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For anyone in or around Montreal this weekend, be sure to hit-up Concordia’s 5th Annual International Symposium on Hiphop Culture. While hip hop heads will feel at home here, I would particularly urge those of you who are naive about the history and significance of the art form to attend. If you think that hip hop is only about angry gangsters promoting violence, then this is the place for you to be re-educated. With films, performances, discussion panels and lectures given by experts in the field, it promises to be a significant event.
 Canadian Floor Masters. Image/canadianfloormasters.com JoC picks
All of it. Seriously. The lectures and screenings are free! Pack a lunch and make it an all day affair. I tried to pick highlights to list but they were too numerous. But…
If you do anything, make it the keynote speech (Sunday@6).
Entitled “BluePrint for Life: Social Work through Hiphop” the lecture will be given by Stephen Leafloor of the Canadian Floor Masters (Canada’s oldest Bboy crew, and my first introduction to breaking over a decade ago), and will discuss BluePrint for Life, the CFM’s creative consultancy which develops “programs throughout Canada’s north and in Canada’s inner cities specialized in the education, guidance, and development of youth through the positive elements of HipHop.” (Check the news reel below).
Other lectures include: “Youth and ‘Cultural Citizenship’: From Islam to Rap;” “Towards a critical Hiphop Pedagogy: The Challenge of Interpretation;” “The Oral Tradition Trail: from Africa to the Caribbean to Rap,” and “The 6th Element: Hip Hop Cinema.”
Check it out!
Symposium Website
Facebook Event
It’s not new but it is sweet. DJ Mehdi’s track Breakaway featuring NY graffiti virtuoso Futura 2000 in all his spray can glory. Enjoy!
Somewhere between Google Street View and Second Life emerged Wild Style City, an online graffiti application that lets users create virtual pieces and throw ups on the streets of San Fransisco. It’s an interesting idea, as it essentially allows users to participate in this subculture while circumventing the illegality of the art form. However, there are a few caveats which may limit the success of WSC, (at least while it’s still new and shiny).
Apart from the streets loading at a frustratingly slow speed, as similar to Google Street View, the program used to actually create pieces isn’t much more sophisticated than your basic Microsoft Paint accessory—and we all know how easy that is to navigate.
Technological gripes aside, applications like these are emerging rapidly and have the potential to create new communities of artists, and new forums for citizen engagement. Both of which we think are worthy of consideration. Check it out!
Here’s a little piece of cool to keep you going for the weekend…
“Do it Yourself” is a series of free installations, films, and performances to be hosted by the Tate Modern throughout the Bank Holiday weekend. Inspired by the Arte Povera and Post-minimalist movements, it’s sure to be something to do—either by yourself or with a few friends!
JoC faves include:
This interactive installation located in the Turbine Hall is a recreation of the original, and examines the tension between art and audience. Typical of the Minimalist movement, artists such as Carl Andre, Dan Flavin and Morris, created sculptures that would interact both with their installation spaces and their audiences. Today, in a culture that craves interactivity, the recreation of this major work is all the more relevant. And even if you don’t agree, it’ll still be awesome to finally be allowed to touch—well, jump on—some really expensive art. (See above film clip).
A classic. A must-see. One of Fellini’s best works. Free. Need we say more?
 Walking Sculpture (Click for more pics on Pistoletto's site) Pistoletto, one of the major players in the Arte Povera movement originally took his Newspaper Sphere (1966), on a ‘walk’ through the streets of Turin as part of his Open Studio Projects of 1967. The boulder of pressed newspaper was said to represent “the constantly shifting, newsworthy events of life”, and attracted passers-by and other artists to join in on the walk. Saturday, the artist will recreate both the sculpture and the exhibit using modern newspapers, reflecting a current global context. Go for a walk with them!
For a full listing of the events this weekend @ the Tate Modern click here.
When I first met Aya Haidar in 2007, she spoke with a resolute and proud tone when she affirmed, “I am Lebanese.” This unyielding tie with her homeland is what is most visible in her diverse exhibition, Crewel Stories, on show at the 198 Gallery in Herne Hill. The show uses discarded materials such as unwanted clothes, papers, fibres, threads and even the remnants of a bicycle, reworked and given new meanings. Through examination of these mixed media, Aya’s poignant and passionate recollections of Lebanon echo.
 20.07.06. (Aya Haidar) The collection is small, which emphasizes the personal tone of the Slade graduate’s handmade crafts and her art as a whole. Upon entering the main room, it is perhaps best to begin with what the gallery itself considers the exhibition’s centrepiece: the embroidery of a Lebanese friend’s 2006 diary entry onto a pillow in black thread, with Aya’s own thoughts re-embroidered in red, surrounded by the carefully embroidered map of Lebanon and cedars. This allusion to bloodshed shows both Aya’s and her friend’s anger at a situation they felt their country had little control over. Continue reading Stitching Together a Cultural Divide: Aya Haidar's Crewel Stories
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October 30th, 2009 | 
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