Xtna d’Luna DENVER — AiR TOUR — Issue 10 Jewelry by Xtna d’Luna Xtna d’Luna sM | What is one social issue that your art speaks to the most? Xd ── My jewelry is heavily inspired by Latin culture and my search for roots. I grew up in the military and traveled extensively, which resulted in a disconnect from my Latin roots. Latin culture was only something I experienced sometimes when we visited family in East Los Angeles, and I think a lot about how different my life would look had I grown up in East LA or Mexico. My art is about recreating my identity, forging for myself, and finding all of the other "yo no sabo" kids a new identity. We are truly the epitome of the American ideal of the “melting pot.” Continue the AiR tour in print: ISSUE 9 | ISSUE 10 Sign Up to K eep Up! Our newsletter brings you the best in the visual and performing arts. Exclusive interviews. Global coverage. Local perspectves. sM | How do you select names for your pieces and how does that process contribute to your overall artistry? Xd ── Is it too cliché to say that the pieces name themselves? Sometimes when I name a piece it is because I have a story in my mind that was telling me about this piece. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic, I spent a lot of time in my studio. I found solace in the routine of the creative process, but I also felt guilty for having the privilege of time in my studio when so many people were dying and losing their jobs. I kept thinking about Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “Mask of the Red Death” and I created a pair of red sugar skull earrings that I ultimately titled the same. Other pieces are usually more benign, and the titles come from music, pop culture, Latina culture, literature, food, you name it. sM | Having been an arts educator for the past 20 years, what has the process of teaching taught you about your craft? Xd ── Art is subjective. Keeping that in mind, I have learned over the years not to create pieces that are not true to my vision. When I first began to accept commissions for custom work, I would agonize over what the commissioner wanted. I have learned to trust my creativity, which is the most important thing that I try to convey to my students. That, and how every piece is an “A” if the parameters of the assignment have been met regardless of artistic capability. Not everyone is an artist, but everyone has artistic abilities. Also, never be afraid to try new techniques, which is why I am returning to school as a student to learn new skills in the jewelry design process. PREVIOUS NEXT

Climate Activists vs. A Gallery Near You “If you do something that can get ignored, it gets ignored” WORDS BY BRANDON HICKS | UK | VISUAL ARTS SPACES FEB 26, 2023 | ISSUE 11 Courtesy of JSO ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE ​ ​ Continue reading in Issue 11 As the global climate crisis worsens, activist groups across Europe have become increasingly aggressive in their demonstration tactics. Their methods have been condemned as “completely unacceptable” by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and at least one MP has called for certain environmental organisations to be labelled as “terrorist groups.” In a remark highlighting the ideological schism between these environmentalists and the state, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman labelled protestors “the tofu-eating wokerati.” Just Stop Oil, the most well known of these collectives, first rose to prominence in March of 2022 with protests disrupting sporting events, vandalising businesses, and blocking oil supply routes. Their demands? That the UK government cease all fossil fuel licensing and production agreements. The demonstrations indeed provoked the government into taking action, albeit not in the... ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

The TSO hosts Saariaho, Crow, and Shostakovich A satisfying, if unsurprising, tour of two giants of the symphonic genre. WORDS BY ARLAN VRIENS | Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto JAN 29, 2023 | COMMUNITY ​ ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE Tarmo Peltokoski and the TSO Jonathan Crow and the TSO An unfamiliar face guided the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) through some rather more familiar works on Sunday afternoon at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall. Under the idiosyncratic baton of young Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski – here making his North American debut – the orchestra made a convincing case for the first piece on the program, Kaija Saariaho’s Ciel d’hiver (2010). Aficionados of Saariaho’s music would recognize her characteristic language of complex, rippling sonic textures, launched in this case by crystalline figures from piccolo and harp. The titular winter sky was well rendered by the orchestra, encouraged by the understated conducting of Peltokoski, who often stood statue-like with only his right hand in motion. Despite its bleak colours and occasionally glacial pace, the work was well-received, holding the audience in a long and suspenseful silence after its final notes died away. TSO concertmaster Jonathan Crow gave a commanding performance of Johannes Brahms’s Violin Concerto Op. 77 in the grand tradition of the 20th-century masters like Oistrakh and Milstein. Despite the lingering 19th century quip that this concerto was written “not for the violin, but against the violin,” there were few signs of Crow encountering any trouble, and his comfort with his home orchestra led to an exceptionally nuanced blend between the solo and orchestral parts. Peltokoski’s approach to the introduction of the first movement felt almost ponderous for its heavy legato and relaxed tempo, but both soloist and orchestra settled into a more usual pace as the movement progressed. Crow brought plenty of fire to the development section’s dramatic shifts across the violin’s register, and a silvery, vulnerable sound in the movement’s more sensitive themes. The second movement took a forward direction, resisting the temptation to wallow too gratuitously in the Adagio ’s many charms; the oboe solo in the beginning was especially well played, setting a lyrical and sensitive tone that carried throughout. The third movement – a boisterous and occasionally dangerous