feast 04 TORONTO CALL FOR PROPOSALS

FEAST (Funding Engaging Actions with Sustainable Tactics) Toronto is a series of community dinners and micro-funding events. During each dinner, artists, designers and groups are invited to present proposals for art- or design-based projects. Everyone attending the dinner votes on which project they would like to fund, and the project with the most votes is given a grant from the money raised from the ticket sales. The grant winner(s) will be invited back to the next FEAST to present their completed project.

We are looking for proposals for the next FEAST, edition 04, taking place on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at XPACE Cultural Centre, 58 Ossington Avenue, Toronto.  Proposals are due March 1, 2012.

FEAST 04 proposals should include:

A Project Summary (1), and the answers to the following questions:
(2) How will you use funding to realize your project?
(3) Why is this project critical to the FEAST community (e.g. why would the FEAST community be interested in supporting your project)?
(4) The names and contact information for all of your presenters

IMPORTANT! You must be able to attend the FEAST event on March 25^th in order to apply.  Project presentations are given in-person by the presenters to the gathered guests over dinner, and then everyone gets to vote on which project they would like to fund.  The money raised from the dinner (estimated at $700+) will go to fund the project with the most votes.  We will also have a separate student grant of $300 donated by XPACE Cultural Centre.

Relief Needed

Xenia Benivolski is heading a relief strategy in response to the STATE OF EMERGENCY at Ontario reserve of Attawapiskat. XPACE will host a collections assembly of donations to be sent to residents in need on the reserve.

Air Creebec and True North Aid have donated transport to the site.

More information regarding this can be found here and here.

We can ship anything so anything from the following list will be helpful:
-non-perishable food.
-clean blankets, preferably new
-winter sports equipment
-board games
-clean clothing
-children toys
-boxes: if you bring something, bring a box with it for shipping!
-medical supplies, first aid supplies
-electric heaters

The collections assembly will occur on Sunday December 3rd and Monday Dec. 4th. Contributions can be dropped off between 10am and 4pm.

Thank you for your support.

What does Jeff Koons have to do with the XPACE Window Space?

Above: Laura Paolini's I'm Tired of Being Fucked, 2011; below: Jeff Koons' Balloon Dog, 1994-2000

This month, from November 18th, XPACE's window space will be showing a piece by Toronto artist Laura Paolini that references artist Jeff Koons' attempt to sue San Francisco gallery Park Life, and Toronto design company Imm-Living for copyright violation. Imm-Living manufactured a pair of bookends that look like dogs made from children's party balloons, which Koons claimed copied his series of sculptures that also imitate the shape of dogs made of balloons. His pieces are, however, in a much larger scale, and made of shiny metal. The irony is that Koons is known for reproducing versions of images from mass culture and other people's work, for which he has been sued four times.  Here is a little more information about Koons' long history of suing and being sued for copyright.