By Julia Baird
Project 165, hub of the artist collaboration Methinks Presents, is buzzing with activity. Several people, including Ryan Ringer, the main instigator of Methinks, work on arranging sale items in the front gallery for a fundraiser that’s four days away. People mill in and out of the artist studios. When I have trouble finding my pen, Ryan hands me one filled with pink ink and explains that he enjoys the invigoration of writing in colours other than blue and black.
Pinpointing the essence of Methinks Presents is a tricky task, but the collective has something to do with all of the following words: surprise, inclusion, action, spontaneity, performance, disruption, sharing, and support. Ryan explains, “Methinks is about collective action and collaboration. There’s been a lot of play, make-believe, and ongoing narratives.”
Methinks began in 2003 at the Ontario College of Art and Design with Ryan and Kevin Mayo. Eventually Kevin left for his own ventures and Methinks developed into a more collaborative character. And the name? As students at OCAD, their schooling was largely “about ideas, conceptually rigorous. We were always told to be thinking, thinking, thinking about ideas.” Taking on Methinks (meaning “it seems to me…”) as their brand to the world encompasses both that conceptual focus and the cheeky attitude that resonates throughout the collective.
A poster for a road trip to New York
Reoccurring performances include Free Psychic Reading Series, where “psychics” share their extrasensory wisdom with the public, and Bark News, a “guerilla journalism faction” that enacts playful news-style video documentation of Toronto cultural events. There are cardboard-box vehicles of various persuasions: a lemonade truck serving lemonade and conversation to Brooklyn residents, a HypeMobile hurling propaganda at passersby through a megaphone and construction vehicles used to create a monument reminiscent of Will Aslop’s “crayons and dice” addition to OCAD. Recently, a group of Methinks devotees constructed Video Camera mascot heads, in hopes that a crowd of camera-headed people would be able to rush a Google Street View Car as it documented the streets of Toronto.
Soon after its inception, Methinks’ scope spread to other major cities through organizing a series of Roadtrips from Toronto to New York and Montreal. “The Roadtrips evolved through building community through adventure.” They encompass a vacation, parties and events, travelling exhibitions, ongoing performance art, networking and cultural exchanges, and a chance for artists from Toronto and the host city to collaborate on art inspired by the trip.
For most of Methinks Presents’ existence, the collective was spurned on by the fertile conditions at OCAD. The collaborators were immersed in an environment conducive to connecting with like-minded people and the school building supplied the artists with a place to meet and collaborate as a group. “Once I was out of school, it was difficult. We had no base,” says Ryan, “In order to go to the next level, there had to be a hub. There needed to be a physical space.”
This seed at the back of his mind led to a day when Ryan spotted a “For Rent” sign in the window of a storefront space in Kensington Market. He decided to give the number a call and two weeks later, he found himself agreeing to rent the space at 165 Augusta Avenue. Project 165 opened in September 2008, featuring a storefront gallery, artist studios and a common area featuring a blossoming library. “The fact that we have nine studios is a great addition, so it is more than just a place to have shows. The arena expands and it’s more tangible.”
Aside from the usual goings-on at Project 165, Methinks Presents is also in the midst of planning an ambitious touring art bonanza called “We Made a Deal with the Devil.” Taking place during the month of August and happening at locales from Toronto to Halifax, the tour will take six Methinks collaborators (who’ve been dubbed “Collective Action Expedition 09″) on the road to connect and collaborate with the do-it-yourself community across Central and Eastern Canada. “Deal with the Devil” will have a broad scope, incorporating a traveling exhibit of drawings, a zine exchange, guest performance artists, creative events, cultural reciprocation, a tour blog, and documentary, as well as personal ongoing art projects by the six travelers.
That lemonade truck serving lemonade that was mentioned earlier.
The theme “We Made a Deal with the Devil” stems from a chance encounter with Maudite beer. The illustration on the label depicts ‘La chasse-galerie’ (The Flying Canoe), a Quebecois folktale about a group of voyageurs who make a deal with the devil so that they can travel back home on a flying canoe to visit their loved ones on New Year’s Eve.
The Collective Action Six saw a thematic link between the tale and their predicament of putting on such an ambitious project. “We’ll be six people in a van, camping together for a month. We’ll also be relying on and working with people we don’t know. It’s a big risk and it’ll be expensive to do, but we decided that we were passionate enough about what we were doing. We want to find out what other people are doing in other parts of Canada. So we decided to just do it and the money will follow. But we felt a bit like we were making a deal with the devil to make the tour happen.”
There are several ways to get involved with We Made a Deal with the Devil (you’ll find full details under ‘Latest News’):
- The Collective Action Expedition crew are interested in meeting creative people, so if you have a venue or a friend you’d like to recommend along the route, please let them know.
- If you’re going to be near one of the tour stops and you’d like to submit a performance proposal, the deadline for submissions is June 15.
- Reserve a spot in the drawing exhibition by email by June 15 (drawings inspired by ‘La chasse-galerie’ are due by July 15).
- Donations of zines to take on the tour will be accepted until July 25.
- Project 165 will be hosting a garage sale each Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday (the last Sunday of the month) to fundraise for the tour. If you have items you’d like to donate to the cause, visit them at 165 Augusta Avenue in Kensington Market on Tuesdays to Saturdays from 12 – 4:00 pm.
And those interested in keeping tabs on upcoming events and projects are welcome to join facebook groups for both Methinks Presents and Project 165.
