HUMAN AFTER ALL

HUMAN AFTER ALL!
A night of Open Mic, Acoustic Soul and Tremendous Words.

Monday, July 14, 2008

The Concord Cafe

937 Bloor St. West

Toronto, ON

Contact Info:

Phone: 416-276-8655

Email: alteredimagazine@gmail.com

Altered (i) invites you to a special event and open mic!
We encourage all forms of musicians, acoustic performers, spoken word artists, Mc's, singers or any such performers who are socially progressive.

Featuring:

Tomy Bewick - Toronto Poetry Slam
http://www.myspace.com/reachgreenstar

Sadanhos - Acoustic Hip Hop
http://www.myspace.com/sadanhos
http://www.myspace.com/devilzspeciezmusic

Jim Field - Guitar Wizard
http://www.myspace.com/spacenoiz
http://www.myspace.com/jimfieldfromrheas

The Regenesis Project
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2316932817

Signup: 7:30
Show starts: 8pm
Admission: Pay What You Can

http://www.alteredi.com/
This event is a fundraisor for the Altered (i) website!
Our mission is to bring together positive change with the help of the emerging arts community and in doing so we are trying to raise money to represent our cause.

More details on the venue, please visit:http://concordcafebar.com/

Son/Lumiere 2

On Thursday, September 13 Altered (i) Collaborated with Son/Lumiere at The Gladstone Hotel by producing an 11 piece abstract art installation. The creative concept originally started as a digital design piece done by Marius Budu which spread throughout each individual panel. The panels were then painted in multiple styles of wax, oil and acrylic mediums while allowing the overall shape and texture of the work to shine. The piece pulled together mixed talents and artists including Hanna Kunysz, Alicja Grabarczyk, and Mitchell F. Chan , in order to reflect the collaborative performances, visual movement and progressive music of Son/Lumiere.

Son/Lumiere (French, lit. "sound and light"), describes a conceptual live event initiated by band Holoscene to bring music and artists together in an overall progressive rock experience. Also described as "a curated music and art experience created by the sounds and lights of Toronto’s experimental musicians and artists, with projections, photography, light-shows and paintings to accompany live post-rock /ambient /experimental bands and DJ’s." Each creative element complimented the next, including a live video production by VJ Theo Buchinskas who reflected the music in an array of colour scenes and silhouettes.

The band Epigram started off the night in an uplifting set that grew into the bright spectacle that continued to intensify over the course of the night. Ragni performed with a string quartet which added to an impressive harmony. Ragni also played over an illustrated backdrop which featured a unique comic story component to their album. Nadja consisting of two guitarists Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff who played with classical quality and incorporated diverse effects for their super-enhanced atmospheric melodies. Holscene played an epic and uplifting set which was a perfect demonstration for a long awaited headliner performance . The night closed with the pure virtuosity and improvisation of genius duo Still Coiled who performed with absolute integrity, where Brillant Fish’s vocal power responded to the range of Jim Field's guitar.

Here we learned that the mesh of diverse talents can transcend the age of individual creative control, to lean into a more powerful collective energy. Each artist contributed their personal expression to add to the overall composition of the event which produced a greater creative impact. The end result was the greater perspective in the experience of art and music, of sound and light, which was generated in the movement for inspiration and influence.

Related Links:
Son/Lumiere
http://www.myspace.com/sonlumiere

Epigram
http://www.myspace.com/epigramband

Ragni
http://www.myspace.com/ragnimusic

Holoscene
http://www.myspace.com/holosceneband

Nadja
http://www.netrover.com/~amizen/nadja.htm

Still Coiled
http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/STILL-COILED

VJ Theo Buchinskas: (Light show/Visuals)
http://www.myspace.com/theorocks

Nick Fox-Grieg: (Filmic)
http://www.fox-gieg.com/

Visual Artists:
Marius Budu
http://www.visions.mariusbudu.com/

Mitchell F. Chan
http://www.mitchellfchan.com/

Alter-Nation: From Tolerance to Togetherness

The idea of uniting a variety of artists from different genres puts forth a post modern representation of ‘new space’ and ‘new art’. When art becomes a hybrid identifying itself with, and being challenged by, live performance, one problem remains; the placement of foreground and background, front stage and back stage. This however, does not imply negative connotations; instead it challenges viewers to understand how different forms of art can work in unison.

