Supercrawl is an explosion of creativity, bringing the arts to life for three days every September. With thousands of visitors amongst live music, food vendors calling out orders, and animated art installations, the commotion can be overwhelming. The Author’s Tent provided a haven away from the hustle and bustle of the crowd. The setup was simple; ten chairs, a microphone and a table piled high with books beneath an open tent. The lights inside made it feel intimate and inviting while still giving passersby the opportunity to stay and listen to stories. Here are a few summaries of events that were offered at the tent:
Terrifying reads
The first reading was on the evening of Friday the 13. The moon was almost full and the sky threatened rain. A cool breeze drifted through the tent, enough to make someone’s hair stand on end. It was soon to be a dark and stormy night. This reading featured works — both published and unpublished — from authors Nathan Ripley, C.S. O’Cinneide and David Nickle. Topics ranged from mass shootings and haunted pilgrimages to gin-craving ghosts. Gasps and laughter drifted onto the street and drew a crowd of listeners. Nightmares were promised and delivered.
Writing the city
Saturday afternoon brought about a discussion of writing in Hamilton. The panel included Ryan McGreal, editor of Raise the Hammer, and Taien Ng-Chan, a founding member of the Hamilton Perambulatory Unit as well as a professor at York University. The panel was moderated by Noelle Allen, a publisher at Wolsak and Wynn (280 James Street N.). The panel spoke to the idea of rediscovering Hamilton — seeing something familiar as if it were for the first time. The panel encouraged listeners to take time to notice the city while walking through it. For instance, they suggested that visitors try walking through Jackson Square along where streets used to be.
Women on the poetry mic
Saturday evening featured poets Natalee Caple, Jaclyn Desforges and Julie McIsaac. Both song and spoken word filtered out into the square. A large crowd gathered around the tent and snapping fingers rang out into the night. The poems touched on motherhood and womanhood, amongst other things. Desforges featured a poem from her book, ‘Hello Nice Man’, provoking thought across the audience. ‘Enlightened Witness’, one of Desforges poems, asks the question: “If a man shouts in the forest and there’s no one to hear, who will help him process his emotions?” Poems such as ‘Enlightened Witness’ allowed for a night of tears, a few of which were from laughter.
Epic Books (226 Locke Street S.) had a table set up with books from every writer at the event. If you missed out on the Author’s Tent event, you can pick one up there.
Overall, the Authors’ Tent was both welcoming and a welcome respite from the noise of Supercrawl. The focus on local writers and local stories made it feel like coming home. It is my personal hope that this event returns next year and every year after that, so it can continue to share insight with Hamiltonians.
Art comes in many different forms, but for Nicholas Tsangarides, neither paintings nor sculptures captured his essence. His work is contained in small vials that burst with vibrant pinks, blues and yellows. A closer look at his art reveals the macabre reality behind the glass.
Specimens float suspended in fluid; their brightly dyed skeletons visible under layers of transparent flesh. The animals’ bones and cartilage are displayed in stunning detail, offering a unique glimpse into their inner structures.
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For decades, natural history museums have been using the process of diaphonization to display animals. Equal parts art and science, the process involves chemically treating specimens to make their flesh transparent and staining the bone, muscle and cartilage.
Tsangarides recalls being utterly captivated the first time he encountered diaphonized specimens during a trip to the Royal Ontario Museum as a kid. While studying radiation therapy at the University of Toronto, he came across the protocols for diaphonization and he developed his practice under the title Nighttime Nicholas.
"It made me really want to create that experience for other people and to try to elicit that feeling in others as well,” he said.
First, Tsangarides gets specimens from zoos, museums or pet owners. He only works with recently deceased animals, and he does not kill animals or remove them from their natural habitats.
He then must meticulously remove all the skin, fat and organs, while leaving the brain intact inside the skull.
The animals are then preserved in formaldehyde, after which they are soaked in a dye that gradually stains their bones, muscles and cartilage. Next, the animals are bathed in a digestive enzyme that renders their flesh transparent.
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All the tissues and muscles remain clear so that we can observe the skeleton entirely. It keeps everything together, kind of like a gummy bear with a tie dye skeleton,” said Tsangarides.
