dot.calm / 49 stories - Latitude 53, Edmonton
an installation by Jfry Craig
49 stories, an installation, appeared for a month as part of the Stem Cell new media arts festival. The installation showed at Latitude 53, opening on April 12th, 2007.

In exciting news, 49 stories, which just closed in Monterrey, will be moving to Alberta's Capital as part of the inaugural Stem Cell Festival, put on by Latitude 53, FAVA and Metro Cinema.

49 stories is said to be the web script found among dot.calm’s possessions after his death. The script was written in a sophisticated manner that takes full advantage of inter text and the web's ability to broadcast a variety of rich media. The story explores the life of Paul, a career sous-chef who never leaves Calgary throughout his 74 year life. Paul dies a shut-in, obsessed with washing his hands, movies, golf analogies, shoes and the alphabet.

Jfry Craig has taken dot.calm’s webscript and tried to present it as an installation, combining video, sound, photos and writing in an attempt to best bring Paul to life for the viewer. This portion of the show is very interactive, trying to replicate the feeling of the web by asking the viewer to become involved with the project, bringing their own ear phones, walking to pre-established areas of the room to reconsider previously seen pieces—reading and scanning en-masse. The installation is a "walking, talking choose your own adventure", through Paul’s life and the gallery space. Many of the objects used in the installation were found among dot.calm’s possessions post-mortem.

In this text, dot.calm decided to personalise his usual [he] and [she] characters by giving them names, [paul] and [phoenix].

Since dot.calm’s death, Jfry has been a chief currator of dot’s work. This represents the fourth major display of dot.’s work, which Jfry has put together.  49 stories is just returning from Monterrey, Mexico where it appeared at Galeria Regia as part of annual Canada Week Festivities
dot.calm
dot.calm (FTB:FB:RIP) was a graffiti writer of no great repute. He wrote mostly in western Canada but if you look hard enough you can find his tags and posters pretty much all around North America and some parts of Asia. He started “writing” after being inspired by the street work of Basquiat and the prolific Canadian graffiti writer Trik1.

He wrote stories about a male character named [he] and a female character named [she]. 100s of them, everywhere he went, trying to leave a “book” for people to read, and characters to learn about that lived on the same streets as the reader. His characters subtlety explored ideas as far ranging as golf and films, but mostly they were concerned with exploring communication, words and human interactions that derive because of language and repetition.



He was found dead July 18, 2004, of a drug related overdose on the roof of Paolini’s Deli in Bridgeland, Calgary, Canada. This happens to be the site of his first arrest for mischief and there remains some speculation as to whether or not the overdose was accidental.  The official police report reads only foul play, but his manuscript and the location, combined with a vigorous flyer campaign a week earlier, seems to suggest that the death was intentional.

For more information on the show, please visit:
www.49stories.com       www.brandingbydot.com      www.fb-crew.ca
Media Comment:
"The work at Latitude is multi-pronged, but the mystery point on the trident seems to be Calgary's Jfry Craig. Most interesting is his multimedia web script ...Bring your own headphones for this modernized Choose Your Own Adventure." --Fish Griwkowsky, Edmonton SUN