PAVED Arts
Encyclopedia
PAVED Arts is a new media art
Artist run centre
located in Saskatoon
, Saskatchewan
, Canada
that focuses on what it calls the 'PAVED Arts' arts: photography, audio, video, electronic and digital. PAVED operates an access centre for media production and post-production and an exhibition space for works falling within their mandate.
PAVED is a member of the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
statement in 2007 that "It is important that artists are able to pursue viable careers in Saskatchewan ... the 20 Above Arts Centre will provide increased access to creative and professional opportunities for young artistic talent to stay in the province." PAVED sees itself as a way of “democratizing art and increasing access to the ability to make art”.
Other important contributions to Canadian art include the hosting of an online database and digital archive called Upstream Saskatchewan containing hundreds of photographic and video works, and the commissioning of Coincidence Engines by Montreal
-based artists' collective [The User]..
PAVED Arts is the only artist-run new media
access point in Saskatoon. It is the Saskatoon host of the electronic media art organization Dorkbot
.
PAVED's significance is not just arts-based, but also as a political entity and vehicle of social change. Within the city PAVED also has outreach programs facilitating, among other things, inner-city youth in recording their own hip-hop tracks. Located in the economically depressed Saskatoon neighbourhood of Riversdale
, PAVED uses art as a way to create dialogue with other residents; one commissioned project was designed by artist Linda Duvall with the idea that “instead of being passive, there is a commitment to having art act as a form of engagement." Another, more recent commission were a series of politically-relevant advertisement-like billboards drawing attention to NIMBY
situations city-wide.
PAVED is also important as a site of dialogue regarding the voice of Canadian First Nations
people, facilitating, with shows like 21 (curated by Elwood Jimmy) and screenings of Ali Kazimi
's Shooting Indians, discussion of the predicament of First Nations people in Canada and the historical roots of it. In these ways, PAVED has assisted young First Nations people in Saskatoon to express the reality of their lives through art.
New media art
New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
Artist run centre
Artist run centre
An Artist Run Centre is an art institution that lacks many of the traits of a commercial gallery space.By methods and ideologies made popular in the late 1970s, artist run culture came to prominence in response for the need of an alternative to conventional gallery spaces.Generally working within...
located in Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
that focuses on what it calls the 'PAVED Arts' arts: photography, audio, video, electronic and digital. PAVED operates an access centre for media production and post-production and an exhibition space for works falling within their mandate.
History
PAVED Arts was created March 31, 2003 as an amalgamation of The Photographers Gallery and Video Vérité. In June 2005 it was determined that the centre needed a new space, and along with the Saskatoon Artist-run centre AKA Gallery, PAVED moved into 424 20th Street West.PAVED is a member of the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
Significance
PAVED's importance to the city of Saskatoon and the Canadian Arts community is underlined by Former Saskatchewan Labour Minister David ForbesDavid Forbes
David Forbes may refer to:*David Forbes , Scottish soldier*David McHattie Forbes , Scottish agriculturalist, and plantation manager, judge, explorer in the territory of Hawaii...
statement in 2007 that "It is important that artists are able to pursue viable careers in Saskatchewan ... the 20 Above Arts Centre will provide increased access to creative and professional opportunities for young artistic talent to stay in the province." PAVED sees itself as a way of “democratizing art and increasing access to the ability to make art”.
Other important contributions to Canadian art include the hosting of an online database and digital archive called Upstream Saskatchewan containing hundreds of photographic and video works, and the commissioning of Coincidence Engines by Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
-based artists' collective [The User]..
PAVED Arts is the only artist-run new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
access point in Saskatoon. It is the Saskatoon host of the electronic media art organization Dorkbot
Dorkbot
Dorkbot is a group of affiliated organizations worldwide that sponsor grassroots meetings of artists, engineers, designers, scientists, inventors, and anyone else working under the very broad umbrella of electronic art...
.
PAVED's significance is not just arts-based, but also as a political entity and vehicle of social change. Within the city PAVED also has outreach programs facilitating, among other things, inner-city youth in recording their own hip-hop tracks. Located in the economically depressed Saskatoon neighbourhood of Riversdale
Riversdale, Saskatoon
Riversdale is an older inner city neighbourhood located near the center of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It includes the business district of 20th Street. It consists mostly of low-density, single detached dwellings. As of 2006, the area is home to 2,335 residents...
, PAVED uses art as a way to create dialogue with other residents; one commissioned project was designed by artist Linda Duvall with the idea that “instead of being passive, there is a commitment to having art act as a form of engagement." Another, more recent commission were a series of politically-relevant advertisement-like billboards drawing attention to NIMBY
NIMBY
NIMBY or Nimby is an acronym for the phrase "not in my back yard". The term is used pejoratively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them. Opposing residents themselves are sometimes called Nimbies...
situations city-wide.
PAVED is also important as a site of dialogue regarding the voice of Canadian First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
people, facilitating, with shows like 21 (curated by Elwood Jimmy) and screenings of Ali Kazimi
Ali Kazimi
-Early life and education:Born and raised in India, Kazimi graduated from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1982. He went to Canada on a scholarship to study filmmaking at York University in Toronto, Ontario...
's Shooting Indians, discussion of the predicament of First Nations people in Canada and the historical roots of it. In these ways, PAVED has assisted young First Nations people in Saskatoon to express the reality of their lives through art.