Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 16, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C2 C 2 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMARTS ● LIFE I ENTERTAINMENT Back to the drawing board Pandemic precautions redesign ninth annual film festival focused on human-made environment A S the pandemic has altered the way we look at our homes and workplaces, our shared spaces and our cities, the ninth annual Architecture + Design Film Festival, presented by the Winnipeg Archi- tecture Foundation and Urban Idea, features five days of films about the human-made environment. This year’s works offer a look at some of the places and experiences we are missing, while also suggesting the ways design think- ing can help confront problems going forward. COVID-19 precautions mean a dif- ferent format this year, with a mix of in-person screenings at Cinematheque and online rentals through Cinema- theque at Home. (For full listings of festival films, see adff.ca.) Here are a few films to consider. ● A MODEST PROPOSAL: The Proposal (Saturday, Sept. 19, 4:45 p.m. at Cinematheque or by online rental) could be described as a necrophiliac love triangle. In this fascinating little doc, two women — an artist and an archivist — fight over the legacy of the late Luis Barragán, a Mexican architect whose regionalist, emotional modernism has captivated them both. Artist Jill Magid, who is also the maker of this film, is staying at Bar- ragán’s house in Mexico but hopes to see his professional archives, kept in Switzerland and jealously guarded by art historian Federica Zanco. The two women are bonded by a shared love, even as the dispute over access escalates through ostensibly cordial but increasingly passive- aggressive letters. This odd relation- ship is capped by a controversial act of performance art, which is either a macabre stunt or a stinging rebuke of cultural gatekeeping — or maybe both. ● INDIGENOUS ICON: Douglas Car- dinal: Architect of the Future (Wednes- day, Sept. 16, 9:15 p.m. at Cinema- theque or by online rental) examines the life and work of the Alberta-born Anishinaabe architect, activist and thinker. Cardinal’s projects, which include the Canadian Museum of History, the National Museum of the American Indian and Winnipeg’s own Circle of Life Thunderbird House, are often curvilinear and horizon-hugging, aiming for connection with the envi- ronment rather than control. With input from the architect himself, the film shows how Cardinal works with both art (including close collaborations with the painter Alex Janvier) and technology (all those organic lines mean Cardinal was in the forefront of computer drafting). ● FROM BAUHAUS TO OUR HOUSE: 2019 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the influential Ger- man school of design, and this year’s fest has picked up several related film projects. Women of the Bauhaus (online rent- al) reminds us that even revolutionary modernists often had retrograde ideas about women. The school accepted female students, but they were often shunted off to the weaving workshop, and the rare female teachers struggled to gain equal status with their male colleagues. This much-needed histori- cal corrective brings these overlooked women into focus. (It’s telling that many of the indelible photographs of Bauhaus life and design were taken by Lucia Moholy, even as she was often written out of the narrative.) If you want to try a fictionalized look at young women at the Bauhaus, you can check out the German-language drama Lotte am Bauhaus (online rental), complete with some good-look- ing Babylon Berlin-style visuals. And The New Bauhaus (online rental), from American filmmaker Alysa Nahmias, looks at László Moholy-Nagy’s years in Chicago. The visionary Hungarian-born teacher’s Bauhaus radicalism combined with the American energy of that can-do town, resulting in an educational approach that emphasized the life-changing pos- sibilities of the creative act. The film features contributions from University of Manitoba art historian Dr. Oliver Botar. ● OUTSIDE IN: The festival offers two fly-on-the-wall documentaries that observe the detailed inner workings of large institutions. A Word for Human (Saturday, Sept. 19, 3 p.m. or online rental) takes us inside The Royal Dan- ish Library in Copenhagen, where a scholar pores over texts by Montaigne, visitors participate in an interactive art project by Marina Abramovic, and librarians put together multimedia programs on the legacy of Danish colonialism and the effects of climate change on the Arctic. This visually stylish film asks crucial questions about what a library can and should be in the 21st century. For anyone missing the performing arts, Backstage at Vienna State Opera (Sunday, Sept. 20, 4:45 p.m. or online) is a real treat. The film loosely follows the stage design of a production of Samson et Dalila from conception to first night, while at the same time revealing the myriad functions of an opera house that puts on more than 50 operas a year. The building is a massive 19th-centu- ry Renaissance Revival structure, but we see almost none of that monumen- tal grandness. Instead we look at the ordinary, everyday ways people use the building’s warrens of workshops, offices, rehearsal rooms, hallways and stairwells. As we watch the work of builders and cleaners, costumers and carpenters, administrators, accoun- tants and donkey wranglers, the film is an uplifting reminder that “we must labour to be beautiful.” alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca ALISON GILLMOR OSCILLOSCOPE LABORATORIES Artist and filmmaker Jill Magid inserts herself into The Proposal, her documentary about the late Mexican architect Luis Barragán. PAT MCGRATH / THE OTTAWA CITIZEN Douglas Cardinal with a model of the Museum of the American Indian. The life