Quebec artist’s electronic soundscapes are rooted in our home and native land LISTEN: “200 Years Ago” from Tim Hecker’s An Imaginary Country On September 30, 2006, as part of Toronto’s interactive art celebration Nuit Blanche, Montreal musician Tim Hecker hid 10 speakers in the branches of a tree across from the Mercer Union art gallery. […] More »

Alchemy of Traces There’s a tyrant of a ghost who visited my apartment on Dufferin Street, strangled me with a towel. “I was born before the gold rush, before the flood, before once upon a time. I want to be known in harrowing grief.” In a nightmare, my herm- aphrodite muse whispered, “To lose a […] More »

How global recession, Hurricane Katrina, and social breakdown can strand one lonely woman—and her little dog, too In cinematic terms, the Great Depression is arguably best represented by Mervyn LeRoy’s 1932 classic I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. Wrongfully convicted of robbery, First World War veteran James Allen is sentenced to 10 years […] More »

Québécois artists Pierre Allard and Annie Roy celebrate 10 years of artistic shock and awe Socially Acceptable Acts of Terrorism: that last word seems to just hang in the air. These days, not many organizations would choose to use the “T” word. But when Montreal’s public art duo ATSA (the group’s French acronym) first hit […] More »

Alex Felipe witnesses the toxic effects of Canadian gold mining on three remote Philippine communities Click here for a full-screen slideshow Admitting that I was a Canadian has never been as difficult as when I travelled to the Philippines to photograph two Canadian-owned open-pit mining sites last winter. The fact that I am also Filipino […] More »

Crappy image quality. Tiny screens. Scratchy sound. No thanks The extent of my snobbery has wavered over my years of film-going, but I have always adhered to one fundamental principle. I was trained to believe that seeing movies projected onto a big screen was always the aesthetically correct choice, even if the conditions were less […] More »

On an outdoor patio in Kampala, observers lounge in the near-darkness, watching as an image is projected on a bare white sheet slung between two trees. In Reykjavik, a spellbound audience fills a basement bar and waits for the first slide to illuminate the wall. And in Toronto, a crowded pavilion is abuzz as the […] More »

Digital technology is making it impossible to control the spread of intellectual property. So, how are artists supposed to make a living from their work? Give it away. More »