UTSC's Annual Largest Arts Event: ArtSIdeOut

Oil Painting - Emma Baron  (Photo courtesy: Janice Yeung)

The event is held annually on the first Thursday of October and runs from noon to midnight. This year it was held on Oct. 7.

Students of different backgrounds and disciplines were given opportunities to showcase their work in 30 projects spread across the entire campus.

This year’s theme of ‘engagement’ brought together the works of over 40 artists, 20 performers, 12 student clubs and about 30 student volunteers.

“The fact that a lot of people came out is a good sign,” said Jakub Wasikiewicz, a first-year student volunteer.

He explained to a crowd the artistic significance of Emma Baron’s interactive sculpture, “Oil Painting.”  Situated at the Cherry Blossom Grove, the black bucket had holes pierced on the side so that the water it contains kept leaking from it.

“It is a metaphor for the limited resources of fossil fuels on earth,” Wasikiewicz said.  “This work hopes to inspire ideas on how we could reconstruct and repair our damaged planet.”

In front of Tim Hortons stood a wooden triangle with yarn knitted over it in a rainbow spectrum of colour.  This interactive piece is created by SC: OUT, a student club that pushes forth positive initiatives for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-sexual and queer students.  Passers-by were invited to add yarn to decorate the triangle, which symbolized a revitalization of the originally dead piece of wood.

“Students this year are very excited about ArtSideOut,” said Nazia Habiba, a third-year student volunteer sitting at an ArtSideOut information desk in the ARC. “They are a bit more enthusiastic than before,” she said.

Hanging There (Polaroid Gallery) by UTSC Shutterbugs  (Photo Courtesy: Janice Yeung)

One of the projects that got participants’ attention was a Polaroid gallery titled “Hanging There” by the UTSC Shutterbugs.  Images were printed in classic Polaroid frames and hung on a clothesline.  Many students spent their time up close to the photos to look at them individually.

Other highlights of the night included a non-stop Post-It note motion video “Stick It” by Shutterbugs and a mixed media and sound installation “Trapped by Medusa” by fifth-year arts management student, Melanie Wu.

There was also a Projector Max Light Adventure Dome Amazer-Stage live music and light show at Rex’s Den, a UTSC Drama Society musical “The UTSC Follies of 2010”and “Loud Silence” by Adelaide Lo where participants were blindfolded and made to put on headphones playing sounds of footsteps from behind while walking through the Bladen Wing’s secret stairs.

(from left to right)  Volunteer Coordinator Jordan Dewit, Performer Steph Dudek, Singer Mary Bowden, Marketing Director Patricia Njovu and Music Director Chrisine Bernier  (Photo courtesy: Janice Yeung)


This article was originally published in the Underground (University of Toronto Scarborough Campus's official student news magazine) on Oct. 28, 2010.