celebration – entered with swagger and humour, spurring the heretofore sedate Peltokoski into a variety of dances and hops. Crow made good use of the bow’s more percussive articulation options, and the orchestra found charming moments to marry Viennese rubato with the movement’s Hungarian flair. More than one audience member was overheard applying the term “distracting” to Peltokoski’s volatile and occasionally unusual gestures, though a dash of eccentricity wasn’t completely unwelcome in such a familiar work. Jonathan Crow and the TSO The second half of the program featured Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 Op. 47, another warhorse of its genre. Amid already muddled historical questions of whether Shostakovich wrote this as Soviet propaganda or as concealed subversion, performances of his music today find new and contradictory resonances within the current geopolitical climate. Whatever point of view listeners brought to the concert hall, they are unlikely to have left unmoved. All of Shostakovich’s cinematic bombast, sarcasm, and pathos were as impactful as ever, thanks to standout performances by every section of the orchestra; notable moments included the meaty sound of the double basses and celli at the beginning of the second movement, which contrasted with piquant playing from the woodwinds. The highlight of the entire evening was the elegiac third movement, a bleak Largo with outbursts of anguish and passion. The orchestra found an admirably wide dynamic range, with string tremolos so minute and quiet that sound seemed to be emerging mysteriously from a still photograph. Though often interrupted by an audience which seemed to be universally battling a serious cough, the stillness of the third movement was blasted away for good by trombones, kicking off a rowdy and chaotic fourth movement. The orchestra careened to the end with appropriate abandon, culminating in the sinister and faintly absurd repeated string notes that conclude the symphony. ​ Warhorse pieces are warhorses for a reason: they can be counted upon to impress newcomers and to serve as reliable comfort food for regular concertgoers. Even if it can’t be lauded for its originality of programming or execution, this was a satisfying performance and a welcome respite from Toronto’s own bleak ciel d’hiver . ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

Street Wise Arts When Art Goes Up, Walls Come Down WORDS BY EBONI J.D. FREEMAN | BOULDER | VISUAL ARTS SPACES NOV 11, 2022 | ISSUE 10 Street Wise Arts ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE Street Wise Arts Street Wise Arts It’s time to look up. Burying our heads in the midst of social strife has never been a winning solution, but how do we make an impact from our tiny corners of the universe? Leah Brenner Clack, Executive Director of the Street Wise Arts non-profit, declares “ARTivism” as the way forward. Through her annual artistic activism mural festival, Clack is creating, refining, and scaling a model for neighbourhoods to put art up, tear walls down, and build equitable towns. sM | Why are murals an appropriate medium for showcasing cultural diversity, social activism, and community values? LBC ── Murals are super accessible and also disruptive to the normal urban environment. They create impact and engage people just with their presence. When we create murals that include important themes like diversity and social justice, it provides an easier entryway into thinking about social change and the way that we can get there. The murals also provide a visual representation of diversity that’s not often at the forefront in Boulder. Since launching, we have prioritized equitable representation for womxn, people of colour, indigenous, and LGBTQ+ artists to address that inequity and be a model for other festivals and organizations. We’re providing creative opportunities that can launch artists into new terrain that can shift the trajectory of their career. sM | How do you approach the challenge of creating civic dialogue opportunities in this time of political bifurcation? LBC ── The great thing about ARTivism is that it’s often a gentler way of approaching difficult topics. There are layers of understanding that reveal themselves when experiencing, creating and feeling. Part of Street Wise’s programs is putting together panel discussions that bring together artists and activists to help guide conversations. We hope to remove preconceived notions and predetermined reactions on social issues, by creating connections first through creativity and conversation. By working with fellow non-profits, we are able to pool resources and come together on common community goals to execute more impactful projects. Collaboration, connection, and understanding our community is the key to success which starts with relationship building and understanding the needs, desires and fears that may exist. ​ sM | What does the rest of 2022 have in store for Street Wise Arts? LBC ── Our annual Street Wise ARTivism Mural Festival will be another engaging and exciting cultural event built around the installation of a series of new murals, new artists, new workshops, and community events. We are building more engagement opportunities through the digital realm by integrating augmented reality layers to new and existing murals for the festival, offering digital skill building workshops that support artists careers and including digital immersive installations into the festival programs. We can’t wait! ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

Le Diamant A dynamic beacon revived from the past, repurposed for the present, and designed for the future WORDS BY ISABELLA ELIAS | QUÉBEC CITY | PERFORMING ARTS FEB 28, 2023 | ISSUE 11 Photography By Stephane Groleau - Courtesy Of Ex Machina ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE ​ ​ Continue reading in Issue 11 Nested in the crux of the Upper and Lower Towns of Old Québec, Québec City, echoes of the past and visions of the future gleam along the faceted glass atrium of Le Diamant performing arts centre. Standing at the cultural intersection of the city, the architecture of the performance centre is a medley of historical and modern aesthetics. For Robert Lepage — actor, writer, designer, stage director, and Artistic Director of the multimedia company Ex Machina — the concept of Le Diamant is a tool that allows for the revitalization and maximal dissemination of Ex Machina’s creative output on the world stage. Originally operating out of La Caserne, an old fire hall, the 25-year-old company began conceiving of Le Diamant (“The Diamond”) as the technical and spatial demands of their productions began pushing the limits of their relatively sizable outpost. The result of this conceptual exploration is an audacious multifunctional powerhouse of the arts, dazzlingly engraved on the epicentre of Canada’s Francophone history. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

