Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art presents the opening reception for Road Movie on Thursday, July 5 at 8:00 pm at Plug In ICA. Road Movie is a video installation by Elle Flanders (Toronto) and Tamira Sawatzky (Winnipeg) (Public Studio), produced by Anita Lee for the National Film Board. This powerful installation offers a unique chronicle of lives rarely seen and voices seldom heard. Composed of a series of individual journeys, and shot using stop-motion animation that captures the landscape frame by frame, the work is presented on three large double-sided walls. Road Movie is the result of year-long travels, with passage through segregated West Bank roads, during which the artists met a cross-section of people living in the region. An episodic odyssey through haunting landscapes, Road Movie also features an evocative soundscape created by acclaimed audio artist Anna Friz.

Elle Flanders is an award-winning filmmaker and artist based in Toronto. She was raised in Montreal and Jerusalem and holds both an M.A. in Critical Theory and an M.F.A. from Rutgers University. Her work has been exhibited at museums and festivals internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Berlin International Film Festival. Together with Tamira Sawatzky she founded Public Studio (www.publicstudio.ca), with recent works including Kino Pravda 3G, a multi-channel video installation, and What Isn’t There, a photo installation. She directed the award-winning feature documentary Zero Degrees of Separation, which has screened worldwide and has been broadcast on the Sundance Channel, the Documentary Channel and MTV. Flanders is a Ph.D. candidate in the Visual Arts Studio Program at York University, where she also teaches.

Tamira Sawatzky is an award-winning architect and artist, raised in Winnipeg and working in Toronto. Tamira studied Architecture at the University of Manitoba. In addition to an ongoing architectural practice, her recent art work includes Kino Pravda 3G, a video installation, What Isn’t There, a photo installation, and Road Shots, a series of still photographs. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) and Flux Factory in New York.