This summer, the IML continued its support of the LA Skins Fest: A Native American Film Festival. In 2009, the organization held its first workshop at the IML, in collaboration with the American Indian Clubhouse at UAII (United American Indian Involvement). Participants, who ranged in ages from 8 to 16, created videos exhibited at the festival. Youth workshops have remained a part of the festival’s program since, and the 5th Annual LA Skins Fest will return this November with a fresh lineup of youth media. Beyond the workshops, LA Skins is now accepting entries for the 2011 film festival. Consider submitting today!

2011 Call for Entries
5th Annual LA SKINS FEST, November 16th-20th, 2011
http://www.laskinsfest.com/

The LA SKINS FEST is now accepting entries for the 2011 film festival taking place November 16th-20th. In our fifth year, the LA SKINS FEST has expanded to a five-day event that provides the newest and best in Native American Cinema. Sponsored by the most high profile movie studios and television networks and supported by our tribal nations, the LA SKINS FEST has truly merged the Native American community of Los Angeles with the Hollywood entertainment industry. We accept all genres and all lengths of films made by and/or about Indigenous people. Our entry deadline is October 15th, 2011. No entry fee. For inquiries please email: contact@laskinsfest.com.

Entry form: http://goo.gl/ggJlP

Clips from workshop videos:

The IML’s summer schedule will be as busy as ever, with several design projects planned, as well as a return of the NEH/Vectors Summer Institute for Broadening the Digital Humanities, the K-12 Digital Media Workshop for teachers and workshops on using Sophie. The design projects include the creation and implementation of an alternate reality game designed to “shadow” a new course in the School of Cinematic Arts. Three undergraduate students will receive funding to help with the research for the project, funded by the Undergraduate Research Associates Program. Several students will also be working on curating a show of generative video projects for a screening October 17, 2011. The image above, taken from a generative project by IML student Riti Chandiok and made in Processing, points to the kinds of work that will be presented. The students will curate the program, write program notes, and present the show, in conjunction with a lecture by Chandler McWilliams. The Vectors Institute this summer is hosted in collaboration with USC’s Program in American Studies and Ethnicity and the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture and projects will make use of the new platform called Scalar, or Hypercities. Sophie workshops are scheduled throughout the summer; contact the IML for a schedule!

The Network of Ecology seeks submissions of traditional and nontraditional artworks for a gallery show scheduled for mid-November in the new Ronald Tutor Campus Center, for a show titled “The Network of Ecology: Traversing Ecology in Network Culture.”

From developer ecosystems to media ecology, there is no shortage of ecological references across the disciplinary spectrum. Particularly in fields related to new media, with much of the industrial and intellectual economy dependent on understanding human interaction with their environments, it’s common for disciplines to appropriate ecology metaphors to help describe how humans engage with concepts, products, and each other. Parts of business, for example, can be understood in nature’s terms: information gain, entropy, and co-evolution. This show will articulate ecology across disciplines, exploring the processes of nature that describe, find meaning in, or influence our cultures.

The Network of Ecology exhibition will take place on the 3rd floor hallway of the newly opened Ronald Tutor Campus Center, adjacent to Office of Campus Activities and the Trojan Generations Lounge. The show will feature work by USC students, staff, and faculty, and participants of the companion Network of Ecology panel (part of the IML’s Digital Studies Symposium).

We invite submissions of artwork in any media (traditional or non-traditional) that address ecologies or ecological practices. Submissions should contain the following:

• A paragraph describing the work’s intent to explore ecologies or ecological practices.
• A paragraph describing the form the work will take, with consideration of the show’s Campus Center environment.
• One or more supporting media (image, time-based, etc.).

Please send with subject line ‘Network of Ecology submission’ to IML faculty member Craig Dietrich at craig.dietrich@usc.edu. Entry deadline is Friday, November 5, with notification shortly thereafter for installation in mid-November.