We’re happy to introduce to you the new direction of our COLLABORATIVE ARTS SERIES: 42 x 81.
42 x 81 is short for 42.981378 by -81.257464, the precise latitude and longitude of the forks of the river which runs through our city. Learn more about our change below!
​
Thanks to TAP and the London Arts Council for their support of this series.
"
Thank you for your support of our 2022 season.
Join us in 2023 for the return of 42x81
LEARN ABOUT OUR PAST CONTRIBUTERS HERE:
TEAM 42 X 81
Kevin Heslop
Hi! I’m a polydisciplinary doofus known as Kevin. My personal intention with 42 x 81 is (1) to hustle up some money to put in the pockets of artists in collaboration; (2) to supplement their platforms; and (3) to explore what an accessible, decolonial, land-and-water-conscious arts series, dependent for its income on the cultural subsidiaries of imposed government entities, could be.
Erica McKeen
Hi! I’m Erica, a fiction writer and teacher currently living on Musqueam land in BC. My personal intention with 42 x 81 is to uplift oftentimes neglected voices; get artists paid for their oftentimes unpaid work; and provide a public space for experimentation, collaboration, and overall artistic strangeness in a world that oftentimes rewards the familiar and known.
​
WANT TO PARTICIPATE?
This is an ongoing call looking for local artists in any medium (from clay pottery to hairstyling, Tarot to repurposed leather) who may be interested in interdisciplinary collaboration with another artist. Both of the two participating artists will receive $100 for their work.
Send the following items to 42x81series@gmail.com:
-
Samples of your work (JPEG, PDF, MP4 preferred)
-
A proposal containing the name and contact information for both contributing artists OR
-
A proposal containing your name and contact information, detailing your work and the type of artist you would like to collaborate with
If you have any questions, or would like to offer feedback about ways to make the series accessible to you and your communities please email us at: 42x81series@gmail.com.
FROM LOMP TO 42 x 81
This change in our thinking was prompted by (1) our realization of the inappropriateness of colonial signifiers (“London” as in the series formerly known as “London Open Mic Poetry”); (2) our desire to reflect our relationship with the local land; and (3) the need to more accurately represent the interdisciplinary arts series we have been running through TAP Centre for Creativity since 2019.
You may be thinking that the prime meridian is located at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, that the use of latitude and longitude are explicitly colonial implements, indeed developed and used to further the empire itself, alike in kind to the English language.
We have thought about this; and we feel this is an opportunity to comment on how we’re enmeshed in and inseparable from the history of British imperialism––that we can’t escape it and mustn’t pretend we can undo history.
What we respond to, and what feels authentically like a move away from colonial superiority, is (1) the interconnectedness to every spatial point on the planet that system of orientation provides; (2) the avoidance of the English language to refer to colonized land in favour of a (at least more) universal language of numerals; and (3) the avoidance of Anglophonic appropriation (or direct use) of an Indigenous word.
When it became clear that the “Thames River” was and is an inappropriate name for the waterway running through this city, whose name in Anishinaabemowin is Deshkan Ziibi, it also became clear that “London” is an equally inappropriate name for the city surrounding it.
Given how plain was the transportation of the word “London” from London, England to this region; how plain was the sense of superiority explicit in its imposition and elevation to “official” status here; and how plain is the unmindful echolalia by which we continue to pay homage to that imposition by repeating the word “London” as if it accurately refers to this land without favour or censure, we hope our little change can serve as a synecdoche for the process of unnaming it seems to us must, and will of its own course, take place.
In the meantime, join us in a clean-up of your local waterway or donate to a conservation project in Canada! We have a few listed below so that you can find one closest to you. Do you have a link that we should add? Email us: communications@tapcreativity.org with 42 x 81 Link in the subject line.
Sincerely,
Erica & Kevin
CONSERVATION PROJECTS
LONDON
VANCOUVER +
VICTORIA +
WINNIPEG +
TORONTO +
Their mission: “to protect life-giving biological diversity through strategic research,
community mobilizing and grassroots public education.”
TORONTO
Contaminated site cleanups in southern Ontario, defends public participation rights in legal cases, saves fish.
OTTAWA
Under the Waterkeeper Alliance, they advocate for the river; it also has a group of ~90 volunteers who provide real-time updates and help take care of the river.
MONTREAL +
QUEBEC CITY
Has both land water (scuba diver) volunteers who clean garbage from the St. Lawrence
River.
ST. JOHN'S
The province’s oldest conservation organization, conserving wildlife and natural
resources.
FREDERICTON
“a collaborative project between First Nations, Federal and Provincial governments, and other conservation organizations who are working to protect species-at-risk in the Wolastoq/Saint John River watershed.”
HALIFAX
Defends ocean wildlife by raising awareness and organizing beach cleanups.
REGINA
Strives to preserve and enhance the biodiversity of the Wascana Marsh ecosystem.
WHITEHORSE
“an Indigenous grassroots non-profit organization, consisting of 73 First Nations and Tribes, dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Yukon River Watershed.”