I Know how you feel: the video work of Aleesa Cohene

• Wednesday 29 June 2011, 8PM at MAWA [611 Main St]
• The Sobey-nominated artist will be in attendance!
• Curated by Clint Enns
• Presented in conjunction with Haven't We Been Here Before?

Aleesa Cohene is a Toronto based video artist who uses found-footage as material and editing as a tool. Through this technique, Cohene provides us with a lens under which the viewer can see and examine many of the stereotypes present in traditional narrative cinema. In essence, she is revealing the mirror in which the media uses to reflect our “beliefs” back to us.

Currently, Cohene is protected under Fair Dealings in Canada. However, given recent attempts to reform Canada’s copyright laws, Cohene could be recast as a digital outlaw. Artistically and ethically speaking, Cohene does not see these images as private property, but as “basic materials through which we have an obligation to express ourselves and define our individuality.”

Aleesa Cohene has been producing videos since 2001. Her work has shown in festivals and galleries across Canada as well as in Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Scandinavia, Thailand, Turkey and the United States, and she has won prizes at Utrecht’s Impakt Festival and Toronto’s Images Festival. She has participated in artist residencies in Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark. She recently completed a fellowship at the Kunsthochschule für Medien (KHM) in Cologne, Germany.

Screening Includes:

• Abscess (2001, 10 minutes)
• Absolutely (2001, 10 minutes)
• All Right (2003, 7 minutes)
• Ready to Cope (2006, 7 minutes)
• Suppose To (2006, 7 minutes)
• The Same Problem (2008, 4 minutes)
• Something Better (2008, 8 minutes)

Studio Visit with Steven Leyden Cochrane

• Thursday 23 June 2011, 7PM (Meet at PLATFORM at 6:45PM)
• Unfortunately, Steven's studio is not wheelchair accessible - it is a several story walk up.

PLATFORM members are welcome to attend our next studio visit. We are very happy to present visual artist Steven Leyden Cochrane in our continued studio visit series in conjunction with Haven't We been Here Before. He will open up his studio and provide an informal artist talk. In House Salons/Studio Visits are offered to PLATFORM members exclusively, free of charge. Space is limited; please contact the Centre directly to register. Curtain to reproduce a quality of interior light characteristic of central Florida at sunset after a thunderstorm in summer (2011) Steven Leyden Cochrane is a multidisciplinary visual artist from Tampa, Florida. Working in a broad range of media and exhibition strategies, he seeks to problematize received understandings of art objects as repositories of meaning and vehicles for personal expression. His research interests include Conceptual Art practice, constructions of artistic identity, theory of mind, problems of narrativity, vernacular design, fan art, home décor, pre-modern painting technique, stained glass, Minimal sculpture, and Mariah Carey. He earned a BFA in painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006 and in 2009 completed his MFA in studio arts at the University of Windsor. He is currently based in Winnipeg.