Last Saturday, Toronto was enveloped in muggy greyness. I was riding my bicycle along Bloor Street West, after being doused in unspectacular rain in High Park, and the street was less appealing than usual. Two women were yelling at each other outside a store with sad appliances in the window, the kind of appliances that break when you get them home; the police were cordoning some building off; and the whole street—which occasionally vibrates with a kind of transglobal charm—was entirely charmless.
“Amazing knowledge!” a man called from the sidewalk as I rode past. I laughed, and kept on down the block to the Salvation Army, where all the summer dresses were polyester testaments to humanity’s ability to create dreadful fashion; the kind of fashion that evokes a physical response, a shiver or a cringe. Stepping back out into the humidity, I followed my curiosity, and walked my bike up the block.
“What kind of amazing knowledge?” I asked the man.
“No, a maze of knowledge. Entry five cents.” There was a table on the sidewalk with a smiling woman and a yellow piggy bank. They were positioned in front of a door with black curtains. I rummaged through my pocket for a nickel and the man waived me along. “It’s free for people with purple shoes today.” (more…)
JEJU-DO—History usually gives Gutenberg the credit, but some sources say Korea invented movable metal type. Good old Johannes didn’t start pouring his molds until about 1450, but in 1234, during Korea’s Goryeo period (from which the country’s present name derives), a guy named Choe Yun-ui is said to have used movable metal type to print the Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun, a collection of ritual books. The earliest extant book printed with metal type is a Buddhist text called the Jikji Simcheyojeol, from 1377, also a Goryeo document. Clearly, it’s not just kimchi we have Korea to thank for.
This little bit of history is consistent with Korean’s incredible respect for language. On the various occasions when I’ve asked my students who they consider to be a great Korean hero, an overwhelming majority of them cite Sejong the Great, the Joseon-era leader who invented hangeul (or hangul), the Korean alphabet system that’s still in use today, and which linguists generally recognize as one of the best writing systems ever created. Imagine asking a seven-year-old from Kamloops whom they admire and having them answer Tommy Douglas, because of the way he revolutionized health care in Canada, and you get a picture of just how revered Sejong and his invention are in Korean culture. (more…)
Kent Monkman’s Miss Chief Eagle Testickle: a Portrait (profiled in the May issue), left me wondering what has changed in how Canadian society imagines the Indian* (huh?)Just to be clear: The Indian here refers to Daniel Francis’s definition of “the Indian as the invention of the European . . . [and] anything non-Natives wanted them to be,” and is not to be confused with First Nations people living in Canada today. since Paul Kane’s majestic braves captivated British North America in the mid-nineteenth century.
For the last three months, on my daily, three-kilometre stroll from Trinity Bellwoods to The Walrus office, the Indian has greeted me twice. Across the street from the Meeting Place, a drop-in frequented by addicts and the homeless, including some First Nations people, a bare-chested Indian stands on a tree stump. Leather straps, a shade darker than his bronzed skin, are knotted around his bulging biceps, a matching leather bag filled with tobacco drapes across his chest down to his green, fringed suede pants. He gazes up at the grotty Reverb nightclub, feather headdress tilted back, right hand blocking his eyes from the perennial sun. Red paint marks his handsome chiseled face like battle scars. His lips are perfect. At “West Side OPEN LATE Tobacco” the cigar store Indian kept a daily vigil (the store mysteriously closed up shop and left, with its Indian, last week). But no fear: the made-in-the-Philippines, cigar-store Indian marks a number of Toronto tobacconists. (Yorkville’s classy Thomas Hinds Tobacconist keeps its wooden Indian tastefully indoors.) (more…)
To celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary, Winnipeg’s Video Pool media art centre made a poster detailing its history. But the twenty-five year history of an artist-run centre is as harried as they come. Rather than a straight timeline, Video Pool’s history looks more like a brainstorming session gone wrong. In the aptly titled The Incomplete, Contested, Anecdotal, Unedited, Messy, Nostalgic, Faulty, Controversial History of Video Pool So Far…,bubbles of people, places, moments in time, and minor scandals are connected with AV cables. (more…)
When I get a hold of Toronto artist Mitch Robertson at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery in Halifax, he’s just returned from dropping off his son. The father and son team had been getting the gallery ready for Robertson’s show 5,6,7: Economies of Good & Evil. But being three years old, Robertson’s son was having more fun dirtying the Plexiglas containers than cleaning them.
Robertson’s son was a big influence on 5,6,7, which was exhibited in Oakville and Winnipeg last year. Most of the work in the show was made at a time when Robertson was struggling with how to raise a family. In Winners and Losers (2005-07) and From Good to Bad (2006) Robertson plays with our concepts of good and evil. By colouring one cowboy’s hat black and another’s white he exposes how subjective our morals can be. The concept is explored further in photos of groups of men, where their shirts are coloured in grey scale from black and white. (more…)
TORONTO—As I write this, Prince Edward Island’s Cyclone roller coaster is deep into winter hibernation, and the hordes of Japanese tourists that flood the island in summer to see the birthplace of Anne have just finished lunch back on their own island. Cows Ice Cream in Charlottetown is one of the few summer-time hot spots to stay open in defiance of winter. The Confederation Centre for the Arts is another bastion of island culture open year-round. Lucky for Atlantic Canadian hipsters.
Tomorrow (February 29) the centre is hosting Cute As A…, a button exhibity and trading event featuring unique designs by fifty Canadian artists—all on one-inch pins. The show is curated by Siobhan Wiggins, the Centre’s education and outreach officer. (more…)
TORONTO—Trudging through the snow as wind whipped my face during last Tuesday’s snowstorm, I had to ask whether any gallery opening was worth the trouble. But I’m going to assume that anyone reading this wasn’t as hearty as me, and missed the opening reception of Art Metropole’s current show ABC…With Love (Too Cool For School).
The show’s focus is the twenty-six paperback novel-sized gorgeous letterpress prints (in orange-yellow, steely-blue, and warm grey) pinned on the wall as you enter. Thirteen artists from around the world contributed to the prints, each drawing two letters of the alphabet. The works have a kindergarten-esque feel. Jill Henderson, who curated the exhibition and drew two of the letters, calls the show “curating-by-numbers.” (more…)
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