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THANKSGIVING * DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIA * FOR THE LOVE OF GOD * POR EL AMOR DE DIOS * CLOTHING SWAP * MERCADO TRUEQUE DE ROPA BY RODRIGO MARTI

Rodrigo Marti (2013)

THANKSGIVING * DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIA * FOR THE LOVE OF GOD * POR EL AMOR DE DIOS * CLOTHING SWAP * MERCADO TRUEQUE DE ROPA

Open Monday-Thursday from 12pm-6pm between October 14th and November 2nd, 2013 – CIVIC Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario) – Closing Reception on November 1st from 6-9pm

For Rodrigo Marti‘s residency/exhibition at CIVIC Space, the artist is considering the responsibility between Windsorites and the Temporary Foreign Worker population based around nearby Leamington.

The Ghanian-British philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah see’s cosmopolitanism, the way of the global citizen, as a position that will aid in filling the gap between groups and peoples in a globalized world. Our evolutionary specialty is in relating and maintaining a sense of responsibility for others through face-to-face relations (ie – our family, friends, immediate community), the problem Appiah asks us is how can we find and maintain a sense of responsibility for those distant groups and cultures that we now affect and interact with on a daily basis?

Using clothing and fashion as a starting point to consider identity, culture and place, the artist has set up a clothing swap installation open to the public from Monday-Thursday from 12-6 between October 14th and November 2nd, 2013. There will also be a closing reception held at CIVIC Space on Friday, November 1st from 6-9pm.

Please come visit, drop-off, pick-up, or exchange clothing!

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For Windsor, Realistic Expectations and Imaginative Solutions

Read Tom Lucier’s recent blog post. He spells out nearly everything he does in this city, for free. He draws on examples of other talented people in this city who continue to try to stick it out for who knows what reasons. He makes a compelling case for having to give up some of these things he does as labours of love.

It was upsetting and it was terrifying.

That there remains any talented creative people in this city (and I suppose I’m being slightly narrow in my definition, thinking of artists, musicians, actors, writers) is kind of incredible. As much as I believe in this city, I really don’t believe we are giving enough people enough reasons to stay.

So, I have to suggest some ridiculous and likely impossible ways to get people to stay, because that’s what we do — we look at problems, invent solutions, and then sometimes we even try to act on those solutions.

We need to establish a social innovation fund. This will supply micro-grants (up to $2500) for people who want to do something creative and amazing here in Windsor.

We need to identify and make accessible studio spaces that can be shared, are safe, up to code, and very reasonably priced. This will create a place for people to work out of should we be lucky enough to entice them to stay.

We need to figure out how to convince the huge number of people who graduate and leave every year to stay just a little while longer. This will give us ample opportunity to get those talented people invested enough in this place to want to stay.

We need to figure out how to convince more people to pay more money to retain the talent we have in this city, or we probably need to figure out how to find value in what we already do. This will provide a base level of income to keep people like Tom writing and reporting instead of having to do something like take up a paper route.

We need to put Windsor on the map, the world map, as a place in which to do more than just pass through. This will enable all of the above things to happen, and happen sooner rather than later.

We needed to do this yesterday. Realistically though, it’s already too late.