Weyes Blood’s Holy Flux Tour Natalie Mering glows in Toronto with "And in the Darkness" WORDS BY MILES FORRESTER | Danforth Music Hall MAR 09, 2023 | COMMUNITY Danforth Music Hall - Photo by Miles Forrester ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE Weyes Blood by Neil Krug Weyes Blood by Neil Krug From the baroque balcony overhanging The Danforth Music Hall's cement orchestra, the stage was emanating a midnight-blue membrane—think a gothic emu egg—with fuchsia highlights speckling the drum set and many candelabras. If that palette sounds familiar, double-check the packaging of the latest album by Weyes Blood (Natalie Mering), And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow ( AitD,HA ) . This stage is where the cover's heroine lives during the Holy Flux tour, a high-romantic dreamscape ascending the east coast to settle in Toronto for two evenings last week. Holy Flux opener and whistling virtuoso, Molly Lewis (whose EP, Mirage , came out last year), undulated her arms with exotica-inflected lounge jazz piped in behind her. The tone Lewis gets and sustains seems more like a theremin or singing saw than human breath. Because whistling is hard to detect visually its effect is uncanny. Was this like the "Club Silencio" scene from David Lynch's Mulholland Drive ? Spooky action at a distance? The eerie scenery and out-of-time orchestrations fit the bill: cooing vocals, canned drum patterns from electric organs, and a hauntological sax solo on "Oceanic Feeling"—from 2021's The Forgotten Edge. Altogether, the set had a playfully sinister nostalgia, including original pieces, classical repertoire (Saint Saens "La Cygne" and a bossa nova arrangement of Chopin's "Prelude in E Minor"), and bits of esoteric trivia about the "whistling world" (which, she admitted, could all be lies). With the band silhouetted behind her in apocalyptic orange, Weyes Blood started the set with "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody" AitD,HA 's reassuring ballad of alienation. In her flowy all phantom-white ensemble, she threw out the video's twirls and kicks, swishing her cape around her patent-leather Beatle boots. Mering has a calm alto which guides the "we" in her songs through desolation, but the wry arrangements (ethereal synths on "A Given Thing" and jaunty pianos on "Everyday") can recast her scenaria as sad, camp, and anthemic. It's good theatre. When Mering asked if anyone likes Adam Curtis, I could hear an adoring voice intoning this from two rows behind me, "Of course, she loves him." The same voice also insisted Mering had to be a capricorn. Curtis is a filmmaker who uses his access to the BBC's archives to create mesmerizing documentaries on the emotional decline of our contemporary empires. His bespoke visuals for "God Turn Me Into a Flower" was a montage of Mering twirling, majorettes marching, exorcisms, shotgun cops, and Bowie. Without explicitly illustrating the song, it complimented the themes of fragmentation and Mering's best performance that night. ​ The test when touring a concept album (this being the second in a trilogy exploring our common catastrophe, starting with Titanic Rising in 2019) is to prove that its imagery and sonic world can exist in the wild. "We are all children of the empire," she joked to the Canadians after singing the song of the same name. After determining that Lake Ontario is the most haunted part of Toronto, she demurred that Lake Superior is probably more haunted. Perhaps that's her thesis. Things are bad. The beauty's that it could be worse. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

Kasey Kania CLEVELAND — AiR TOUR — Issue 8 “Sun on a Seabed” by Kasey Kania Kasey Kania sM | One social issue that your art speaks to the most? KK ── A connection to the land. Seeing and feeling the world we inhabit is crucial to understanding ourselves and each other. My own identity is informed by the dense, luscious forests of Northeast Ohio and its surrounding countryside. In creating scenes of this particular landscape, I have discovered connections between myself and others. Images of the land tend to resonate with the people living there; examples of this occur everyday at the exhibit. I often hear, “Where is this?” or, “I know this place!” from onlookers. From there it is only a matter of time before Continue the AiR tour in print: ISSUE 9 | ISSUE 10 Sign Up to K eep Up! Our newsletter brings you the best in the visual and performing arts. Exclusive interviews. Global coverage. Local perspectves. they’re sharing stories from their past or telling me about a new location to explore. The land is hardwired into our cultural heritage and can serve as a point of connection between complete strangers. sM | What inspiration do you get from artists around you? KK ── The work of other artists is essential to cultivating new ideas. I am constantly looking at other peoples’ art, whether in person or on Instagram, and it undoubtedly drags my own work in unexpected directions. Artists do not create in a vacuum! Everyone steals from everyone else, from simple colors to overarching ideas. I’m always searching for new ways to approach a painting; I source a lot of my techniques and processes from other artists. It’s almost impossible for me to not paint more like van Gogh while being constantly confronted by larger than life imagery of his paintings! sM | What is your takeaway from the experience of working in-studio at Immersive Van Gogh Cleveland? KK ── This has been an eye-opening experience. The sheer number of eyes that have been laid on my work is astounding. Just having the ability to sit and talk with strangers about art and their experiences with it is soul-cleansing. I have had the opportunity to not only share my knowledge with others but to learn from them as well. So many people, especially other artists, are more than willing to offer advice and support. It has changed me for the better and shown me just how open and engaging people can be. PREVIOUS NEXT

