protocols while participating in Light Up Kelowna 2021 Pride.

Funders

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the following organizations in the production of Light Up Kelowna 2021 Pride:

• Valley First Credit Union
• University of British Columbia Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies
• The Rotary Centre for the Arts

Celestial Bodies: Four Stories of the Night sky

“Celestial Bodies is a multicultural creation of animated media that tell ancient astrological stories, exploring the belief systems that make up Canadian and Indigenous society’s diverse fabric“

The artists re-interpret the cosmological stories and oral histories from their own cultural heritages — Greek, Chinese, African, and the Indigenous’ Haudenosaunee culture, and explore the meeting of cultures in their collaborative process with community members, where unique stars signifying individuals’ heritage were made. Each story is connected to a season, and characters from the heavenly world travel through time and space as the night unfolds, highlighting diverse cultural beliefs. 

For thousands of years, the Haudenosaunee Nation tells the Big Dipper story, where three Brothers are forever hunting the Giant Bear that they chased into the sky. As the big dipper gets closer to us in autumn, the brothers can reach and strike the Bear, which explains why the leaves turn red at this time of year. The Chinese story of Weaver Woman is about eternal love. She has traveled from Heaven to Earth and back to Heaven, crossing between yin and yang, human and god. Her meeting with her lover once a year over the Milky Way reflects the Vega star’s movement in the summer sky. The Greek story highlights the mythology of human desires and emotions through Heroes and Gods. We journey through the constellations of Lyra, Pegasus, Andromeda whose stories are heavenly reflections of the human spirit. The African story ‘Why the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars live in the Sky?’ is a suspenseful journey about Owen the Sun and Uki the Moon, who are forced to flee into the sky to escape their drowning on earth.

Media Artist and UBC Okanagan faculty Aleksandra Dulic and Miles Thorogood with UBC Graduate Students Jacen Dennis, Amberley John, and Emerald Holt created a multimedia presentation of animated images. Aleksandra Dulic, Ph.D., a media artist, is an Associate Professor in Creative Studies and Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology. Miles Thorogood, Ph.D., a media artist, is an Assistant Professor, composer-performer, interaction designer, and audio producer. Aleksandra’s and Miles’ collaborative creative practice explores the use of technology to enable media performances and installations rich in aural, visual, and cultural nuances. Artist Jessica Dennis acted as lead animator and coordinator. Indigenous artist Amberley John tells and illustrates the story of the Three Brothers and Giant Bear. Lan Tung told a Chinese tale and composed music for this section. African narrative is told by storyteller Comfort Ero. Emerald Holt animated and composed sound for this story. Keith Hamel composed music for Greek Section. Frazer Sundown’s composition was used in the Haudenosaunee narrative. The animation and illustration team also included UBCO undergraduate students: Arianna Semeschuk, illustrating the Greek heroes; Dianne Schnieders, illustrating the Weaver Woman story; Cassidy Mckenzie animated and illustrated African story, Sarah Polak and Charles Landa, providing animation; with additional drawings by Taiwanese artist Li Tung.

Credits

Keys to our success