You may have heard, that we softly launched the new IMA website on Tuesday? Well, we were kind of busy with that recently. But we’ve kept our eyes on a couple of other projects, including a major video documentary. You may recall our first major documentary, on Maya Lin which we debuted on ArtBabble. A pic of Dan on location for that documentary, below.

Senior New Media Producer Dan Dark, on location in Walla Walla

So speaking of documentaries. In December, Danny Beyer and I spent a week in NYC working on our next documentary, featuring the artist duo Type A.  This is a really unique project for us, because we have enjoyed a wonderful working relationship with them – in fact, they’ve become ingrained in IMA’s culture through their work in 100 Acres….even on this blog. We’ve been even luckier in that we’ve received the full support, encouragement, collaboration and engagement from IMA’s contemporary curator, Lisa Freiman. It’s the makings of something special.

Stay hydrated! Simple advice.

In fact, this might be our most prolific collaboration with any artist. We’ve got hours and hours of team building raw footage, a Flickr set, blog posts, hilarious phone calls, hugs, the exchange of gifts and more.  It’s lasted years. They’ve also given us (and ArtBabble) one of the best In the Factory series to date. You can view that below. I implore you to at least watch the beginning…which will prompt you to watch the end.

It’s already become a very special project (and we’re a couple of months away from completing the documentary). Type  A have opened their studio to us, befriended the entire IMA family and been incredibly kind, patient, funny and inspiring collaborators. They even gave us hockey tickets for a Rangers game.

Our week in NYC was intense and we shot hours of footage. Interviewing people is an exhausting process and during the week we conducted on-camera interviews with several different people involved in Type A’s career (you’ll meet them in the video) and we grabbed tons of studio b-roll footage. It was an intense but good time.

The final day of shooting at Type A's studio

We’re a couple of months away from completing this video. Danny is currently editing the piece, sifting through all of the footage and searching for usable nuggets. There are plenty.  Even though it’s not done yet, I can imagine the final product being well over twenty minutes long, in which case, this would be our longest documentary to date. We’ve come a long way.

So while you’re waiting for this release, take time to watch Type A’s In the Factory interview (above) or check out their section on the IMA site and what they’re doing in 100 Acres. We love them.

Class Picture Day on Flickr

Groups on Flickr are often hard to seed.  Like a lot of the digital content, an audience does not flock to a website, just because it is published.  It takes a connection with an audience, an innovative or compelling idea, sometimes a bit of luck and great timing or me urging in a blog post.  In our Class Picture Day group, a few IMA staffers (Despi, Noelle, Ruth and Sarah) were brave enough to post their own class photos, to initiate the process.  I was amazed by their commitment to the cause and willingness to put their brilliant pictures from yesteryear online.  I hesitated and used an excuse now echoed by many throughout the halls of the IMA: I can’t find my yearbook.  Come on!

I and others continue to harass our colleagues to submit.  It does take commitment – you have to find a yearbook or the actual photo, you have to scan the image, you have to login to Flickr and upload (you might even need to create a yahoo username to do this) – so I get the time involved.  But, now that even I submitted an image, that excuse is no longer valid.  I uploaded a terribly embarrassing image of myself this morning.  I guess I am committed to the cause and I think you should be too.

As we all age, our class pictures lose that relevance of the pop culture and time period, so when they are viewed years later, well, they appear funny or outdated or slightly embarrassing.  I personally love them.  So I’m challenging our readers, find your Class Picture Day images and post them to our group.  You’ll become part of an online community that was willing to laugh in the face of potential humiliation and just go for it.

Can you do it?