Photos 1-7 Jon Vincent/VANDOCUMENT, 8, 9 & 10 Paul Wong
The Periscope Mirror Room (2014)
Installation, video periscope, mirrors
This interactive installation connected the upstairs to the downstairs with a custom built video periscope that connected viewers upstairs to the activities in the mirror room. The viewers above were able to survey the mirror room by controlling a 360° view. The mirror room was constructed from all mirrors left behind by Alderbridge Mini-Storage tenants. Vivo Media Arts centre was the primary tenant of the floor above Alderbridge Mini-Storage. This periscope connected the upstairs studio entrance directly into locker #31.
Artists: Vivo Media Arts’ John Brennan & Elisa Ferrari
Curator: Paul Wong
Bio
The Satellite Video Exchange Society (now VIVO, incorporated 1973) was the first video exchange library, and one of the earliest international video centres and Canadian artist-run centres. Its founding mandate was to facilitate international information exchange through a public video library and, by the 1980s, to provide access to video equipment, basic workshops, and publish a magazine, Video Guide, distributed internationally.
VIVO’s mandate is to directly support artists and independent community-based producers to develop, exchange, and disseminate their skills in a supportive environment through accessible services and programs. Our vision is a robust, diverse, and vibrant media arts sector: a catalyst for critical and innovative engagement with the material forms and cultural meanings of media and technology.
VIVO’s programs offer a broad range of services and opportunities to artists and the public. They include:
• Access to the material necessities for quality production through affordable equipment rental, editing 
facilities, software, and production space.
• A broad range of skill development and education opportunities that encourage the exploration of 
technology and aesthetics within a critical, artistic framework.
• Public programming: events, exhibitions, residencies, co-productions, critical forums.
• International distribution, work exchange, and media arts preservation which support the aspirations and 
livelihood of artists.
• Western Canada’s largest public reference library and archive of media art, independent video, and 
related publications, documents, audio recordings, and photographs.