"Penetralia" at the Leyton Gallery

IAC Friend and visual artist Rhonda Pelley and visual artist Michael Pittman opened a new show last night - Penetralia - at the Leyton Gallery in St. John's.

Penetralia runs at the Leyton Gallery, Baird's Cove (off Water Street) until November 7, 2009.

See more of Rhonda's work online at Rhonda at the Leyton Gallery and featured in the First Edition of the Atlantic Basin Project.

See more of Michael's work online at Michael Pittman at Leyton Gallery and on the Michael Pittman Website.

Drum Faces Winner and Finalists

Congratulations to Angela O'Brien, this year's Winner of the Drum Faces Contest - a part of the 5th Annual Rock Can Roll Festival. Here is the winning shot - Stephen Simmons of the band Quiet Elephant - photographer Angela O'Brien.



The winner was determined by audience applause at this year's Golden Rock Awards. The winning photographer recieves a $50 prize and the drummer in the photo wins a t-shirt from one of the Festival's most lovely sponsors Living Planet

Here are the other four finalists.

Matt Wall of Local Tough - photo by Jai Me


photo by Crista Cram.


photo of Alex Pierson by Jai Me


photo of Alex Pierson by Meghan Solo.

Drum Faces Entries

Here are a selection of the entries to this year's "Drum Faces Contest".

photo by Angela O'Brien of Sharleen and Stephen Simmons of Quiet Elephant.



Photo of Matt Wall of Local Tough submitted by Monica Walsh.


photo of Matt Wall of Local Tough by Jai Me


photo of Liz Solo of the Black Bags by Nauris Nikans.


photo of Jo Morgan of The Wolves by Jai Me


photo of Jamie March of Trailercamp, submitted by Derek March.


photo of Derm Kean submitted by Jai Me


photo of Meghan from the Mudflowers submitted by Jai Me


photo by Jai Me


photo of Hardliner submited by Eugene Leger


photo from Wreckhouse Blues Festival by Nauris Nikans


photos submitted by Devon Stanley Milley





photos submitted by Crista Cram





photo of Brian Downtown (ineligible)


photos of Alex Pierson by Jai Me

We Are Seven

September marks our seventh birthday as an organization. We will be celebrating all month with special events:

Saturday September 19th at CBTGs with the Black Bags.

TBA Studio Party Stay tuned for announcements.

All weekend long at the upcoming Rock Can Roll Festival - September 25, 26 and 27. See post below for more information.

The Independent Artists Cooperative is proud to be celebrating seven years of providing workspace, programs and support to independent Newfoundland artists. Thank you to all of the artists, funders and friends who have been a part of making our first seven years such an exciting ride.

In your face - we are Seven and still going strong.

Rock Can Roll Festival 5

The Independent Artists Cooperative is pleased to announce that the Fifth Annual Rock Can Roll Independent Music and Media Festival will be taking place from Friday September 25 until Sunday September 27, 2009 in St. John's Newfoundland, Canada.

photo above of Geinus from Rock Can Roll Festival 1 by Stephane Saint Jean.

Jamspace Up and Running

We are happy to announce that our co-operative use jamspace is open for business again. Our media lab has now moved upstairs to its own room next to the office.

Contact us if you looking to rent jamspace, maybe we can help out.

Rock Show Fundraiser

there is a fundraiser for Rock Can Roll Media Collective coming up at Distortion in St. John's on Saturday February 21. Featuring the Black Bags, the Class War Kids, The Cyanides. $7 at the door. All proceeds go towards Rock Can Roll Programming.

the black bags

the black bags

Stelarc Visits

During our recent Rock Can Roll Festival many interesting artists presented on their work in new technologies (see our program of events linked in previous posts). Stelarc gave an artist's talk on his work and on his Second Life installation space (built and maintained by Pyewacket Kazyanenko). The Second Front also presented at the conference and can be seen in these pictures participating in the Stelarc lecture. These photos taken by Doug Jarvis/Tran Spire of Second Front.

the dead of winter

We have been very busy over the past fews months with both special events and keeping our workspace running. Currently at the IAC - Liz Solo, The Black Bags, Johnny Hardcore, Jenny Naish and the Rock Can Roll Media Collective have all been busy recording, machinimating, writing and/or rehearsing etc. This is how we keep warm.