Maya Hughes Pottery as a Mix of Clay, Monotony, and Spontaneity. WORDS BY EBONI J.D. FREEMAN | MATERIALS MATERIALS NOV 28, 2022 | ISSUE 8 Artwork by Maya Hughes ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE Artwork by Maya Hughes Maya Hughes in her studio For artist and potter Maya Hughes, pottery as a medium of art is a balancing act between chaos and order. The process can be repetitive, but each creation always reveals its individuality and specialty. Hughes grounds her emotions into the physical world when she shapes clay on a pottery wheel. She spent a year exploring the Abstract Expressionism movement, loving how the process allowed her to exist in harmony with her emotions. After integrating this abstract style from her paintings to her pottery, Hughes continued to study this theme in more depth. She took pottery classes, completed a three-year apprenticeship, and attended a ceramics development course. Now, four years immersed in this world, she teaches throwing classes and creates pottery for others to enjoy in their daily lives. sM | What do you think is still missing in how ceramics are perceived as an art? MH ── To me, art means creative expression, which covers a huge range of activities and creations. Ceramics is perhaps more so considered a craft than a work of art. Depending on the style of the ceramics, I tend to perceive some more as a work of art and some more on the basis of their utility. When something is crafted to such a high degree, people often say something like “That is a piece of art!” Some surface decorations in ceramics are quite obviously treated as an empty canvas upon which something almost like a painting is created, and other styles focus more on creating captivating glazes. The pieces I perceive as art are those that capture my heart, that spark an emotion in me and that I can look at and know I love everything about it. I can respect that those ceramics which don't capture my attention are still works of art in their own right as someone's artistic expression. I think if people look beyond the functionality of pottery and appreciate it for its beauty as well, then they are appreciating someone's artwork. sM | Your passion for pottery is evident in your work, but the creative process can sometimes be repetitive. How do you balance the creative and technical aspects of this medium? MH ── Pottery certainly is a repetitive process, especially when producing works in larger quantities, however there is also a huge amount of variation that comes with it. I find that the more creative aspect comes in the design and the surface decoration. Once the design is established, I like to get into a flow of the more technical aspect, my brain goes into auto pilot and I repeat the task while listening to music or an audiobook. I find a state of peace and I enjoy what I am doing; it feels practical and even with the technical side I still feel I'm being creative, I am creating after all. What I love is how the whole process of making pottery ends up balancing itself out because it's always moving in stages. I'm never stuck just doing one thing, there is always variety; throwing, turning, attaching handles, packing kilns, wedging clays, cleaning, glazing, mixing glazes, photographing and filming work, editing and posting on social media for the business side, uploading listings, wrapping and shipping, the list goes on. Lucky for me I love each and every stage, it's the variety and rotation which keeps me on my feet. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

TODOS Productions New Canadian perspectives on cultural convergence in cinema WORDS BY AMBER SOLBERG | ST. JOHN’S | PERFORMING ARTS HUBS & HUDDLES FEB 27, 2023 | ISSUE 11 Santiago Guzmán by James MacLean ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE ​ ​ Continue reading in Issue 11 Santiago Guzman is not afraid of his own voice. As a writer, actor, producer and dramaturge, this multi-talented creative is making space for new stories in Atlantic Canada’s theatrical circuit─and he shows no signs of slowing down. After graduating from the Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador with a BFA (Majoring in Theatre: Acting), Guzman jumped into connecting with theatrical circles and festivals within Atlantic Canada. In casting however, few casting directors were looking beyond his appearance for what he had to offer. Not the type to stay typecasted, Guzmaz responded by founding the theatre company TODOS Productions, which fosters the work of “Black, Indigenous, Artists of Colour, 2SLGBTQAI+ artists, landed immigrants and artists with disabilities.” Exploding into this new decade with work reflecting the voices of newcomers and the “NewfoundLanded”, Guzman is also bringing his personal experiences to the stage. With works like ALTAR , recounting the story of a young queer immigrant from Mexico living in Newfoundland whose new boyfriend “ghosts'' him, this performance is layered with multiple meanings on “ghosting” and spirits, connections to loved ones present and past... ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

Kezna Dalz Botticelli meets Black Girl Joy WORDS BY ALLISON CHOW | MONTRÉAL | VISUAL ARTS STUDIO SESSIONS FEB 24, 2023 | ISSUE 11 "'The Kiss' By Gustav Klimt, Teenadult Version" ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE ​ ​ Continue reading in Issue 11 What do you think of when you think of good art? Does it lift your spirits? Draw you deeper into the world of a creator you love? What form does it take? Is it a spoken word, a cracked face delicately outlined with egg-wash centuries old, or carved from ancient marble? Where does your sense of “art” come from? These are some of the questions borne of the conversation between smART Magazine and Kezna Dalz — AKA Teenadult — a multidisciplinary artist based in Montréal. At the core of her artistry is the power of the unintentional political act of being yourself. Her work is part of a swelling global tidal wave of artists on a collision course with the Western art canon, challenging notions of power in visual arts regarding class, race, and gender. Entrancing the viewer with loose, energetic strokes pairing bright teals with luscious fuchsias, Dalz constructs a provocative neo-expressionist meditation. Within this visual feast, she is also serving themes of radical self-acceptance, feminism, sensuality, racial justice─on a platter of pop culture. Working with murals, paintings, and digital and... ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

