The Oddstream festival in Nijmegen brought together an eclectic mix of music, art and education under the loose theme of love and conflict. I’m honoured to have been invited to participate in the festival, helping out with the Memefest workshop and the International Media Training. I met many people during a very intensive week, and have made many new friends. So, first off, many thanks to all those that helped to bring me there, specifically Oliver Vodeb, Doeko Pinxt, and Carola Stahl.

Taking off the rose-tinted glasses for a bit (which is not an easy thing to do considering how much fun I had), it was very unfortunate that more people didn’t turn out. Over the course of the weekend, in front of the stages and on the festival grounds, there was a palpable sense of emptiness. In part this can be attributed to the massive scale of the site, or the electronic music festival that was happening at the same time in Arnhem. As a first festival, this is to be expected I suppose, but it also raises some critical questions, as Sandy Kaltenborn brought up during the Inspiration day. What does this area of “cultural transformation” mean to the city, and what is the festival’s relationship to city marketing and gentrification more generally. Who stays and who goes? It will be an interesting question to ask a few years down the line, if the bills get payed.

(more…)

de Vasim, the site for Oddstream

I’ve been in the beautiful city of Nijmegen for four days now, and the Oddstream festival is getting underway. It’s been an exciting and busy time as I’ve been jumping between mentoring an amazing group of international media students and activists while also participating in Memefest‘s Mapping Socially Responsive Communication workshop. The evenings have been spent reaquainting myself (ie. drinking and drinking some more) with some old friends and collaborators (from declarations days!) and meeting many new ones. My head is swimming, and though genuine insight has yet to set in, I wanted to get some words and images out nonetheless.

(more…)

I’d been waiting to see my favourite band in the world, Godspeed You! Black Emperor for well over ten years. I had given up hope when the hiatus that began in 2003 seemed to spell the end of the band until they announced last spring they were reforming. I was ecstatic then, and I am ecstatic now. I finally got the opportunity to see them, not once, but twice this past week and was completely and utterly blown away.

(more…)

Back in November, I was contacted by the brilliant Dutch photographer Aram Tanis with a series of striking photos he wanted to submit for the zine. We were in the process of finishing up Happy Hour at the time and weren’t taking submissions, but I really wanted to work with his images. So, I suggested a little experimental print project, inspired by Claire Fontaine‘s Capitalism Kills Love installation at Art Basel Miami (which was surprisingly taken down before the event).

(more…)

A few days late, but I thought it would be a nice idea to mark the end of what ironically always feels like the longest (and darkest) month here in Montreal with a long and chunky post filled with inspirational images selected from all my various feeds. Hope you enjoy the collection, and if there’s a modicum of interest, maybe I’ll make this into a regular feature.

(more…)

john and jp at expozine. photo by Camille Mcouat

Before it fades too far into memory, check out this photoset of expozine by the talented photographer Camille Mcouat. She really manages to capture the spirit and energy of the event. In browsing through her photos I realise I can’t wait for next year’s edition, even though this year’s only took place a week ago!

Be sure to check out her other work as well, really great stuff!

Montreal artist (and Four Minutes to Midnight contributor) Kevin Ledo is probably better known for his beautiful and seductive portrait paintings, but it turns out he’s a bad ass street artist as well!

More proof after the jump, smiles guaranteed…

(more…)

I recently stumbled across this beautiful flickr set by F-letter and was struck by the perfect, simple harmony of his typography and imagery, a balance I continually strive for, but can never seem to achieve. Everything is just perfect in these images and they’ve raised an interesting side story into the script face that pairs so well with one of my favourite sans, Trade Gothic.

(more…)