Elsewhat

This simple carving by Montréal-based Chloé Desjardins caught my eye by feeling incredibly light despite being made of marble.

When my family and I rent a car and drive through Montréal, we play a game of looking out for works by a graffiti artist named Kong. His pieces are cute, but that’s not really the point. The appeal of his work is that he does his pieces in the craziest of places. Sometimes they’re on bridges, sometimes on the side of buildings. We always wondered how he did his pieces, that is until we found this video.

A new(ish) public artwork by Spanish Artist SpY.

Here is a classic short film from one of my heroes, Scottish/Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren. It’s haunting, beautiful, and was groundbreaking for 1968.

Four years earlier, in 1964, McLaren (with Grant Munro) used essentially the same technique of overlaying film to create something with the complete opposite vibe, which is one of my favourite short sequences of film, the second half of his hodgepodgey film Canon. The relevant bit starts at exactly the 4:30 mark:

The difference in these two clips shows one of my favourite aspects of McLaren’s work: his flexibility. They both use essentially the same technique in different ways to create a very different effect.

I’ve been a big fan of the Transit for years now. I know that they’re truly dedicated to their mission of helping people get around without cars. During the winter months, I use Transit several times a week to figure out how to get around Montréal. However, I don’t tend to use it for over half the year, as when it’s not icy I tend to get around on my bike.

Well, Transit has come out with beautiful bike routing and directions in their app. So now I can use their app in the summer too.

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This isn’t quite new information for a lot of us, but I keep seeing the same tired arguments saying that closing cars to streets kills businesses. As a Montréaler, I’ve seen more and more streets closed while businesses continue to thrive.

As fellow Montréaler Toula Drimonis writes in the Walrus:

…once merchants saw the street fill with milling crowds, they were convinced. The pandemic initiative became an annual event. By 2023, the avenue’s commercial vacancy rate plummeted from 14.5 percent in 2018 to 5.6 percent. A few years earlier, in 2021, the pedestrianization of Wellington Street in the Verdun borough had increased foot traffic and shoppers by 17 percent. A once-drab strip is now lined with restaurants, bars, and cafes.

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Colourful mural by Jordan Bennett.

Street Scultpure off St. Laurent blvd. by Spanish artist Isaac Cordal.

When I saw the title of this book, written by fellow Montréaler Kevin Yuen Kit Lo of LOKI, I know I had to go to the book launch and read it. The description says it well: “Design Against Design argues for the urgent necessity of critical engagement and political resistance through graphic practice.”

The book is a clear reflection of its author—socially conscious, antiestablishment, anticapitalist, and with a punk aesthetic in its visuals and politics. It’s also deeply personal, and begins with a vivid account of childhood abuse, which may turn some people off. You know from the first chapter that it’s not a beach read.

Design Against Design was great, evoking some other great socially-conscious design writers like Victor Papanek and Mike Monteiro. It’s not meant to go down easy.

Order the Book Here →