By: Jack S

There are many names we use for the countless possessions we have. Things, materials, objects, figures, and my personal favorite stuff. Stuff here, stuff there, people have stuff everywhere. When you ask someone these days what's important to them, the answer I usually get is their stuff. As the late George Carlin once said " That's all you need in life is a little place for your stuff. That's  all your house is: a place for your stuff." As funny as this is, the sad part about it is that people are obsessed with their stuff. Whether it is a new BMW car, a brand new pair of Puma shoes, or the next IPhone to come out, people need stuff. And why do they need stuff? People need stuff because it's much easier to build a relationship and feelings for your stuff than to build one with any other human being,

Gone are the days where people actually go out to spend time talking or playing basketball or exercising. These days all people want to do when they go out is play with their Iphone while sitting in front of each other and their new sport is shopping. I know this because I have seen it happen right in front of me, and I still don't believe it. Friday nights my friends invite me to go for a coffee so we c an talk, and all it ends up being is all of them taking out their Iphone or smart phones and just showing each other what their phone can do. Then I hear the usual comment " you should get one, where in the 21^st century!" We might be in the 21^st century and supposedly are connected more than ever with Facebook, email, and texting but all this has done is driven us apart.

By: Vanessa Bastien

Hugging a warm cup of tea to my lips, I eye the coffee shop's crowd through the swirling Earl Grey's steam. Setting my crossword puzzle to the side, I begin making snarly comments to my friend about the dilapidated crowd. Does she really want be eating that piece of cheesecake AND have whipped cream on that Mochaccino? Before I know it, I'm behaving like a [female dog, 5 letters]. I come to a few, self-indulgent conclusions including: I may be small but I'm definitely a big bitch.

Before I come off as completely monstrous let me appear somewhat redeemable. What if I reversed this truth for a day? What if I did the opposite of what I would normally do? Hey, it worked for George Costanza on Seinfeld. "The opposite" all started with his habitual tuna on toast. "Nothing's ever worked out for me with tuna on toast. I want the complete opposite of tuna on toast. Chicken salad, on rye, untoasted.... and a cup of tea," and so George's cycle began at Monk's Café; not only did doing the opposite land him a job for the Yankees, but it landed him a date (Seinfeld)! Now, I'm not really a fan of baseball but I could use a few balls being thrown my way - nothing like a little harmless entertainment. Sure, I've been sitting on the sidelines and haven't limbered up in quite some time but I feel like there was once a thrill sprinting from base to base. Unlike George's dietary changes, I didn't pass up my egg whites for pop tarts and I certainly didn't pass up my workouts for binging sessions while watching a "Hoarders" marathon on TLC, what I did do, however, is make a list of behaviors I mindlessly exercise every day, narrowed it down, and monitored the behavior with aims to counter it. 

I lingered on my revelation: my instinctual bitchiness, and reflected on that for a moment. Why are such snarly remarks the instinct, my instinct? Why must I abase others? Does it make me feel better about myself, does it simply expose what it is that I am lacking or desiring and can't achieve myself? What is the root of this need to belittle? Maybe all I really want is a piece of cheesecake and a Mochaccino with extra whipped cream... but I believe it goes well beyond the coffee shop.

An interdisciplinary art event
St-Brigide de Kildare Church
June 30 - July 14, 2021
www.iqgallery.ca

There are no limits to the human capacity for excellence
 
IQ is an artist run and funded gallery whose launch corresponds to their first large-scale contemporary art event: Rope+Thread=ism. The event will mark the debut of artist/ designer K. Atiq as he presents an innovative collection of painting, sculpture, fashion, photo, and installation. The show will also feature many inspired collaborators and a full schedule of events; dance, circus, music, film, interactive works and street performance. Located in St-Brigide de Kildaire church, the project, expressed in ideas of rope, thread and "ism", explores connectedness as we participate in a movement. The continuity of all things, the threads of time, the evolution of the human being through history and individual experience brought K. Atiq to question the context of exhibition which, for him and Amy Lilien, both founders of IQ Gallery, needs to be expanded out of the now traditional "white cube" space. Collaboration, bringing people together and providing creators with a space in which creation can find a different and new way of expressing cultural and aesthetic ideas is at the core of Rope+Thread=ism.

Founded by artist and designer K. Atiq and his partner, Amy Lilien, IQ gallery exists to push boundaries, using unconventional spaces and methods to create innovative art events. IQ is a gallery without walls that knows that there are no limits to the human capacity for excellence and believes strongly that a few souls with a clear and committed vision can change the way we perceive the world.