Here are a few images from recent events. See photos from the 4th Annual Rock Can Roll Music and Media Festival on Rock Can Roll on Flickr

Danielle Smith

Ye-Yeti

Liz Solo at RCR Conference

Schedule Is Up

The Fourth Annual Rock Can Roll Festival schedule is online.
Check it out here:

Rock Can Roll Schedule

photo above by Rhonda Pelley

Rock Can Roll Festival 4

The Independent Artists Cooperative team up once again with Rock Can Roll to present the Fourth Annual Rock Can Roll Independent Music and Media Festival and Conference - October 23 - 26, 2008 in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

Founded in 2005 the Rock Can Roll Festival was designed to celebrate the St. John's rock music scene and the spirit of independence that drives it. Rock shows will be happening throughout the weekend at our Festival venues: The Ship, The Rock House, Distortion, the Rose and Thistle. Eastern Edge Gallery is the site of our Conference. All venues are located in downtown St. John's.

Our focus for the conference this year is "New Media and Alternative Spaces". Instead of the usual panel discussions we are formating our the event as a series of artist talks, demonstrations, screenings and special presentations. Some of our featured performers and presenters include: Magali Maegher (the Phenomes/Blocks Recording Club, Toronto, ON), From Outer Space (Cornerbrook, NL), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (St. John's NL), Iron Giant (Moncton, NB), Errand Boy (St. John's, NL), Swords (St. John's, NL), Bob Wiseman (Toronto, ON), Noisefold (Santa Fe, NM, USA), Jill Porter (St. John's, NL), Johnny Hardcore (St. John's, NL), the Satans (St. John's, NL), Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (International Online Orchestra), Danny Keating (St. John's, NL), Glenn Gear (Volatile Works Media Collective, Montreal), Maggie Meyer (St. John's, NL), Pathological Lovers (St. John's, NL), Class War Kids (St. John's, NL), Second Front (International Online Collective), Map to Temenos (Mount Pearl, NL), Amusia (St. John's, NL), Rhiannon Thomas (St. John's/Toronto), Lizband (St. John's, NL), Jigger (St. John's, NL), Two Guitars Clash (St.John's, NL), Blood Shot Monk (St. John's, NL), Sports (St. John's, NL) Matthew Hare (St. John's, NL) and many more.

Stay Tuned here as we announce schedules and details.

photo above - The Satans - photo by liz solo

Live Performance

First Virtual Installation Closes

This Month at the Co-op
Thank you to all who came out to see and support our first Second Life installation project "White Box", presented on Odyssey Island in Second Life. The installation ran for six weeks and featured rotating work by Anthony Brenton and Luke Power (live poetry/video/installation), Rock School For Girls (Video), Steve Abbott (painting/installation), and Liz Solo (video/installation) with build by Liz Solo.

During the gallery run we also presented five live performances including two live readings and musical performances simultaneously in the real and the virtual recreation of the Reject Room as well as live band shows simultaneously in the virtual and the real Ship Pub. We have also presented musicians Liz Solo, Mike Kean and Steve Abbott in live musicial performance in Second Life, most memorably at the SubClub. During that performance Ian Nightengale and Jenny Skywalker operated the avatars for Mike and Steve who's hands were busy playing live:



In the Studio
Liz Solo and Jen Skywalker are currently working in the co-op studio space on various projects. They are maintaining an open build space on Odyssey Island. Liz Solo is working on her Machine I Am project - merging machinima with other media in a narrative form. Jen is working on her newest play "And As For Her" and rehearsing her set of songs. The Sketch have just recorded a quick 12 song demo. The Black Bags are re-grouping and writing new material.

Anthony Breton, when not writing, is busy seeking paid employment as a writer. Should you be seeking a copywriter, art critic, rock show reviewer or brilliant poet for any reason - Anthony Brenton is your man. E-Mail us

There are many big projects on the horizon for the co-op, including more virtual presentations in Second Life. Please stay tuned.

Congratulations to Discriminating Gentleman's Club

Team Rock Can Roll and the Monster Psionics League would like to extend their congratulations to the Discriminating Gentleman's Club for their victory in the World Telekinesis Competition (a project of Noxious Sector and Deluge Contemporary Art). Both Newfoundland based teams had a great experience participating in this year's WTC - the first annual! We look forward to next year's competition.

Please visit Noxious Sector for lots of wonderful documentation on the World Telekinesis Competition, including photos of the installation and a video of the final winning match.