Anna Zvyagintseva “How can I even make art now?” WORDS BY MACENZIE REBELO & MICHAEL ZARATHUS-COOK | TORONTO | VISUAL ARTS STUDIO SESSIONS NOV 11, 2022 | ISSUE 8 "The Same Hair 2022" - Designed by Irina Pereira ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE "Dusty Glasses" by Johan Creten, Yazan Khalili, and Anna Zvyagintseva.jpeg From "Misplaced Touches" at the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv Over the past year, Ukrainian artist Anna Zvyaginseva has immersed herself in her creative work as an artist-in-residence at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Zvyaginseva’s practice investigates elusive, intangible moments through multimedia installations such as a simple breakfast served by her mother or a stick projecting from the earth. Halfway through her residency, the Russian invasion upended her life in Maastricht and that of her family back in Kyiv. Zvyaginsteva spoke with smART Magazine about her residency experience and the challenges of responding artistically to the trauma of the invasion while being far from home. sM | How has the Jan van Eyck Academie residency contributed to your mission to explore "useless action, small gestures" and the "potentiality of doubt" despite the challenging circumstances? AZ ── When I arrived at the academy, I discovered that indeed this place is full of labs and workshops: printing labs, a photo lab, new materials lab, wooden workshops, and metal workshops. So it was full of, uh, labs and workshops. I spent the first month just experimenting with these new materials and techniques. I had some projects in mind for open studios, but by that time, there was already tension between Russia and Ukraine, and we were feeling that something might happen. So I postponed my “useless” projects because they didn’t correspond with how I was feeling now. The works that I realized during the residency are kind of small gestures, there’s still that potentiality of doubt present in many of my works. With the open studios, the first question I had in mind was, “How do I use some materials that can disappear later?” Then when the war started, I did, for example, a work that’s called Sustainable Costume for an Invader . It’s related to the viral videos that were posted just on the first day of the war: a Ukrainian lady was screaming at the Russian soldier that entered the city. She was screaming at him, “You came to our land with weapons, at least put these seeds in your pockets. And when you die on our land, sunflowers will grow.” Her words were so powerful, and I decided to do something with it. So my intention was to use some material to sow a costume that can disappear if you put it in the ground. So I used rabbit skin, glue, and seeds. It’s a small gesture but quite powerful. Anna Zvyagintseva For L'Officiel Ukraine sM | This year has certainly been incredibly difficult for Ukrainian artists. How did the Russian invasion impact your creative drive? And how has your artist community in Kyiv contributed to this resistance at home and abroad? AZ ── I will speak personally about myself. I can’t speak for other artists. I know that many of my friends continued their practice, doing powerful works. They also did a lot of quick works, quick replies, and they were selling things like posters to help the army and fundraise for our volunteer movements. The Artist's Studio at the Jan van Eyck Academy To speak personally about me, when the war started, among other unexpected urgent questions, my head was blowing up with these two new questions for me. Will I be able to work? And how can I even make art now? What happened was so shocking. War catched everything. It catched my body, my mind, my time, my ability to be present in the moment. And the most urgent question for me was if my close ones were safe. I was quite paralyzed in the first days, but then I understood that I needed to find a way to oppose the war. I’m not on the frontline. I am not a physician. And I’m quite far away from my homeland. But I still want to help. And I decided that while I’m working, I’m also opposing the war. War wants everything to be dead, to paralyze life in any sense. So if not to kill a person, then war will rein them in mentally, prevent people from thinking, dreaming, walking, So I think this thought saved me because while I was working, I was in a stable position. And being stable and more or less okay also helped my close ones because if you are tired of all the news you are receiving and there is someone that can support you, then you change one another. I did a lot of new work. I participated in many shows, and I have plans for future works. So with this urgency to respond to war, sometimes you just can’t find an answer, or you can’t react in any form of art. So it’s okay to just continue your daily practices. My work’s more or less now connected to what is happening, maybe not in such a direct way, but I try to reflect on my life with them. ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

