MONDOmagazine

People per Hectare (E.R.A. Architects - image via harbourfrontcentre.com)

Inside the City
Part of Harbourfront’s View Points Series
Moderated by Ian Chodikoff

By Tina Chu

When the snow blew me in to Harbourfront’s Inside the City lecture, Helena Grdadolnik of Public Workshop was already presenting her works and was just beginning to delve into explanations of the reactivist and activist approaches to architecture.

Essentially, the difference between the two is a difference between being a problem-solver and a problem-identifier. In other words, instead of waiting for clients to present their needs, the activist architect is someone who actively seeks improvement by identifying setbacks in design, and then engages community collaborators and financial partners to devise a solution together.

Not a right approaches, it is more simply one Grdadolnik prefers when designing Public Workshop’s installations and interactions to examine the use of public space and to help people to reconsider and repurpose public spaces that are conventionally overlooked and/or negatively perceived.

Operating with the same approach, Michael McClelland and Graeme Stewart of E.R.A. Architects focuses the process on conducting research.

In the instance of Community Centered and Inside the City, McClelland and Stewart are specifically concerned Read the rest of this entry »

The winning design of the DSM Young Designer Award 2004, Cynthia Hathaway's lÓffice Perfume. (via the artist's website)

Tobias Wong and Cynthia Hathaway
Co-presented by Motherbrand and the Toronto International Design Festival
January 23 @ Harbourfront Centre

By Tina Chu

Harbourfront’s twelfth installment of the Innovators + Ideas lecture series featured Canadian expats Tobias Wong, now based in New York, and Cynthia Hathaway, now in Amsterdam.

The two designers kicked off the lecture with a photojournal presentation of a trip inside Honest Ed’s. Sifting through holographic clocks, chrome-coloured figurines, ad-hoc signs, and eccentric slogans, what most entertained Hathaway and Wong was the idea that each outrageous item is the result of conscious decisions. Read the rest of this entry »

A behind-the-scenes photo from Tono. Wednesday's performance included just the musicians (background, in traditional dress). Photo by Alicia Ho.

Tono: a music concert
Presented by Red Sky
Featuring Tuvshinjargal Damindinjav, Bat-Orshikh Bazarvaani, Batmend Baasankhuu, and Rick Sacks
January 20-21 @ The Music Gallery

By Isla Craig

I am forever captivated and amazed by the similarities and expressions found in folk music traditions. Across land and time and centuries of histories, the power of song prevails, confirming our connection with life and the living world.  As a singer, I am interested in the sound of voice, the body as instrument and find great wonder in the connections forged between continents and across language.

Wednesday night’s performance of traditional Mongolian folk songs was undoubtedly an amazing display of vocal technique of a celestial nature. The voice is the driving force behind the Mongolian folk song, consisting of throat singing and long song. Throat singing sounds like crickets and bees and all sorts of frequencies you would never imagine could be replicated by the human voice. Read the rest of this entry »

The panel. Photo by Tina Chu.

By Tina Chu

It’s not often I find myself in north Toronto, something I probably share with a few of the panelists at a recent Leona Drive Project event presented by L.O.T.: Experiments in Urban Research. It’s a discussion entitled “Reimagining the future of Toronto’s inner suburbs: An open dialogue on arts, creativity and community,” and it features the expertise of Janine Marchessault, John Filion, Robin Collyer, Michael Prokopow, Shawn Micallef, and Doug Young.

Moderated by Steven Logan, PhD candidate in York and Ryerson’s Communication and Culture Program and L.O.T. member, the panel introduces how the LDP came about and, more importantly, how the suburbs came to be its focus and how art could enrich the suburbs.