Pictured here is the WTC winner's trophy.

Team Rock Can Roll Are Triumphant!

Team Rock Can Roll have won their first round in the World Telekinesis Competition , held at Open Space gallery in Victoria, BC, hosted by Noxious Sector and Deluge Contemporary Art. The image above shows the official gameboard from the competition. As you can clearly see from the wax distribution on the board Team Rock Can Roll were victorious! Team members Anthony Brenton, Brigggs and Ron Anonsen (with familiar Clementine) cite deep breathing techniques and extremely remote influence as their strengths in competition.

Team Rock Can Roll defeated competitors Team Xirony who put up a valiant fight in a round that has been described as "no cakewalk." Next week they will go up against the infamous London United Psychic Club. From Rock Can Roll Headquarters in St. John's the team's manager, Liz Solo, had this to say about next week's round:

"The London United Psychic Club is a powerful group but our team members are not intimidated by the competitors reputation, nor are they allowing their recent victory go to their heads. They are keeping their focus. Everyone here at Rock Can Roll has full confidence in them. We want to bring that trophy home to Newfoundland. "

Team Rock Can Roll are the only Newfoundlander's representing after the defeat of Monster Psionics League in last weekend's competition. They will be competing next Sunday, May 25 at 4:30 P.M. Newfoundland time. Stay tuned for results.

To find out more about the World Telekinesis Competition and the people who sponsor it please visit Noxious Sector

Monster Psionics League Suffers Defeat

Monster Psionics League gave it their all but were defeated by Team Psychobirds in the first round of matches in the World Telekinesis Competition. Liz Solo, Burt Everest and Peter Duchemin/Gzorak the Alien Beard are pictured above focusing their powers. The labyrinth was built for this competition out of native Newfoundland stone.

"Monster Psionics League have been training for weeks," said a spokesperson for the group, "They are still trying to assess what happened and determine what went wrong."

The theory is that their defense was not as strong as their offense. They employed a barrage of techniques, including using their telekinetic "power blast" and creating folds in the fourth dimension. They were "perhaps a little overconfident" the spokesperson said. The team also noticed that several cats appeared on the property during the event.



"Possibly agents of the Psychobirds, we can't be sure", their spokesperson said. "A brilliant tactic, actually, using animal familiars. Wish we had thought of that. What ever the case team Psychobirds won fair and square, and they are to be congratulated."

All hopes are now pinned on Team Rock Can Roll, the other Newfoundland contenders, representing tomorrow, going up against Team Xirony.

Spring has Sprung!

J.E.N. Skywalker soon to release debut album - a.k.a. the soundtrack to her new play ERSA, "This Time My Place". Can't wait! Touring to Ontario the first three weeks of May. With songs composed in Newfoundland. Costumes and props are all collected! Need a storefront and some lights and presto! THE SHOW MUST GO ON! See you there.

World Telekinesis Competition

We are thrilled to announce that two Newfoundland based teams have been accepted as contestants in the first annual World Telekinesis Competition. The World Telekinesis Competition is a project of the Noxious Sector Artists Collective and Deluge Contemporary Art based in Victoria, B.C.

Two NF Teams are very busy with preparations and training. The Monster Psionics League and Team Rock Can Roll will both be telekinetically representing the island in this contest. These teams of three will compete with other teams around the world to psychically influence the behavior of a candle lit in a remote location.
To read more about the competition Guidelines and Competitors Please visit the Official WTC Website.

Team Rock Can Roll will be represented by the infamous Brigggs, who will be utilizing his power over electrical currents as well as his remote drawing talents in the competition. Master of sound and vibration, telekinetic superpower Ron Anonsen has also joined the team.
Rounding out the Rock Can Roll Trio is Anthony Brenton. Anthony has been working with the paranormal since experimenting with pyro-kenetics as a child and is busy poring over dictionaries and books of Satanism to prepare for competition.

The Monster Psionics League are also deep in preparation. The MSL can often be found touring their traveling medicine show around the coves and inlets of Newfoundland. Many do not know that this collective is actually a powerful think tank who's telekinetic abilities were forged in an alien laboratory. Liz Solo, Burt Everest and Gzorak's Alien Beard are looking forward to competition and are currently immersed in an intensive training regimen involving complex drinking games and mental exercising. Stay tuned here for news on our teams and watch the Official WTC Website for progress of the project, competition times and results.