Culture
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The ‘bashment’ parties of my childhood are Black history
In 2002, reggae artist Sean Paul shot the video for his song ‘Get Busy/Like Glue,’ in Vaughan. Directed by Toronto’s own Director X, the video begins with...
By Cheryl Thompson -
‘Out of this world’ sculptures land in midtown
In Toronto, there are a number of public artworks that re-imagine the human subject. I’m thinking, for example, of Hadley+ Maxwell’s Garden of Future...
By Sarah Ratzlaff -
THOMPSON: What if the Caribana Carnival went back to its roots?
“The watching Torontonians didn’t cheer, didn’t wave,” reported the Toronto Daily Star on August 5, 1967, as “Caribana” left Varsity Stadium on Bloor...
By Cheryl Thompson -
The connections between public art and activism
In this moment of social and political upheaval, as protesters demand racial justice in response to police brutality and systemic racism, people are...
By Sarah Ratzlaff -
If Black lives truly matter in Canada, an apology for slavery is only a first step
Natasha Henry is a 2018 Vanier Scholar completing a PhD in History at York University on the enslavement of Africans in early Ontario. She is the...
By Natasha Henry -
Tales from The Concert Hall at the Masonic Temple
“You need to get there by 5. Or 4, if you can.” This advice might have come from someone’s older brother, or more likely someone’s older sister. My...
By Jonny Dovercourt -
ANY NIGHT OF THE WEEK: With Broken Social Scene, Cause = Time
Spacing is teaming up with Coach House Books and Jonny Dovercourt to bring you partial and complete chapter excerpts from the new book on Toronto’s music...
By Jonny Dovercourt -
ANY NIGHT OF THE WEEK: The Cameron House and the Birth of Queen West
Spacing is teaming up with Coach House Books and Jonny Dovercourt to bring you a few partial and complete chapter excerpts from the new book on Toronto’s...
By Jonny Dovercourt -
“Visiting” CONTACT Photography Festival exhibits in the age of COVID
When COVID anxiety was at its peak in late March and early April, photographs of empty public spaces proliferated on social media feeds and news outlets...
By Sarah Ratzlaff -
ANY NIGHT OF THE WEEK: The birth of Canadian reggae in Toronto — and Mississauga
Spacing is teaming up with Coach House Books and Jonny Dovercourt to bring you a few excerpts from the new book on Toronto’s music scene from...
By Jonny Dovercourt -
PODCAST: Spacing Radio 042, The revitalizing power of heritage
This episode was a live panel discussion, moderated by our host in London, Ontario. The “Heritage Matters in Conversation” event was put on by...
By Spacing Radio -
REID: The secret small-town urbanism of TV Christmas movies
At first glance, the made-for-TV Christmas movies that have come to dominate the holiday season on certain channels – and recently, Netflix – are...
By Dylan Reid