Sheku Kanneh-Mason “It’s a great luxury and, to be honest, very addictive.” WORDS BY EMMA SCHMIEDECKE | NOTTINGHAM | PERFORMING ARTS THE smART Ensemble JUN 12, 2023 | ISSUE 11 Sheku Kanneh-Mason by Ella Mazur When a new voice hits the scene that brings exciting perspectives to the often-uniform set-up of classical music, people begin to take notice. That is emphatically the case with string star Sheku Kanneh-Mason, whose first-place win at the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition launched him into a high-profile career that’s since cascaded into an international touring, recording, and teaching career. Likewise impressive is how Kanneh-Mason has evaded the pretentiousness that is often inaccurately attributed to classical musicians. He is intensely in love with the music, an affair that supersedes the pomp and ceremony that accompanies life as a celebrity soloist. It is this devotion to music, and its tremendous variety, that animates his latest album, Song. This deeply personal album combines classical favourites with folk and jazz tunes, and platters collaborations with friends and colleagues such as jazz pianist Harry Baker, singer-songwriter Zak Abel, and soprano Pumeza Matshikiza. Genres of music other than classical have had a profound effect on his ear; with his mother’s Welsh heritage, he has an intimate knowledge of the folk music of the British Isles as well as that of African songs and styles. The album is a busy dialogue between classical cello repertoire and sound worlds that are not usually heard alongside the classical tradition, the result of which is a fresh compilation of excerpts and interpretations that push the boundaries of his robust instrument. Outside of the recording studio, Kanneh-Mason is inspired by a mission to teach the next generation of cellists to be better performers. Part of this mission is to help his students develop good technique and musicality, and to help them mine their own creative sensibilities while also encouraging them towards playing the music they feel most drawn to, whether it be classical, folk, jazz, popular, or the increasingly popular melanges of these genres. The technical exercise of performance is only the starting point for Kanneh-Mason. The goal in performance is a human experience that connects us all─something that the world is in desperate need of currently. What stories do we have in common and how can we participate in appreciating them together? These are the questions that Kanneh-Mason’s performance philosophy implicitly answers. It is a luxury of life that we all should be able to participate in. In conversation with smART Magazine , he reflects on the space in his mind and heart for all that music has to offer, and how the modern soloist can invite everyone into this space. ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE ​ Sheku Kanneh-Mason UPBRINGING sM | Your musical sensibilities seem deeply informed by traditional folk songs. What was your exposure to it growing up? SKM ── My mom’s side of the family is Welsh and that’s where I was exposed to Welsh traditional music, so that’s very important to me. But I’ve always just been interested in discovering music that I don’t know. That led to me listening to a wide range of things. I think there’s something very direct about folk music and more traditional music. There’s nothing artificial or imposed on it that takes away from this direct conversation between you and the music. I think the cello is an instrument that is very vocal and sounds very personal, and so lends itself very well to this kind of music, even though it’s not an instrument that’s traditionally used in a lot of these styles. I will always be interested in lots of different styles and exploring them, and will continue to do that. Of course, my focus on classical music is gonna take up a lot of time and a lot of focus. That’s what I love as well. But there’s space in my mind and in my heart to do lots of other things. CURATION sM | Song is a curated experience that does without the centrepiece of a concerto and freely meanders through various excerpts, folk songs, and preludes. What sort of emphasis do you place on recordings that reflect the artist’s diverse taste, rather than placing a prominent emphasis on a singular work? SKM ── I think it’s difficult because, in the classical music repertoire, the pieces are of a longer length. On an album, generally you can’t fit many different pieces, so the variety is reduced. Of course, there’s variety within each big work. I suppose it means that to get a sense of the artist is not possible with just one album, but usually a collection of albums over their career. That’s how I want my recordings to look when I look back on what I’ve done. Song was an opportunity to show, within one album, more of who I am, what I’ve been interested in up until that point, what I’m interested in at the moment, and what I want to continue to explore in the future. It’s sort of a portrait of me at the moment, which was really nice to put together. But I will continue to record sonatas and concertos in a more traditional, classical way, as well as all of the other things I like. TEACHING sM | As a visiting professor at London’s Royal Academy of Music, along with your educational workshops at the Philharmonia Orchestra, what are some of your priorities when you’re teaching students how to be better performers? SKM ── I think teaching is a really, really difficult thing. There’s a massive skill in being able to communicate the ideas, because I have lots of ideas and feelings about the music that I play. But it’s a big challenge to explain them to someone else, and to communicate that, and to teach that to an individual who has some naturally different feelings towards the music. You can’t have a formula for how things are gonna work. For me, my priorities are mostly about working in as much detail and depth as possible in terms of the understanding of the music. It sounds sort of counterintuitive. More understanding and knowledge sounds like something not very freeing. But the more knowledge you have, the more you can command what you want to do, and that results in more freedom. So you have to go through that process of really studying in detail. That can feel restricting at first, potentially, but it’s incredibly enlightening on the other side. So that’s my main focus, and for the students to be as aware, open, and interested in what they do as possible. I think that’s the key thing that I’ve tried to get across. Sheku Kanneh-Mason CONCERT EXPERIENCE sM | What matters the most to you now about the experience you have on stage? And away from the stage? SKM ── What I love most is where I can relate how we are as humans to performance, and I think the best way to relate it is to see performance as a communication of ideas and of feelings. The more direct communication that is between you and the audience, the better. And that directness comes from, firstly, your understanding of the story and the feelings of the music. Otherwise, the message that you’re communicating is confusing. Then, it’s having the tools and the ability and the, let’s say, “charisma” for