Buffalo's 'Tough Stuff' hits the Pacific Northwest

 
A still from "Transient Views of WNY," a film by Terry Cuddy. Part of "Tough Stuff from the Buff," a traveling exhibition running through Aug. 2 in cities across the Northwest.

This press release has been buried at the bottom of my inbox for a little too long, but it's totally worth checking out. A pair of guys from Buffalo, filmmakers and bicycle enthusiasts both, have embarked on a bike tour of the Pacific Northwest to exhibit a collection of Buffalo-made film and video works.

Marc Moscato and David Gracon have been cycling through British Columbia, Washington and Orgeon and screening films by such Buffalo luminaries as Tony Conrad, Meg Knowles, the Real Dream Cabaret and scads of others. The project, called "Tough Stuff from the Buff," is an attempt to share Buffalo's impressive creative output in film, video and media art with the other side of the country, which remains largely in the dark about the city's vast and vaguely defined network of so-called DIY (do-it-yourself) artists.

The pieces in the show, a release from the pair states, represent "a diverse group of artists, from accomplished media makers to youth-produced projects" and reflect "the city’s public spaces, political struggles and its resiliency under late capitalism."

Next up on the tour is a stop tomorrow at Seattle's Vita Warehouse, followed by pit stops in Tacoma, Wa., Olympia, Wa., Chehalis, Wash. and Portland, Or. See the project's Web site here.

--Colin Dabkowski