Although seasoned in his craft, Tsangarides still finds that imperfections can happen. Variables such as temperature, pressure and light can impact the finished product.
“I've tried to make a point of controlling as many of those variables as possible to have an expectation that I can produce the kind of piece that I have in mind,” said Tsangarides.
A deep respect for animals informs Tsangarides’ work. By dedicating time and care towards his pieces, Tsangarides transforms his specimens and gives them new life. He takes months to prepare, monitor and dye each animal.
“To me it's giving energy to this thing that would just go into the ground and become something else,” he said.
Furthermore, Tsangarides wants his pieces to serve as educational tools, offering an engaging glimpse at biology and reminding people of their fundamental similarities to other life forms.
Interacting with the pieces also serves as a reminder of our own mortality.
“The old philosophers used to do this, they would have a skull on their desk and it would remind them every day that our time is limited and it's important to live fully,” remarked Tsangarides.
At the same time, he wants to create a community for people who are fascinated by the macabre, and who have been isolated and made to feel different for their interests. By bringing his work to the public, he hopes to educate, inspire and welcome people into his community.
Although Tsangarides has never been to Supercrawl, he is excited to be featured at the Night Market at Absinthe during the festival weekend.
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“I wanted to be a part of [Supercrawl] in some way because it is one of the largest street festivals in the country … Being away from the main Supercrawl strip I thought would be better for me because the setting of the night market is kind of punky and more of my clientele,” said Tsangarides.
Supercrawl is a chance for artists to gain more public exposure within the city and for Tsangarides, this event will give him the chance to share his love of art and science with the public and to serve as a reminder to live life to its fullest.
Nighttime Nicholas and his diaphonized works will be displayed at the Night Market at Absinthe on Friday Sept. 13 and Saturday Sept. 14 from 6 p.m. - 2 a.m. at Absinthe.
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In our latest issue, we caught up with some musicians, artists, designers, and chefs showing off their craft on the streets!
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On stage, Alanna Stuart’s voice soars like a skyscraper while Ian Swain orchestrates an arrangement as bustling and controlled as a city street. The two halves of the Toronto duo gave an energized Supercrawl performance on Friday night with their mix of dancehall and emotive soul.
The two met at a party in Ottawa when Stuart interrupted Swain as he was spinning music as disc jockey. The hours they have spent since that night making music and touring together have forged a partnership of deep understanding and trust in one another.
“We're two very different people so, creatively, that's good but it's hard. We have such different mindsets and ways of approaching music and the world and our understanding of the world…I think it makes the music a lot better, but it also makes it a lot harder to work together,” Swain explained.
The beauty and collision of their differences is explored in a broader sense in their latest album, Lush Life, which was released in May 2018 They began writing the album years ago in Berlin but have always known that they wanted to speak about the way we live in cities today.
Lush Life draws inspiration from the Richard Price book by the same name, which they feel aptly captures the reality of having many diverse people living side by side. Throughout the album they examine both the good and the bad sides of metropolitan life.
“I think the good thing is that there's so many different people… forced, just out of proximity, to interact and engage with each other… But the bad part of that is that we haven't quite figured out how to do it right, just yet… This is a new thing for us humans,” Stuart explained.
This challenge is exemplified in the indie landscape itself. Stuart is proud to be part of the independent scene for she believes it is where innovation in music takes place. However, she would like to see more diverse audiences, alternative nominees at the Juno’s and rosters across Canada.
While dealing with the intersection of their differences is challenging, it has also given birth to beautiful projects. They have been inspired by cities, such as Hamilton, where dissimilarity has united to create new and unique sounds.
The pair mixed their record in the Steel City and spent a summer here exploring Hamilton’s electronic music scene. Stuart looks up to artists such as Junior Boys, Jessy Lanza and others who were inspired by the abandoned steel mills and mixed industrial sounds with others like Detroit techno.
“All these people have existed outside the mainstream industry and as a result seem free of certain industry expectations. [They] created their own unique [and] soulful electronic music sound… I feel like that ethos of just staying true, as simple and cliché as it sounds, just staying true to music and trusting that you will find your people out there, [that’s] what Hamilton has taught me,” explained Stuart.
