Play At Home Order: Exhibition

Multimedia undergraduate students enrolled in MMEDIA 4ST6 (Senior Thesis Research and Production) are presenting their final research-creation projects in an exhibition called Play at Home Order. 

The exhibition will be online and on display in the window space of Factory Media Centre, Hamilton from April 14 to 28. The installation can be seen from the sidewalk in front of the gallery from 6-10pm, with QR codes linking to time-based works involving sound.

MMEDIA 4ST6 offers fourth year Multimedia students the opportunity to develop their own capstone media projects. The final projects are a culmination of research, development, and creation using skills learned in the Multimedia program at McMaster University. 

The artists in the exhibit are:
Pat Bommarito
Aidan Denommee
Jasmin Eng
Khaleel Gandhi
Xiaofan Gu
Alaa Ismail 
Shasni Pathirana
Marco Ricciuti
Duncan Simmons
Jesse Visser

Advisors: Andrew Mactavish, Chris Myhr, and Liss Platt 

Aidan Denommee
Why Mashup When You Can Double Down?

Why Mashup When You Can Double Down? is a look into the issues and controversies surrounding remix culture through the lens of mashups. Appropriating content from popular music, television broadcasts and YouTube videos, this four track EP encourages the listener to consider the problems remix artists face in the communication era. Whether it is the lack of money to be made, the easy yet illegal nature of obtaining these samples, or the difficulty in having these works remain online thanks to copyright related take-downs, it is clear that despite the internet being a perpetual copy machine, some facets of culture are deemed more important than their derivatives.

About the Artist:
Hailing from Burlington, ON, Aidan Denommee not only has a love of all things audio and video, but also a love of transforming other people’s audio and video. Involved in the YTPMV audio/video remixing scene since the 8th grade, he’s no stranger to giving new context to preexisting material. When Aidan’s not struggling to mashup the instrumental to Smoke on the Water with the vocals from Blue (Da Ba Dee), you can find him pushing his computer to the limits with wacky After Effects projects, live-streaming interactive content on Twitch, and making tunes that don’t involve appropriating top 40 hits.

Alaa Ismail
Threads: Everywhere & Nowhere

If you were given the chance to represent your identity outside the stereotypes and pressures society places on you, what would it look like? Threads is a book of collage and personal autobiographical accounts representing the identities of Muslim women beyond the traditional depictions forced onto them. It provides them with a space to speak of the beauty and bitterness of living within diaspora, all while appreciating our many identities.

About the Artist:
Alaa Ismail lives in Mississauga, ON. With a passion for design and illustration, her artwork demonstrates the ways in which political and historical occurrences shape our personal and collective experiences. She aims to use her artistic skills to uplift voices and challenge media norms. Alaa also enjoys creative writing and spoken word.

Duncan Simmons
Twenty Twenty Fifty

Twenty Twenty Fifty is an exploration of the 2020 NBA Dunk Contest’ perfect 50-point dunks. Using simple frame animation to give the viewer a up-close athletic action of the Dunk Contest through a fresh lens.

About the Artist:
Duncan Simmons was born in Vancouver. He is looking forward to giving hi-fives again someday.

Jasmin Eng
Sub Liminal

“Sub Liminal” is a short film that explores the connection between mind, memory, and emotions. It consists of two dreams that share the theme of water which symbolizes feelings and emotions. The video work follows a dream logic and illustrates symbolic language and the liminal space. This piece was created with newly recorded audio and video, hand-cut candy fish, painted backgrounds and sourced audio and photographs.

About the Artist:
My name is Jazz and I was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. I am a multimedia artist but my passion lies in filmmaking and video editing. My artwork is inspired by fashion, video games, food, bright colours, and skateboarding.

Jesse Visser
The Trip To The Higher You

“The Trip To The Higher You” is an interactive choose-your-own-adventure book that explores the art and essence of the psychedelic culture. The book covers multiple topics that explore the history, art styles, music, controversies, mental health, spirituality, mindfulness, and celebrity and personal experiences of psychedelic drugs and culture. Take a trip into the psychedelic world by following the symbols and guides on each page to lead you to your next destination. Where will you take your first trip?

About the Artist:
Jesse grew up in Guelph, Ontario. Ever since a young age of 10 years old, Jesse was fascinated by creating all types of content. Her passion began with making short videos for YouTube and she continued down that route as it was something that sparked her creativity. Jesse is inspired by nature, traveling, pop-culture, world issues, and exploring new forms of art styles. She hopes to start her own free-lancing business of creating all types of video content, photography, graphic design, web design, and illustrations. A few of Jesse’s favourite art forms include short travel films, commentary films, collage art, graphic posters, and documentaries.