At first, as co-curator Janine Marchessault explains, she and the L.O.T. Collective had focused on exploring and staging exhibits in downtown Toronto. Despite their enthusiasm, however, Marchessault and the rest of L.O.T. soon felt their project in the downtown core was a conversation only with themselves — the city is oversaturated with its own representations. Read the rest of this entry »

Presented in association with Nightswimming Theatre
Part of Buddies in Bad Times’ Hysteria 2009
Festival runs until October 31 @ Buddies in Bad Times

By Daina Valiulis

As she sits on a bare stage reading from the script, Vancouver theatre artist Carmen Aguirre begins Blue Box by talking about her weepy three weeks of mourning after her divorce. Finally, her grandmother’s spirit appears to her and tells her to knock it off. She shows her a vision of the young man she will soon meet and lust after (“Visionman,” who later comes to be). From this point on, Aguirre attempts to weave the Visionman storyline together with her past as a Chilean freedom fighter, sometimes segueing nicely, at others breeding confusion. Read the rest of this entry »

Fashion Week: Interview with Jason Meyers

Interview and photos by Helen Fylactou

Jason Meyers may not have been the winner of Project Runway Canada, but being on the show definitely helped establish him as a fierce competitor in the world of fashion. Meyers recently unveiled his Spring 2010 collection at Toronto’s LG Fashion Week, exciting his fans and surprising the skeptics with street-savvy-meets-old-Hollywood designs. Although the collection was not flawless, the evolution in the types of designs and craftsmanship of Meyers was remarkable. This season, Meyers’ eclectic style incorporates his signature fishtail hems, busy fabrics, and explosion of ruffles. Refusing to stop until he has made his designs a household name, Meyers continues to educate and grow his collection.

MONDO: In comparison to last year, how did you prepare differently (if at all) for this year’s Fashion Week?

Jason Meyers: This year I really focused on quality of fabric, workmanship, and price point. I wanted this collection to be very marketable to get to the market place with customer satisfaction. Read the rest of this entry »

Tall, blonde, ladies. Check.

Presented in association with FADO Performance Art Centre
Part of Buddies in Bad Times’ Hysteria 2009
Festival runs until October 31 @ Buddies in Bad Times

By Daina Valiulis

Tall Blonde Ladies, composed of Anna Berndtson and Irina Runge from Sweden and Germany, is a collaborative performance project that “inverts female stereotypes through the composition of absurd and unexpected performance gestures, incorporating a range of accoutrement from high-end fashion to sports gear”, according to the show’s press release. “Their works present diametrically opposed concepts; beauty and grace are juxtaposed and diminished through brute action and athleticism, tacitly disrupting and challenging gender-based categorizations.”

Well, that’s a fancy explanation for two tall blonde ladies wearing corsets and cleats, sitting or marching in right angles in the middle of the room. They don’t interact, they don’t change the rhythm and they do this for an hour. Frankly, to tack on this much meaning to something so ridiculous is lazy and obnoxious. Read the rest of this entry »

Staceyann Chin: girl's got pipes.

Live: Staceyann Chin

and

Gaggle
Created and performed by The Humberlights
Directed by Karin Randoja

Both part of Buddies in Bad Times’ Hysteria 2009
Festival runs until October 31 @ Buddies in Bad Times

By Kerry Freek

First up on Friday night of Buddies’ Hysteria Festival was Staceyann Chin. In pre-show research mode, I had my doubts: poetry slams run deep in her bio. However, this poet (and author and performer and activist) is well-deserving of a second look. About halfway through her show, I learned an important lesson: you can’t always judge a girl by her web presence (nor by her involvement in poetry slams).

First, Chin warmed up the audience with a couple of racially and sexuality-driven (yet good-humoured) jokes, doing her best to make the PC contingent squirm in their seats. Then, easing us into her content, she read a few funny stories from her memoir, The Other Side of Paradise, including frightfully embarrassing, juicy stuff from the pages of cologne-scented letters sent to her by a hormonal boy named Randall in her early teen years, and the story of discovering her “cocoabread” and subsequently ending up inside of an outhouse toilet. Read the rest of this entry »

Review and photos by Helen Fylactou

Mopeds. Half naked men. Greased-up bodies. Eastern European music. All the trappings of a great evening, and all making for a great fashion show. The LOVAS Wesley Badanjak show took the audience on an imaginary stroll through the seaside of Croatia. Named after his father’s hometown, Badanjak’s spring 2010 collection is inspired by the Adriatic coast and folk costumes. A protégé of David Dixon, Badanjak modelled his collection on well-tailored, body-conscious designs. Incorporating themes from his heritage, Badanjak’s colours, embroidery and patterns complemented his cohesive style of design.

