While Z’s by the C has taken place in several cities, Zurich, New York City, Ottawa, and Calgary, each event is different and Toronto will be no exception. The location for the project here is a proposed park on Lisgar Street, right around the corner from The Theatre Centre. As Eric and Mia explain, there are lots of possibilities for this location and a lot to be excited about.
What are your expectations for the event in Toronto and how do you think it will be different?
We have done this project in a few different cities over the past couple of years, but this is the incarnation that we are most excited about. The premise of the project is about generating temporary public spaces, but in Toronto the project is literally on the site of a proposed new public space! How exciting. We love that people will be in the site of a future park dreaming of what that park will one day become. It is as if we are conducting our Boalian Legislative Theatre process, except we are not creating policy, but instead generating ideas for what people imagine for the park will be.
Any special plans for the event here?
In the past we have been located in areas of a city that have multiple architectural features. In Toronto, it is an old parking lot with sod on it. So it is flat and with out much design. So we are very excited about using some simple design elements to begin the imagining process of what the park will be (or rather, we are planning to dream up our own version of the park, before others do the same thing!)
We got some great insight from Mia Rushton and Eric Moschopedis, creators of Z’s by the C, about what the project is like and what you can expect.
What are some of the best/most interesting moments from the past events that have stuck with you?
Because we facilitate the project, we actually don’t sleep ourselves (or rarely), so much of our time is spent talking to people while they design their sleeping masks (we have blank sleeping mask for people to design using simple crafting techniques) or talking to witnesses of the event about the project itself. So for us, it is the dialogue that we have with people from the communities we are in that is most exciting.
How have people reacted to the event?
Very positively, though there are multiple layers of reactions. The spectacle that is created by having a number of people sleeping in public is both funny and strange. This interventionist element of the work is what tends to draw more participants into the project. They see nappers and they too want to nap! What we love about the responses we get from people is that first, they suddenly realize they have never slept in public before and second that their dreams really are specific to a particular location–or rather our dreams are site-specific. The sounds of the environment, the texture and temperature of the ground etc. These things all effect what we dream of.
Have you been thinking about Z’s by the C wondering what it’s all about? Want to know more? We asked the creators, Eric Moschopedis and Mia Rushton, about the story behind the project and their hopes for the event in Toronto. Come back here over the next few weeks to keep reading all about it.
How did you come up with the idea for Z’s by the C?
There are a few different answers to this question. Eric’s grandma asked him what he was going to do with his life “now that you are done your graduate degree”? His answer was, “I want to be a professional napper. I love napping”. His grandma wished him luck and laughed. Two days later we read about some insane by-laws that had been passed by the city council in Calgary that essentially made sleeping in public illegal. People could no longer loiter along public avenues, feet could not be put onto benches, and laying in parks or green spaces was outlawed! We couldn’t believe it. One of our favourite things to do is sleep in public. It is a survival technique (especially for Eric, he falls asleep everywhere without much warning!). So we realized that our everyday behaviours were being criminalized to the advantage of corporate and commercial culture (no more homeless people scaring away customers; no more tired office workers shutting out the stresses of work by napping during lunch). As we started to do more research about the by-laws in Calgary we realized that they were hardly unique. Instead, variations of these by-laws had been instituted in many major cities in North America and Europe. We quickly realized that this wasn’t just a bunch of ridiculous Albertans doing what Albertans do best–embarrass the rest of us! For instance, in 2008 Kelowna, BC was proposing a series of by-laws wherein panhandlers could be fined up to $2000 and those kicked out of parks for sleeping could be charged $10, 000 if they returned to the site within 48 hours! I doubt that an oil executive let alone the average citizen could pay such a fine.
So Z’s by the C started as a form of protest to these by-laws, but of course the project has expanded far beyond this initial impulse to consider how everyday behaviours are sanctioned both socially and spatially by neo-liberal practices. The direct privatization or heavy regulation of public space is highly problematic. Privatized “public” spaces, such as shopping malls, coffee shops etc, are all designed for a very specific behaviour: consumption. We require public space for its generative possibilities. It is in the public realm that democratic—real debate–can occur; it is a place where we can collectively “dream” of possible futures. So Z’s by C, is a way of actively having citizens reclaim space as temporarily public. It is a project that insists that by closing our eyes (together) we can dream of what we want for the future–which in Toronto will be a new park!
Did you know some of the most common dreams include those about falling or sinking, bad or missing teeth, and being chased? In anticipation of our public napping project in partnership with Cooking Fire Theatre Festival, Z’s by the C, we want to know what you have been dreaming about. Send in your most recent, confusing or greatest dreams to samantha@theatrecentre.org and have them interpreted. Dreams and their interpretations will be found here up until the event. And come join us July 17 & 18 for some crafting, a nap and sweet dreams.