Such was the case at Alter-Nation: From Tolerance to Togetherness. As the event was evoking the inscription of artistic integrity and cultural rejuvenation the trouble remained; how does one reinstate a variety of artistic endeavors to compliment one another at an equal transmission of energy? Is it at all possible to bring forth musicians, performers, art work and people in a social scene that is meant to merge a variety of talents into a solid and equal union? This is a question Altered (i) was willing to ask, and so brought forward its first event; Alter-Nation: From Tolerance to Togetherness.

The beauty of Alter-Nation was definitely in its success. The general public was given the opportunity to appreciate a variety of music from acoustic, to hip hop, to electro, with dance, tribal percussions and visual arts. Each performance was worked into the next, where the acoustic melodies of Annette Green and Bredrin Poetry Wise were built into KB's rhythmic hip hop, which later escalated into the experimental electro rock of Green Splat. In conclusion to these performances Pyrate Paradox roamed the floor with her creative and intuitive dancing, as a voluntary drum circle led by Vincent Reel encouraged both the rhythm of her dance and the introduction of the DJ’s – RC420, Ryan Smith, Jeff Breen and e.k.g.

As all performative aspects of the night were greeted by great applause and encouragement, what of the art work? The guests observed and commented, and many were awed by the variety of visual arts. The gallery section displayed a fusion of abstract expressionism, painting, photography, and life drawings. As a whole, the art remained a strong visual unit. The colours and movement of the works complimented one piece into the next and formed a dynamic display that brought together people and formed an amazing atmosphere for the performers to display their own talents in.

In total, Alter-Nation was an opportunity for artists and the crowds to experience a variety of expressions brought forth from performers and visual artists. Here, a number of very different forms of art created a solid event where everyone involved pondered the problems of balancing acts and art by effectively working their way from tolerance to togetherness.

Visual Artists:
Dan Anaka -http://www.dananaka.com
Amanda Bittar - http://www.amandabittar.com
Marius Budu - http://www.visions.mariusbudu.com
Mitchell F Chan - http://www.mitchellfchan.com
Steve Papadopoulos - http://www.spulos.net
Hanna Kunysz - http://hananska.deviantart.com
Jacob Senko - http://defkreationz.deviantart.com
Alicja Grabarczyk
Stephanie Nicolo
Donna Reel
Alina Urusov


Live Performances:
Annette Green - http://www.myspace.com/annettasings
Bredrin Poetry Wise - http://www.myspace.com/poetrywise
KB - http://www.myspace.com/kbthamc
Green Splat - http://www.myspace.com/greensplat
Pyrate Paradox - Dancing
Vincent Reel - Drumming

Spinning Techno/House:
e.k.g. - http://ekg.podomatic.com
RC420 - http://www.myspace.com/djrc420
Ryan Smith - http://www.myspace.com/ryansmitherines
Jeff Breen - http://www.myspace.com/jeffbreen

Contributing Writer: Hanna Kunysz

Beating to The Pulse of Techno

- Do you think music and the heart are connected?
- Of course just like the heart and the mind are connected.

An Artist Profile and Exclusive Interview

Artist: e.k.g. (electro-kardo-gram)
Name: Giordan Battaglin
Location: Toronto, Canada.
Birthday: November 30, 1983
Position: DJ/Producer/Audiophile
Genre: Experimental / Minimalist / Techno
Certification: AAS degree in music production + recording
Website: http://www.ekg.podomatic.com/

Introduction

We have interviewed an independent local DJ and techno producer in order to give insight and inspiration into the minds of other emerging artists in Toronto. e.k.g. describes himself as "a purveyor of dark yet pleasingly filthy music; a fabricator of genreless soundscaping." His style is complimented by a minimal techno mind trip, blended with a funky yet skanky electro that adds strange fitting rhythms to his delightfully dark melodies. His sporadic and subtle tempos can only be described as unrelenting pulses of the unknown, that takes the audacious listener into unfamiliar territory all together.

What is it about music that inspired you to produce it yourself?