the audience to feel that they are invited in and that you’re communicating to them. I love that feeling when you really feel that you are telling an intimate story to a group or to a few thousand people, and there’s this collective moment where live performance is very special. That’s what I want to always have in my life. It’s a great luxury and, to be honest, very addictive. I think I’ll continue to do it for a long time. Sheku Kanneh-Mason CELLO sM | You play a 323-year-old Matteo Goffriller cello─is that something you ever get used to or is there a small gulp every time you open the case? SKM ── At first it was a little bit frightening, because I’d never been around or held something of that much value. But I have spent a lot of time now with the cello, and I’ve gotten to know it as a part of my music making, so it feels very natural now to have it. It is really wonderful. As long as I’m careful and it’s always within sight if I’m travelling, then it’s fine. ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

In the Garden: Basia Bulat On Her Latest Album, The Garden WORDS BY SHERENE ALMJAWER | MONTRÉAL | MUSIC THE smART Ensemble NOV 14, 2022 | ISSUE 9 Basia Bulat by Richmond Lam ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE Cover Art for "The Garden" Basia Bulat by Kalya Ramu For over 15 years, Canadian folk singer-songwriter Basia Bulat has imbued her music with expressive lyricism and a uniquely strung voice capable of flooring an audience of any size. Her musicality is informed by various influences, from classical — having played the upright bass in her high school’s ensemble — to Polish disco. Since the release of her self-titled, independent EP in 2005, Bulas has gathered an international fanbase equally devoted to her first songs on ukulele as they are to the songs on her latest album, which are accompanied by a string orchestration. This album, The Garden , is a reimagining of some of the most celebrated songs from the artist’s discography, projected through the looking glass of the artist’s stylistic evolution. It also marks her first project since having a baby a year ago with her husband, who is also a musician (under the moniker Legal Vertigo). Bulat joins smART Magazine from Montréal to talk about how The Garden welcomes many versions of spring and celebrates a city that’s inspired her music. sM | How did you arrive at the idea to recreate the songs on The Garden for string instrumentation? BB ── I was a bit isolated over the past couple years and had a lot of old jazz, folk, and country compilation vinyls that I was listening to. I was struck by how a lot of my favourite artists had a tendency to revisit songs and play with them. For some of these songs, we have larger orchestral arrangements to create the feeling that I love about chamber ensembles, quartet, and classical music, where each instrument has their own part and they all play together in conversation. A lot of these songs had strings, but as the accoutrement; now, we give the strings the heart of the song to carry on the message. In a song like “Infamous”, the strings are the rocket fuel to send the song into space. With the version of the songs in The Garden , it’s like we’re looking down on Earth, or onto our past selves. I love both arrangements, but in terms of that time warp feeling that we all had in 2020, and because I was pregnant, I was conscious of changes. I am the same, but also different. It was a really fun way to explore all of that. sM | You were a stand-up bassist in high school. How much did the orchestral setting influence your musical thinking? BB ── It’s hard to find people who had the easiest time in high school, but some are lucky enough to have a refuge, and playing in ensembles was my refuge. That’s why I particularly took to Béla Bartók, a Hungarian composer, because that was the first time I felt a connection to music that everybody was listening to. There’s an element to the melodies, scales, and chords in the music my Polish grandmother played that embodied the feeling of being present and excited. I guess I’ve always been chasing that feeling a little bit in my own music, but this was a way to return and renew that feeling. sM | How has Montréal inspired you and changed over the last decade? BB ── Maybe it’s because I’m not from Montréal, but I always romanticised it. I romanticised the music and poetry. Whether you wanna call it the universe’s kismet, something in this city collaborated with the universe to give me a lot of my songs and recordings. I found the love of my life and had my baby girl here, so I really fell in love with the city. Maybe it’s the energy stored in the mountains or in the streets. It’s a bigger feeling that sometimes I’m still on the outside of, but I think I’m fascinated by that. sM | One year into it, what’s surprised you the most about motherhood? BB ── The one thing that the books don’t prepare you for is how much everything you thought you dealt with in your past comes back for round two. It’s about coming to terms with yourself in terms of your parenting approach, or what your fears and hopes are. It’s like a secret level unlocked in the video game of, “Okay. Everything I do she sees and internalises instantly,” and that reflects back to myself. What are the things I wanted to teach myself or learn that I’m still evolving? Like a garden, it’s still evolving. Basia Bulat by Richmond Lam sM | Speaking of gardens, do you have a favourite one? BB ── The garden I spent the most time in is my mother’s. She and my grandmother taught me everything I know in that garden. My grandmother taught me how to make flower crowns out of clovers in the grass. She’s a real green thumb. Her and my mother lived in an apartment building in Poland and, in their village at the time, there were community plots. There was beauty and survival in her methods of gardening and nothing was wasted. There was a kind of impulse to come back every day to check on everything, to be very dedicated to details. So, that’s the one I spent the most time in and the one that I love, probably, the most as well. As a kid, I planted trees with my brother there. We bought a live Christmas tree one year, and now it’s 30 feet high. There are a lot of memories in that garden. sM | What are you listening to and who inspires you at the