Today’s dreary, rainy, very Vancouver-esque weather seems like the perfect excuse to stay inside and take in the first full day of programming at Images. I’m camped out at a cafe, circling events and screenings in my festival catalogue and getting ready to be the film and video pep squad to Sholem Krishtalka’s cheerleading team. Like Sholem, I’ve been asked to preview, recommend and give background on screenings, performances and exhibitions I plan on seeing this week and to bring scintillating festival gossip and interview quotes from artists and curators.

Sung Hwan Kim and David Michael DiGregorio, In the Room 3, 2006, performance documentation from STEIM, Amsterdam, Photo: Mieke van de Voort

On my agenda for this weekend are two Live events in local gallery spaces. The first is Korean-born, New York–based artist Sung Hwan Kim’s first performance of In the Room 3 at Gallery TPW. Originally produced during the artist’s residency in Amsterdam and partly in preparation for a show at the Prix de Rome, the series is now being mounted in tandem with Kim’s show “In the Room” at TPW, which continues throughout the month.

Kim’s performances incorporate live video feed, performance, live drawing and props collected from his immediate surroundings. Working in collaboration with dogr and Byungjun Kwon, the two performances of In the Room 3 will be a mix of improvisation and planned actions, creating a unique experience each time. The first performance is tonight at 9:30 at Gallery TPW with a second performance again on Saturday, April 4th at the same time. Come early to get tickets and a seat and look for an interview with Kim Simon, curator of TPW, on the site tomorrow.

Also in my datebook this weekend is Brooklyn-based artist Ben Coonley‘s PowerPoint presentation and artist talk titled Remapping the Apparatus: Cinematographic Specificity and Hybrid Media at Harbourfront Centre on Saturday, co-presented with The Power Plant. The talk addresses Jean-Louis Beaudry’s film theories through video clips by both the artist and from found resources like youtube.

Ben Coonley, Pony Changes Everything, 2003, still

Given that every one of Coonley’s pieces on the Video Data Bank involves some sort of animated toy pony assisting with a didactic explanation of film theory or world currency circulation, I think the talk promises to be more entertaining than your average artist’s lecture. Coonley’s agreed to answer some questions via email on his plane trip here, which will be posted some time tomorrow.

“Talking Points and Talking Ponies” is a one-time Live event taking place Saturday, April 4th at 6 pm in Harbourfront Centre.