Sound design: Its sounds that are being manufactured or sampled. It has a different control and affects people in a different way. If you’re working with the same sound, the sound can evolve and it can change. You can throw effects on a guitar, but to take a sound and have it morph and still be the same thing, thats sound design. I love playing with sound and getting ideas to tweak something or to get a sound to just keep evolving or changing. There is new ground to be broken all the time.

Artistic creation is being in the moment and questioning that moment.

I always question. For example... writers: Writers write most of the book and go back and they edit. When you go back and edit, you are basically questioning the state of mind that you’re in. Most of it is fine tuning and making it flow, or giving it continuity. Sometimes you edit out your true emotion right? So you’re kind of centering yourself that way. You’ve got to keep the balance. It’s always that state of mind that you’re in at that moment.

Cristina of Green Splat - When I’m really inspired, it’s a psychological thing. It could be a movie I saw. It could be a character. It could be somebody I encountered at work. It can be an idea and I just completely dominoe.

How would you describe your genre?

The best comment I ever got, was that someone told me my music was genreless. That was my proudest moment, because that’s how I try and come across.

Everything has its own artistic merit. Within each Genre, there is something good in that genre. The moment you start defining the genre is the moment you start creating limitations, and boundaries are set, because then it’s not commercially viable. Art should not have to fit within the commercial realm or the marketable realm. Like: It’s a good piece of art, but it’s not marketable? Whatever, its still a good piece of art!

When things come together, it’s all layers, art is always layers. I love music, I love art, and I love photography. There are so many different ways to express myself without words. When a piece of art can be perceived by anyone for whatever they want. Everyone has a different idea, and a different interpretation.

Does your music have a subject? What is it?

Subject is more like emotion in a way, it’s an individual experience.

How does your intellect stimulate your artistic spirit, or do you think they are one in the same?

Yes definitely. What’s connecting my conscious mind and my unconscious mind is the same thing. The body is just the physical. I like pretending I’m connected to the infinite.
"Everything is an illusion and life is just how you perceive it”

How does the evolution of your music – the greater experimentation, the fall into minimal, the expansion of music affect you psychologically?

In minimal there is definitely more subtly. There is a lot more focus on 'in-between' space. The slower, the more area there is to work in a song. The more space there is, the more absorption you can get from a song. Music affects me on such a deep level; I don’t want to just absorb it, I want to give it back. I get like mood swings, but it’s how I think, but it’s not really moods though, more like wavelengths. I’m tangents all over the place. A mix, a hyper mix, spastic.

Do you feel your music touches base with the intangible? And if so can you manage an explanation of how you reach that mysterious place?

e.k.g. - Yes. All sound is intangible, and feelings are intangible, and a state of mind is completely intangible. It’s everywhere, emotions, chemical reactions.

Hanna - It’s the intangible, it’s what’s there but what’s not.

Cristina - Everything I write, I just feel what I write. Everything I play isn’t by notes because I actually don’t even know notes, so I just memorize. So everything I see is a pattern, like a visual math. It’s inherent math in a sense. Every element within it can be defined, when it’s all combined its indefinable. I think the intangible is like air, you can’t touch it, and you can’t capture it. It’s just everywhere.

e.k.g. - When you say you make music it goes by what you’re feeling, that’s the intangible right there, it’s the emotion. It’s basically the chemical reaction of how you perceive everything. It’s like you can let loose and not have to worry. That’s what makes life living sometimes. It’s kind of a surreal experience. It’s not explainable. Its total physical, spiritual, psychological. It’s like a spiritual high. It’s connecting. It’s the power you can’t buy.

How do you think music has an influence on the individual or the collective? Do you think music provides a potential impact for social change?

There is not THE way but it's YOUR way and EVERYONES way. It’s all contextual. Everything is just energy condensed to a slow vibration, and matter is just all energy essentially. It’s all experienced on a subjective kind of level. I believe in the collective conscious, we are all connected in a sense.

