PACKARD DOGS from WA2S's American Strays to Screen at IMAGING DETROIT *Free* September 21 - 22, 2012

Sept. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- Ann Arbor, MI (September 13, 2012) - The Metropolitan Observatory for Digital Culture and Representation (MODCaR) will be presenting PACKARD DOGS - A STUDY OF CONTRASTS, a mini doc from award-winning director Tom McPhee as part of his World Animal Awareness Society funded American Strays feature for the exhibition, IMAGING DETROIT on September 21 & 22, 2012 at Perrien Park, in Detroit’s Near East Side.

Equal parts international film festival and pop-up agora, Imaging Detroit is an open assessment and contemporary anthology of Detroit’s national and international image. Both curated and untamed, it will feature a broad spectrum of film and print media casting Detroit as an urban protagonist. In and on Detroit, screenings and exhibitions will be combined with conversations between urban analysts, filmmakers, Detroiters, economists, policy makers, activists, and other expert DJ’s (Discourse Jockeys).

To facilitate public engagement, MODCaR has recently built a temporary cabana in Perrien Park for locals to come meet members of the organization, and learn what it is all about. In the months leading up to the event the cabana will also serve as a marker to increase the event’s visibility in East Detroit, and to encourage suggestions and potential collaborations.  Imaging Detroit’s built structures have been designed to outlive the festival. While Perrien Park will be landscaped and fitted for the event, the physical components will be recycled and distributed back to the neighborhood.

Producer & Director of AMERICAN STRAYS and the Founder & Executive Director of the World Animal Awareness Society - WA2S.org, multi award-winning filmmaker Tom McPhee will be in attendance for the discussion portion of the program on Saturday.

About MODCaR:
The Metropolitan Observatory for Digital Cultural and Representation is a research organization interested in the representation of urban conditions and analyzing the role of visual media in its effects on cities’ form, identity and culture. Their charge is to explore the complex relationship between experience, the constructed image, meaning and the public. MODCaR is sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning’s Research on the City initiative, and directed by
faculty members Anya Sirota and Mireille Roddier.

You can view the Packard Dogs now by following the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0rE-0It-mw



PACKARD DOGS - A STUDY IN CONTRASTS is a 'mini doc' from American Strays, a PBS ready feature documentary and the focal point of an outreach campaign from the World Animal Awareness Society to present tangible stray dog data compiled from the streets of Detroit to the world.  More about American Strays from the WA2S here: http://www.wa2s.org/american-strays-research.html

The Canine census will help define the abundance & distribution of species, show trends in species population over time, and provide insight into relationships between animal populations and human activities within the region.

The resulting data will be given to government and non-governmental organizations, using it to conduct more accurate & cost effective activities that address REAL problems/needs. The initial WA2S census/survey intends to reveal the dynamics surrounding the population of free-roaming canines within the geographic boundaries of the City of Detroit.

The World Animal Awareness Society - WA2S.org, is a media non profit and window into the world of human-animal intersections as seen through an unbiased, journalistic lens.  Human-animal intersections are places, times and events in which animals and humans have conflicting or conjoined needs, where the bones of survival and our own human evolution are evident – if we look.

The WA2S.org was created specifically to focus a lens on ourselves, to help humans see beyond what we look toward and hone in on where we look from.  Let us embark upon a journey of discovery as we explore the ways humans and non-human animals interact the world over, together.