W2’s Fearless City streams mobile video projections and text messages, remixing social media to reveal our Downtown Eastside neighbourhood to local and Olympic visitors. Located in the heart of the Woodward’s Atrium, the W2 Cafe windows come to life with a mosaic of streaming mobile video from neighborhood residents and artists. VJs mix in interactive content from the public sending Tweets and SMS text messages.
Fearless City fosters public input about the Downtown Eastside neighborhood, its culture and environment.
During the daytime, Fearless City is visible online at creativetechnology.org and on screens in the W2 Culture + Media House.
Participating artists include Suez Holland, Matt Smith, AHA Media, as well as local residents and artists who have been involved in the W2 inner-city mobile technology project.
Suez Holland, owner of Electrabelle Visual Effects, has been creating live video installations for over 12 years, weaving between the roles of VJ performer, editor, animator, live camera operator, and video technician.
Electrabelle has a strong interest in providing media tools and training to all those who seek it, not just those who can afford it. Her experience teaching at the Gulf Islands Film and Television school brought hundreds of under-priviledged youth and adults together to learn video and film techniques. For over seven years, this testing ground continually reinforced the empowerment that comes from learning to communicate through the voice of filmmaking. Now with W2's digital media center, Electrabelle hopes to inspire and facilitate a new group of live media artists to tell their stories.
