Artist: Shara Rosko: I am a visual and performance artist living and working in Calgary as of recently. Though I am most consistently a painter/drawer, I have worked on a few videos and animations in collaboration with other artists. In 2005, Cindy Baker and I won a small grant (similar to Compression Camp's parameters) from Paved Art as "first time video makers". We shot a series of VERY short Hi-8 videos titled "Stock Footage", meant to be shown in between longer shorts in various screening contexts. These shorts were featured at a short video screening "Digidome" at the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2006. I have also participated in FAVA's (Edmonton) Super 8 challenge in 2004 and 2005 trying out some stop motion animation as well as live action shooting with a surreal storyline.
Description: After years of time spent inside of Casinos as a volunteer for various arts groups that benefit from them, I wondered why the often tedious shifts seemed so enjoyable, and why people tend to spend hours inside Casinos, trying to win at losing games. Casinos exist to make money, not to give it away, so apart from the addictive nature of gambling and the lure of Casino bars and entertainments, why are Casinos simultaneously joyful yet depressing places? No windows to let patrons to know what time of day it really is, no clocks, dark "luxurious", glamorous interiors add up to the sense of suspended time I have experienced while inside a Casino. The other thing that strikes me is that "happy music" sound that is a constant in Casinos, I think it's a C major chord that SEEMS to emanate from all the machines inside, it resembles the sound of coins hitting (CRASHING ON) the floor over and over making a pile of money, and the synaesthesia of the glittery sound is fascinating to me, both attractive and repulsive, and something I'd like to explore. The sound of a Casino promises everlasting happiness; heaven, even. Impossible and ridiculous, and not sustainable.