By staying true to themselves Bonjay has created a sound that amalgamates their different experiences and outlooks. Elements of dancehall in their music is reminiscent of Stuart’s father’s native Jamaica, as is pieces from indie-pop singer-songwriter, Feist, whom they covered during their Supercrawl performance.
Bonjay’s sound is indescribable, but the duo knows how they want you to feel. During Bonjay’s Supercrawl performance, Stuart repetitively asked the crowd to yell out their name. The name is Grenadian slang for ‘good God’ is something her mother’s family exclaims whenever something amazing or unexpected happens.
The melodic blend of both the creators and the different influences is perhaps a microcosm of what cities will be like when we finally get it right. By merging their varied influences, they have created a sound that is difficult to pinpoint but as harmonious and surprising as the cities they are inspired by.
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Since February of this year, local media artist, Vanessa Crosbie Ramsay, has devoted hours to hand-knitting and wrapping into a ball 9000 feet of Internet cable. This knitting and wrapping culminated when the 40 feet long by 12 feet wide structure was positioned outside last Thursday for Supercrawl, along with two giant, pink knitting needles.
The piece, entitled male-dominated, speaks to the underrepresentation of women in science,technology, engineering and math fields. The idea was sparked by friends of hers who had started a technology business and employed no women or people of colour. Aware that this problem is systemic, she wanted to create a piece that commented on it in an unexpected way.
“These types of companies hire less women and… when they have women that are hired, they're [in] pretty misogynist spaces a lot of the time. [M]y work in general grows out of feminist issues and this… is just a small way to contribute to bringing attention to an issue like that,” she explained.
In creating the piece, Ramsay considered what is historically ‘women’s work’. The cables wrapped together into a semblance of a yarn ball calls to mind a past where the majority of women did work as homemakers.
However, contrasted with the technological tint of the cables, she brings onlookers back to the present, reminding them that in 2018, a lot of women are getting degrees and holding jobs outside of the home. While women might still knit, as Ramsay did to create the piece, it isn’t necessarily all that women do.
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Ramsay herself is a good example of this. She attended York University, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a minor in English. She juggles multiple roles as an arts educator, a media artist, a visual artist, a filmmaker and more.
She works in a space where women historically have been shut out from. Earlier this year, when Ramsay won a City of Hamilton Media Arts Award, she felt it was important to use her speech to talk about the disappointing representation of women in art.
“[W]e need to give more opportunities for women. I know the art gallery is working on it. Hopefully the trickledown is that all…organizations are working on it, having more women, having more diverse representation of all different types of people, rather than just white dudes. There's some amazing women artists, even just in the city and we need to do more to celebrate that.”
Ramsay’s focus on intersectional feminism has defined the trajectory of her career. Following her graduation from York, she worked in television editing, but wasn’t happy with the portrayal of women in shows. Since 2010, she has been working in visual art, allowing her to express herself and her views. She currently has a feminist art collective named the DAV(e) Collective with two other professional artists.
“I would like to see more friendly, inclusive, welcoming environments for women so [that] when they get jobs...they [would] want to stay in them. And the same in art. We just need more representation in all of these fields and safer [and] more inclusive spaces for women in general,” she explained.
There’s a definite need for more welcoming spaces in the art world where thoughtful artists like Ramsay can exist in. Unfortunately, her experiences as a woman in the art world run parallel to the experiences of women working in several different fields, including STEM.
Some days Ramsay is optimistic and some days she is not. She is encouraged by the progress that is being made towards creating better environments for women, but sees how slow this progress can be. There’s no doubt that her expansive piece and all the work that she has done is helping carve out the space she strives for.
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We talked with a few of the participants to get their perspectives on one of the largest free festivals in Ontario.
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Friday | 11:00 PM | City of Music/Exclaim! Stage (James St. N. & West Harbour GO)
From Lollapalooza to Osheaga, PUP will now be hitting the Exclaim! Stage with a thrilling performance. The punk rock band has been performing shows across Canada, the States and the UK. Two years and 450 shows after the release of their self-titled debut, PUP is back with their latest album The Dream Is Over. Ironically, the band’s dream is very much not dead, and their music will be sure to make you feel alive.