The lights came on, and so did the European dance music. Badanjak opened the show with a flirty strapless dress, a mid-thigh, turquoise and orange tartan number with bright red piping—a perfect fit. The garment’s innocence and simplicity was juxtaposed with a hot pink, asymmetrical neckline dress. Although the tailoring was flawless, the silk-jersey dress left very little to the imagination. In contrast to most of the designs, this dress was less about springtime on the seaside of Croatia, and more about picking up at the bar.

This year’s designers tricked the audience by skilfully using design techniques to give texture to the soft fabrics of spring. Badanjak’s country-club outfit had a cap-sleeved white linen top with needle-punched design, giving the illusion of texture and paired with a beige short skirt, while the embroidery at the bottom of the shirt mimicked a crocheted top. Layered and draping material also gave texture, shape, and body to Badanjak’s chiffon turquoise, brown, and white dress. The three-tier layers and scarf collar was effortlessly elegant. Read the rest of this entry »

Review and photos by Helen Fylactou

Toronto’s David Dixon was the it-designer to catch this past Tuesday night, and he didn’t disappoint, delighting his audience with impeccable craftsmanship and deceptively simple designs. With back-to-back runway shows and a showcase display for his Barbie collection, Dixon’s romantic collection was reminiscent of old Hollywood.

Dixon’s 2010 Spring collection was the first to hit the runway. Inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Dixon incorporated a colour scheme and fluidity seen in nature. The collection included a wide array of skirts, jackets and dresses that ranged from business-casual to red-carpet ready. The majority of Dixon’s dresses kept to a form-fitting silhouette with clean lines and aesthetically pleasing textures, including a tailored floor-length sheath dress with spirograph prints and asymmetrical intersecting lines. The dress was strapless with a ruffle top and black tulle layer over a white satin skirt — draped, embroidered material was a running theme, creating a flower-like feel. His most dramatic piece was a silver spaghetti strap dress with a metal fringe that fluttered in the light. During the short break following the first runway show, waiters wearing Ken and Barbie shirts came out to serve the audience beer and wine. Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing in the fine tradition of years past, the MONDOarts department dispatched four writers to cover this year’s Nuit Blanche and their escapades during said event. Enjoy!

By Kerry Freek
Photos by Donna Endacott

Mm, coffee.

Thank god for the coffee wheel at Hart House. While reminiscent of a medieval torture device, its operators graciously provided iced caffeinated treats for weary travellers, though for our little group, it gave a decent kickstart.

We essentially began our night here, just a few steps away from Cry School Yearbook. Thinking ahead, I’d booked an early appointment (more time to wear goth makeup), and it proved to be one of the best things we saw/did all night. What a pleasure to see one of the artist’s former professors beaming in white face makeup, blackened eyes, and a charming bowler hat. “This was great!” he said as he merrily continued his journey. Read the rest of this entry »

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Continuing in the fine tradition of years past, the MONDOarts department dispatched four writers to cover this year’s Nuit Blanche and their escapades during said event. Enjoy!

By Carolyn Tripp

In a city-wide evening of art installations and general mayhem, there’s bound to be differing opinions on the night’s overall success. One can run into terribly beautiful and just plain terrible art in a matter of minutes with an event as heavily saturated as Nuit Blanche.

Bearing this in mind, there were some excellent heavy-hitters this time around. I’m sad to say I didn’t have the time to line up for the carnival rides, the FASTWÜRMS tarot card readings, or even to hit the Liberty Village stretch. The evening’s overall worst crime seemed to be, however, that there was a bounty of formidable and publicly accessible ideas, but a disproportionate amount of effective results. Read the rest of this entry »