Conclusion

Art thrives off influence and music is art in its pure form. Music is essentially a tool that can demonstrate not only how an art form and the individual can be connected, but how all individuals can be connected through that art form. Music has an enormous capacity for influence; it both grows and expands with time, and can become fixed in that time. It can influence a collective culture, evolving as a connection of our social and instinctual humanity. It involves a creative free flowing intuition where individual limitations and cultural restrictions are let go, allowing for all grounds to be broken. - Altered (i)

"Without music, human existence would be a mistake.”
- Frederich Nietzsche

Contributing Writer: Chris DeRubeis

Questions and Interview by: Hanna Kunysz
For e.k.g.'s bookings and sound samples
http://www.ekg.podomatic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ekgism

Saturday, July 28th! ALTER-NATION

The Shifting Space of the Gallery

The works presented during the Mielcombe exhibition focused on an assortment of images bashing banality, hypocrisy and the prostitution of ‘selling art’, or at least that is what I would like to think. Unfortunately, the manner the art was presented did not seem to interact with a thematic cause, especially considering there were no artist statements provided. This makes it difficult to give a fair criticism of the event; however Peridot is a restaurant and not a gallery. The majority of people interacting here are drawn to a bistro environment, which entitles them to a dinning experience. Perhaps then this urban backdrop is what framed the event Mielcombe: Fusion of Art, Fashion and Music. So, I’m lead to think then that when art becomes associated with fashion, music, and the social experience of dinning it then transforms into another form altogether: Popular Art.

Is art revisiting the Warhol era? Have we successfully combined the fine arts in an attempt to popularize it through our choice of venue? What does it mean to display art along side a bikini shoot? Do people think much of the art which accompanies their dinner?

My argument in this matter is that the artist world is changing. No longer is it necessary to make your way down to Queen West in order to experience spectacles of visual artism. Instead art is spreading itself into more public spaces. From prestigious elitism (museum), to institution (AGO), to what I consider a ‘ready wall’: wherever there is wall space, and an attractive social function, there is a gallery. This transformation of the gallery space includes with it different implications. With this change, the liability of the cause of art begins to erupt or maybe better put, to erode.

When art becomes an accommodation to a meal, or a back drop to an event one has to take responsibility in becoming aware that an artist’s message has just taken its first steps in hindering. However, at the same time it is being popularized, publicized and noticed, and then hopefully someone might take the time to ask: “what is this about?”.

Regardless, the effort is a positive one; to beautify an area, to accelerate the career of an emerging artist, and to expose cultural significance amongst a public that may not have noticed it before.

Contributing Writer: Hanna Kunysz

MIELCOMBE: Fusion of Art, Fashion And Music.

Art and Fashion Review

"A Creative Night of Professional Collaboration"

On Saturday, May 26th the Peridot Resto Lounge was transformed into a creative night of professional collaboration with the event "Mielcombe: a fusion of art, fashion, and music". The night highlighted a live fashion photo shoot, stimulating music and a shared artistic exhibition to bring in the 10th anniversary of Mudshark Street Wear. "We were able to bring together Canadian designers, artists, and photographers for an interactive professional evening of entertainment and casual fun" - (Jen Hilsden, Mudshark CEO).

Scandal House Designs

Mudshark Street Wear is an online retail experience which is geared towards a fashion forward clientele bringing in Canadian and Toronto based designers such as Scandal House Designs, Biokat and their most recent summer addition, Miel's Bikini's. The night featured photographers Dave Wilder and Eleanor Bathe who worked with fashion photo professionalism to provide the live production and spectacle.

Eleanor Bathe (Photography)

Emerging Arts meets Professional
The Peridot Resto Lounge also features a monthly exhibition including a wide range of visual mediums such as painting, photography and drawing. Many of the pieces are from new emerging artists in the GTA that have been given the opportunity to have their work coincide and complimented by other established arts professionals. “The purpose of the shows at Peridot is to show the learning stages of different artists. Many get showcased monthly allowing the public to see their progress as emerging artists. Others are slightly more established. We've had Arts and Letters Club members Angel Di Zhang, Andrew Sookrah and Tina Newlove all showcase their work." - (Janine Jones, Event organizer and Artist)

Contributing Writers: Chris DeRubeis

Artists Links:
Angel Di Zhang (http://www.vividartist.com)
Hanna Kunysz (http://hananska.deviantart.com)
Jacob Senko (http://defkreationz.deviantart.com)
Janine Jones (http://www.myspace.com/janinejonesart)
Shannon Conrad (http:://www.myspace.com/shannonconradart)