Ruth’s Dream:I dream I’m cycling on a traffic-free lane in the countryside, surrounded by fields and flowers. Oh and there’s an ice-cream shop just around the corner!
What it means: To dream that you are riding a bicycle means that you are feeling confused and unsteady. However, since you find ice cream along your way your time of confusion will pass soon and points to happiness, satisfaction and good luck!
Tahirah’s dream:I dream of a computer that works better.
What it means: This means there is a problem that is confusing you a great deal right now. The more you dwell on it the longer you will take to get to reach the solution.
Charlie’s dream: I dream of ginger cookies, vanilla ice-cream and squirrels.
What it means: Ice-cream and cookies symbolizes that there is a lot of happiness in your life. To dream of squirrels indicates that you will receive satisfaction by using determination and persistence, it could also mean you should be collecting something.
Samantha’s dream: I dream of living in a hut on the beach.
What it means: This means you are looking for some simplicity and relaxation in a very hectic life.
Cathy’s dream: I’m dreaming of a life of travel and adventure.
What it means: You are craving excitement and new experiences. Dreams of travel mean you are going to make some new friends soon.
Lilya’s dream: I always dream of missing flights headed to amazing and exotic locations.
What it means: This means you have a life-changing decision to make but you cannot decide what to do. While the rewards are great you have not decided if leaving something or someone behind is worth it.
Alex’s dream: Dreaming about a new lighting board.
What it means: To dream of replacing something indicates you are leaning towards making a change in your life, such as moving homes.
Media Contact: Ruth Waters ruth@theatrecentre.org 416-534-9261. Please add to listings through to July 18, 2010FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Theatre Centre in partnership with Cooking Fire Theatre Festivalpresents
Z’s by the C
a radical crafting and public napping project
By Eric Moschopedis and Mia Rushton + You! Saturday July 17 – Sunday July 18, 2010
Come decorate a sleeping mask before catching some Z’s in downtown Toronto!
The residents of Toronto are invited to come personalize a sleeping mask using simple crafting techniques before covering their eyes and dozing off in the city.By creating a safe sleeping zone on the site of a proposed park in the Queen West neighbourhood, Eric Moschopedis and Mia Rushton seek to legitimize public napping under the aegis of art - just sweet public dreams!
Z’s by the C isa project in art and social engagement that playfully, but critically, aims to destabilize public and private space by performing a highly intimate act - napping in the city. Increasingly, neoliberal economic and cultural policies have led Western cities to implement social strategies that prohibit loitering and consequently limit public sleeping. Rushton and Moschopedis perceive this criminalization of everyday behavior as not only an affront to our society’s marginalized and fatigued citizens, but also as an attack on public dreaming. As a public intervention, Z’s by the C seeks to rectify this situation, if only temporarily.
This is the first presentation of Z’s by the C in Toronto, following presentations in New York City, Zurich in Switzerland, Ottawa and Calgary.
Mia Rushtonis a printmaker, crafter and collector. By combining the elements of silkscreening, sewing, knitting, and drawing, Rushton is among a new generation of do-it-yourself, indie artists who have embraced handcrafting as a way out and a resistance to the overly technocratic art industry. A graduate from Alberta College of Art & Design, Rushton has shown her work at Alternator Gallery for Contemporary Art, Choose Yer Own Fest and in Truck Gallery’s CAMPER.
Eric Moschopedis is an award-winning interdisciplinary performer, facilitator, educator, and curator. A graduate of Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies at University of British Columbia, Moschopedis creates community-specific, relational, and participatory works that invite audiences to become active collaborators in the creation of community. He also maintains a performance practice that oscillates between staged performance, performance for video, installation, performative work, intervention, and walking, finding, and collecting.
Since 1979, The Theatre Centre has been Toronto’s home for experimental performance. Serving as an arts incubator, the centre provides emerging and established artists with the facilities, funding, mentorship, profile and sense of community to enable new work to be created, explored and developed. www.theatrecentre.org
Z’s BY THE C LISTING INFORMATION
COST: FREE.DATES: Saturday July 17 - Sunday July 18, 12-4pm VENUE: At the proposed park located at Lisgar Street, south of Queen Street West, Toronto
The Theatre Centre is supported by The Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, The Ontario Arts Council. The Toronto Arts Council, George C Metcalf Foundation, The Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The Cooking Fire Theatre Festival acknowledges the support of The Ontario Arts Council, The Toronto Arts Council, and The McLean Foundation.