Saturday | 11:45 PM | Mills Hardware (95 King East)
Tucked away in an improvised studio, Hamilton’s Aron D’Alesio spent many nights piecing together his recently released self-titled debut LP. D’Alesio has been a musician since his teenage years and has gone on tour with the band Young Rival before deciding to pursue his creative work independently. The indie-pop LP is the product of creative freedom, experimentation and influences from The Beach Boys and 50s surf-rock.
Saturday | 4 PM | Hamilton International Airport Stage (James St. N. & King St.)
Bulat is a Juno nominated folk and pop singer-songwriter with an energetic presence on stage. Her electrifying voice is often accompanied by her unique instruments, including the ukulele and autoharp, that leave her audiences’ hearts fluttering. Her latest pop album, Good Advice, was written during long drives to Kentucky exploring her own heartbreak.
Friday | 6:30 PM | Hamilton International Airport Stage (James St. N. & King St.)
Whether you are feeling some R&B or in a mood to dance and head bop with thousands of fans, Harrison’s performance is an opportunity to lose yourself in electronic music. The 22-year-old Toronto producer is getting ready to release his second full-length album which showcases his songwriting talents and diverse array of musical genres.
Extended Supercrawl Hours | Factory Media Centre (228 James St. N.)
Created by artists Lesley Loksi Chan, Tony Vieira and Arthur Yeung, I’ve Loved You From Afar is a multimedia art installation that utilizes virtual reality to explore human interaction through distance and desire.
Friday | 12:30 PM | Toyota Art Zone (James St. N. & Cannon St.)
The Take Company, created by Mooncalf Theater founder, Rose Hopkins, will be having hourly performances of a piece called The Distance Between Us and the Sun. Two audience members will be immersed in the intimate show as they follow the actors along James Street.
Saturday | 7 to 10 PM | Art Gallery of Hamilton (23 King St. W.)
AGH will be screening Canada’s top ten award winning shorts, including the 2015 drama, Overpass, which was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for the Best Live Action Short Drama.
All Weekend | James St. N. & Rebecca St.
Possibly the best savoury and sweet combination to ever be experienced by meat loving taste buds is chicken and waffles. #HamOnt’s The Dirty South delivers just that with their food truck classic, Dirty Southern Love, which is a triple decker of buttermilk waffles stuffed with Louisiana butter chicken, arugula, and maple syrup covered bacon.
All Weekend | James St. N. & Rebecca St.
Nothing like fresh, flavourful and Latin inspired tacos made from scratch. Not only does 50 Pesos value real food, but their diverse options cater to any appetite. Want to skip the meat and go for the seafood? Try the fish mango chipotle tacos. Vegetarian? Black bean tacos with guacamole or the poutine is for you. Vegan? Order the macho nachos made with delicious organic corn dip, fresh salsa and bean dip. Gluten-free? Many of the menu items will be!
All Weekend | James St. N. & Vine St.
You can try to resist the fluffy mini donuts as they move out of boiling oil onto a mini conveyor belt, but as soon as they are tossed into a bag, sprinkled with Tiny Tom flavours, your mouth will be watering. Chocolate, icing sugar, and cinnamon are just a few flavours to try this weekend.
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Since its inception in 2009, Supercrawl has gone from an ambitious festival for which the sky was the limit to an increasingly corporate event that features cookie-cutter versions of indie-rock bands and little else.
Every September, those that aren’t already engaging in the nauseating practice of blindly lauding their city (#hamont, if you were unaware) for the growth of its burgeoning art scene or the arrival of yet another coffee shop with a cute origin story, flock to James Street in their Sunday best (Blundstone’s and MEC) to take in mediocre bands like The Arkells (who were introduced as Hamilton’s version of The Beatles last year—yawn, I’d take Migos over both of them) or washed-up has-been’s from the early aughts indie-rock heyday like Kevin Drew, touring their latest solo record purely meant to pay the bills.
Those that had money at this past incarnation will have found somewhere to spend it amongst the fleet of food trucks and other vendors, while those that didn’t, namely Hamilton’s homeless population, were nowhere to be found within the blockaded streets to ensure that the wealthy patrons making their lone annual visit to the downtown core wouldn’t be bothered by the sight of real problems like systemic poverty.