Khaleel Gandhi
Convergence

I grew up in a small town – Collingwood – two hours north of Toronto, which is known for its quaint atmosphere, famous ski hills, and stunning waterfronts. But the town was, and still is, overwhelmingly white, and I’d be hard pressed to find other people who looked like I do: a brown Muslim. Try as might have to downplay my identity and fit in to the “Canadian” ways of living, it was hard not to feel like I was a square peg trying to get into a round hole. I’d shift my personality, actions, and character traits based on the situation I was in: this was commonplace for me and continues to this day. “Convergence” is an exploration of the margins I find myself in, oscillating constantly between my Muslim self and my Canadian self. Sometimes the two can exist in harmony, sometimes they can’t. This project examines and illuminates the different ways I perform my selves and the tensions of being a visible religious minority in Canada. The project aims to challenge the idea that the Muslim identity is confined to one rigid box that’s assigned to my community and broaden an understanding of the everyday nuances of our religion – particularly in the diaspora. After viewing this project, I hope you can consider this: are any of us really as straightforward as we’re made out to be?

About the Artist:
Khaleel was born and raised in Collingwood, Ontario and moved to Hamilton to attend McMaster University in 2017. He’s been a practising theatre artist and filmmaker since 2015, with various directing and stage management credits to his name. Formally, his current focus is on the exploration of the theatre/film divide and blending techniques from both worlds to create hybrid works, and conceptually, he is interested in the tensions and ramifications of being a religious Muslim in Western society. When not working on a new project (though those moments are rare!) you’ll find him exploring the outdoors or reading a good book. He invites to check out his other works online at www.khaleelgandhi.com.

Marco Ricciuti
COVID-Mania

COVID-Mania is a reality-themed board game that places the players in a unique experience related to real-world situations. In COVID-Mania, the goal is to get to the vaccine as fast as possible. You may play it safe and slow, by following guidelines, or take risks that will either sabotage or advance your progress. COVID-Mania will give the players a fresh taste of analog gaming, as it brings a new concept into the world of board games. By combining different elements from existing board games, such as Heroscape, to Imagineering new processes, COVID-Mania is a fun experience for families all across the world. The product, designs, and brainstorming was all done by me, as I borrowed visuals from Vecteezy.com and contacted a printing manufacturer suitable for the job. The game will be re-edited, re-designed, and re-published for retail by the end of 2021. How will you decide to play?

About the Artist:
My name is Marco Ricciuti, and I live in a small town just outside of Toronto. My whole life, I have fallen in love with different forms entertainment, such as sports, video games, analog games, and more. Since the pandemic, my family and I started playing a lot more board games, since we were always stuck in the house all the time, so that got me thinking – would I be able to create a unique game that my family and I can enjoy during lockdown? My personality is heavily reflected in the game, as it is humorous, fun, and creative.

Patrick Bommarito
The Floods

The Floods is an immersive, ambient audio project that seeks to project the listener spatially into an environment of sound. The album seeks to tell a story about water — the different things we seek from it, and the different powers that it holds. Our relationship with water has grown more complicated as time goes on, there is an environmental aspect to the project I seek to bring closer to the listener in this way. In being spatially immersed, the listener is compelled to consider a closer understanding of the duplicity of water as an elemental force. Water can be delicate, but it can also be threatening. There are relaxing moments, as well as unnerving ones — these are tensions I sought to draw for the listener to experience. It also contains a thread of foretelling — the sound of our potential future. The Floods is produced in 5.1 stereo surround sound for your listening experience.

About the Artist:
Patrick Bommarito was born and raised in Hamilton, ON. Like many, he has had a passion for music since a young age; what especially interested him was how the different parts of a song came together. How was it made, and who made these things happen? From there, Patrick started to cultivate an interest in the creation and engineering of sound and music. He has had production and engineering credits with a number of local artists in the Hamilton and GTA communities. This project follows in those veins of creativity.

Shasni Pathirana
Moments

I was raised in a predominantly white community in Burlington, Ontario. This affected me because I could never connect on a level with some of my friends because they did not know the experiences of what I was going through in my life as a racalized person and first-generation immigrant living in Ontario. I felt this desire to provide an opportunity for people in my community to have their voices be heard and their experiences are shared. I created the magazine Moments to bring the personal stories of my friends, family, and community to a wider audience. These are intimate, real-life stories shared through the eyes of real people. Ranging in style and tone, the stories revolve around pivotal moments that have affected each individual and influenced who they are today. I created this piece using new photographs, archival images, and the words written by the participants. Moments is a magazine that focuses on individuals being honest, open and real, and I wanted to bring that vision to life.

About the Artist:
Shasni Pathirana lives in Burlington, ON, Canada. Shasni is a photographer. Her work focuses on telling a story through her photography. Through a combination of narratives that look into culture and fashion, her work looks at this concept of identity. Her Peace Studies minor courses at McMaster allowed her to learn about issues in the world looking into law, bioethics, philosophy, race, religion and culture. She has worked on a promo music video for the artist AKILA for his song, Daisy. Since her second year, Shasni has dived into photography, creating an Instagram account focused on all of her work (@shasni.n.photography). Shasni is in her final year at McMaster University, majoring in Multimedia and minoring in Peace Studies, and is excited to see what the future holds for her.

Xiaofan Gu
Tear

TEAR is a story based on a Android who has a soul but suffer from mental illness, she is finding a way to maintain her faith in this world.

About the Artist:
Xiaofan Gu was born in Shanghai, China. She loves Cyberpunk, violence aesthetics and has a special vision of this world.