of the Alberta- born Anishinaabe architect is explored in Douglas Cardinal: Architect of the Future. Plumbing the depths amid the global pandemic Lessons in good coverage just part of life as big-shot newspaper columnist I THINK we can all agree there are certain words that you never want to hear in the middle of a global pandemic. I will share them with you today. They go something like this: “Wake up, honey, we have a sewer backup in the basement!” Those life-altering words were ut- tered the other morning by my wife, She Who Must Not Be Named, while I was hiding under the covers in our bedroom, trying to eke out a few more minutes of precious sleep before start- ing a day of professional journalism. When I dragged myself out of bed, slipped on my robe and staggered downstairs, it turned out my wife was correct — the shower was awash in the sort of gunk we normally do not discuss in family newspapers. If you have never had to deal with sewer backup before, I have one simple question — can I come and live at your house? Seriously, I don’t eat much and I’d be more than happy to let you oper- ate the TV remote. OK, I’ll let you think about that for a while. Naturally, we called a local drain-cleaning company, but they couldn’t come until much later in the day, so I bravely put my clothes on and headed into the office, leaving our two dogs to cope with the heady aroma wafting from the basement. I was excited to go into the office because I knew, deep in my heart, that we are the sort of newspaper that has fully functioning toilets on every floor, not that I’m trying to brag. Almost the first thing I did when I arrived was check my mail slot and — SURPRISE! — there were two pack- ages sitting there waiting for me. Inside the first, I discovered two stylish homemade face masks that, according to a note, were “constructed from pre-washed 100 per cent quilting cotton and lined with iron-on fusible polyester interfacing to make them safer.” The masks were made from a fabric that was festooned with cute little puppies, including a basset hound, so they were clearly designed with me in mind. It turns out the masks were a gift from retired Winnipeg school princi- pal Arlene Skull, who has been busy since the start of the pandemic sewing stylish face coverings for pretty much anyone who needs one. Arlene, whose mask-making efforts I detailed back in April, had made face coverings for a trio of women who had read about her new hobby in these pages, and they politely asked her to make some dog-themed masks for me, so that’s exactly what Arlene did. My wife loved the dog fabric and laughed until I reminded her that, in my last column, I’d written about how Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, had made headlines around the world when she recom- mended people wear masks when ca- noodling with someone new to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Speaking of canoodling, the second package I ripped open had another big surprise inside — a large tin can loaded to the brim with dozens and dozens of condoms. I have to confess that, despite being a big-shot newspaper columnist with steely blue eyes and naturally curly hair, this is the first time that anyone has ever sent me a package containing dozens and dozens of condoms. Or any condoms, for that matter. “Hey, Doug! Hope you’re doing well. Enjoy this little box of goodies (smiley face)!” read a handwritten note from Milla Impola, who is the director of marketing for One Condoms, which is holding a countrywide contest urging Canadians to (cough) rise to the chal- lenge and submit designs for condom wrappers that celebrate Canadian life, culture and history. For the record, you have until midnight on Sept. 30 to submit your Canuck-themed condom wrapper designs to onecondoms.ca/contest. The public can go online from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 to select the Top 10. Along with cash, the winners get to donate 10,000 condoms to the health organization of their choice. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s be- cause I wrote an insightful column in July about the contest, wherein I sug- gested such subtle patriotic wrapper designs as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers holding the Grey Cup aloft and claim- ing: “It’s a game of inches!” Anyway, as I sat there at my desk, trying on the masks and flipping through dozens of Canuck-themed wrappers from One’s 2017 contest — including a syrup bucket dangling from a maple tree with the cheeky text: “I’d Tap That!” — it occurred to me that face masks and condoms have two important things in common, namely: 1) No one really wants to wear them; and 2) They can slow the spread of a serious virus. So you really should wear one when you go out in public. I am referring, of course, to the face mask. While I can certainly use the cute doggie masks, I personally was not looking to stand on guard for a large quantity of patriotic condoms, so I suspect I will have to donate those to a local health group. But I’m finding it kind of hard to think about this vital issue at the mo- ment because, as I write these words, two plumbers are in our bathroom noisily using their drain snakes to try and clean out our clogged pipes. They were making so much racket I almost didn’t hear the loud knock on our front door, which would have been a shame because it was a smiling fel- low from Chaeban Ice Cream deliver- ing two pints of frozen goodness that we’d won while supporting a charity event last month. Call me shallow, but there’s some- thing about free ice cream that helps you forget the pain of pandemics and clogged sewers. doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca DOUG SPEIRS IN THE DOUG HOUSE The One Condoms design contest seeks some more coverage. C_02_Sep-16-20_FP_01.indd C2 2020-09-15 5:43 PM ;