moment? BB ── Because my daughter’s almost one now, I’m returning to a lot of the music I listened to from when she was born. I was actually listening to Jimmy Cliff when she was born. He is someone that has always inspired me because he sings with so much joy and pain. He has so much defiance, strength, and tenderness in the same phrase. I’m listening to a kitschy genre of Polish music called “disco polo”. I’m interested in exploring this because I haven’t found any women singers of this era of disco pol0. I’m also listening to Etta James, the latest José González, a Turkish singer named Özdemir Erdoğan, Roger — this incredible singer and love-song writer — and to João Gilberto’s Amoroso . sM | What’s your favourite Legal Vertigo song? BB ── ( Laughs ) Probably “Feeling Finite” from his previous album, Tragic Future Film Star ! If I have to pick one of the new ones that he’s working on, it’d be “Sunsets”. The chorus goes: “Looking at sunsets is free, or at least it used to be until recently when they made time into money,” and it’s really good. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture

A Walk With Amal Meet “Little” Amal, the 3.5 metre puppet and beating heart of The Walk. WORDS BY TASH COWLEY | ONE THE ROAD | THEATRE FOURTH WALL NOV 15, 2022 | ISSUE 8 Bari by Teatro Pubblico Pugliese ​ ​ Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily LISTEN NOW https://loveinexile.lnk.to/preorder Cody Fry LISTEN NOW www.codyfry.com Víkingur Ólafsson ON TOUR NOW www.vikingurolafsson.com Samara Joy LISTEN NOW www.samarajoy.com Bruce Liu ON TOUR NOW www.bruce-liu.com Disney Animation: Immersive Experience TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE Naples by Amapola Chianese Bari by Abdul Saboor On paper, Amal seems like any other child. She is inquisitive, outdoorsy, loves dancing, and enjoys making new friends. However, Amal is not your typical nine-year-old; in fact, she is a 3.5-metre-tall puppet who went on an epic five-month walk around the world. Sadly, however, this lengthy journey does not set Amal apart from other children as much as we would hope. Every year, thousands of refugee children are faced with arduous, dangerous journeys away from their homes in the pursuit of safety, and on arrival, many are met with hostility and suspicion. It is for this reason that Artistic Director Amir Nizar Zuabi decided to bring Amal to life in The Walk , an epic theatrical odyssey which aims to unite communities through compassion, art, and wonder. Zuabi began his career as a theatre practitioner in Palestine. Born in East Jerusalem to a Jewish mother and Palestinian father, Zuabi stresses in a TEDMonterey talk that “the refugee experience runs very deep in [his] DNA.” In 2015, the refugee crisis was at its peak, and Zuabi determined that he needed to develop an alternative theatrical mode to properly represent those affected. As a result, Zuabi came up with an innovative concept which took “the theatre” into the very streets that refugees had walked, physically placing the story in their path. Zuabi soon began collaborating with Good Chance Theater Company ( The Jungle ) and following a series of workshops in South Africa and the UK, The Walk found its feet. Amal was built by Handspring Puppet Company, the South African outfit responsible for the structurally majestic creatures in War Horse . A team of 12 puppeteers give her breath, dexterity, and life, employing extraordinary stamina and skill to carry her into and through each new community. Divided into three teams of four, each group is trained to master her nuanced gestures and physicality. Whenever Amal was in motion, there was a puppeteer on each arm, one supporting her back, and one more “walking” her on stilts, simultaneously manipulating the “harp” of internal strings that animate her face, eyes, and head. As an event, The Walk was entirely unique; an international “rolling arts festival,” endurance event, and humanitarian project in one, it shone a spotlight on the lived experiences of displaced people around the world. Amal walked 8,000km over five months. Her inaugural steps were taken in Gaziantep on the Syrian-Turkish border, and she concluded her journey in Manchester, England in November 2021. Along the way, she passed through 65 cities, villages, and towns, across eight countries, attending 120 individual artistic and cultural events that were developed especially for her, representing each new community Bari 4 by Teatro Pubblico Pugliese To those who were interested in welcoming Amal, Zuabi asked the following question; “Amal is a nine-year-old girl that will pass through your city. She’s alone, she’s afraid, she’s vulnerable. How would you like to welcome her?” The sheer volume of thoughtful responses to Zuabi’s brief was astonishing; Amal met with arts representatives, humanitarian organizations, mayors, faith leaders, refugee artists, and many others. In Turkey’s Fistik Park, Amal was invited to a Kitchen Workshop, where local women shared stories of female empowerment over hot stoves and good food; in Italy, Amal played hide and seek with other children in the narrow, cobbled village streets of Genazzano; and in Recklinghausen, Germany, tiny painted pebbles bearing messages of welcome were arranged into the symbol of a constellation, wishing luck and safe passage to refugees everywhere. ​ This event was not only eye-catching, it was immersive, and it could well be a catalyst for kindness and significant social change. On the surface, The Walk is Amal’s story, but if we look closer, it is a living study of how we treat “strangers.” It transcends cultural differences, language barriers, religion, and geographical borders in the name of communication and togetherness. Zuabi did not design The Walk to be a study in hardship or loss, but rather a means by which perspective might be shifted. She is undoubtedly the physical embodiment of an ongoing crisis that desperately needs our attention, but equally, Amal encourages those around her to celebrate the future lives of displaced people. She personifies imminent potential, success, resilience, and dignity; it therefore seems incredibly fitting that, in Arabic, Amal means “hope.” ​ ​ ​ ​ FIND US IN PRINT 2-ISSUE PACKAGE | 3-ISSUE PACKAGE | 5-ISSUE PACKAGE Supported by Nominated for Best Magazine: Art, Literary, & Culture