The insertion of Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones into the lineups over the past two years might incline me to give Supercrawl a break if their presence at the festival didn’t reek of the faux-progressiveness of having a “token blackie” (as per Kanye West’s “Spaceship”). That the two most prominent musicians of colour to have visited Supercrawl in recent time both played soul/funk music (brilliantly, I might add) is depressing as it suggests that there is no room for other genres like rap or R&B that Hamilton’s wealthy elite might not find as palatable. It’s a shame that such is the case when there’s talent like Hamilton’s own Emay or Toronto’s Daniel Caesar, among many others, waiting around to be booked.
Something about recent lineups that featured revered but vanilla artists like Spoon and Yo La Tengo suggests that the Supercrawl booking staff have decided on the lineup by flipping through old copies of the now-defunct SPIN magazine (although the inclusion of Monster Truck this year indicates they read The Hamilton Spectator—a worse thought). That has to be the case, or otherwise I’m just not in the required tax bracket one has to be in to enjoy a set where Daniel Lanois continues to ride Brian Eno’s coattails well into 2015.
Turning away from the mediocrity of the festival product, even the attention that Supercrawl brings the city is one-dimensional. In the past couple of years it seems like every entrepreneur that read about Toronto professionals migrating to Hamilton invested in the area with profit being their end goal. One only has to look at one of Hamilton’s most Instagrammable buildings for signs of this, with a portion of the Lister Block’s ground floor having recently become home to Wendel Clark’s Classic Bar and Grill. The former Toronto Leaf is one of many retired athletes to invest in an obnoxious eponymous sports bar and is certainly guilty of beating a white knight drum.
In a recent interview with The Hamilton Spectator, Clark said, “We want to be a part of the downtown and trying to help bring life back to the city and help get people downtown. You want to keep life going and people down there. It enhances the city, and hopefully we can help be a big part of that.”
While dissecting a shoddily-worded sound bite from a former hockey player might be considered poor form, the sheer generality of Clark’s intentions and the unvaried demographic of old white people that I’ll call Tommy Bahama-wave baby-boomers I’ve seen there whenever I’ve walked by is worrying. To think that thirty dollar steaks are going to in any way enhance the city is more than a little arrogant, and detracts from the more important work to be done throughout the Hamilton community. If you’re in need of a watering hole, just go to The Brain.
With the imminent arrival of the new Liuna GO station just down the street and the unfortunate promise of more disappointing Supercrawls to come, James Street is in danger of emulating Westdale in its snobby catering to the “well-meaning” upper classes.
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I spent my most recent Friday night in a motionless crowd, watching the sun set over a single stage. Last week, Pier 4 Park hosted a few big names for a small festival with Supercrawl’s name slapped on it. From 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., artists such as Jessy Lanza, Jamie XX, and Caribou played in Hamilton’s backyard.
Being so far north, I arrived later than I intended. By the time I got there, Lanza was finishing up her set – a set I missed, without feeling any dejection. Due to the strict schedule of the show, there wasn’t the usual anxiety about whether or not the last band would play before the last bus runs home. The choice of venue lent itself to an early closing,being a public, but also consequently, an early start on the various after-parties downtown.
After Lanza was Jamie XX, who spun a number of his older songs, crisscrossing them with various disco-esque records that made dancing a little too easy. Let me clarify that when I said that the crowd was motionless, I was excluding the few-and-far-between pockets of well-intentioned, arm-lifting, hip-swinging head-bobbers. The crowd was fairly spread apart, and only began the casual ebb and flow towards the stage when familiar songs dropped. Remixed versions of songs from Jamie XX’s most recent album, which dropped in May, made their way onto his set list, sending updated fans into the motion of the flow.
Following Jamie XX was Caribou. By the time they got onto the stage, it was dark outside, which lent itself to an enhanced light show and silhouettes. They made their way through old and new tracks, saving “Odessa” for last. Dan Snaith, Caribou front man, gave a solid kudos to his performance partners and stage-sharers, Supercrawl team, and audience, which inspired crowd members to cheer and mumble around me about the sincerity of Dan. Despite the venue not being necessarily intimate, with that cause and effect, I found myself appreciating a connection between performers and their audience that made that space a little warmer.
After Caribou’s encore, the park cleared out extremely quickly to make their way to the aforementioned after-parties. I went home to write this article.
