In this time of perfectly branded Instagram accounts, sponsored Facebook live events and heavily curated everything, few artists embody the bravado and brazen attitudes once found to be the hallmark of rock 'n' roll. Though Ali X has chosen not rock but Techno as his central genre, he nevertheless continues to create his music his way, unapologetically coercing his audience to submit to his grimy, funky loops and industrial machine sounds. 

After disbanding his Techo/House super group Azari & III, Ali spent time moving around some of music epicentres to settle in Mexico City, where he has found a new home, new community and new co-conspirator in Ximena. Together Ali X x Ximena are educating Mexico's future generations of electronic musicians about what real Techno music is and why it should be thus. 

In this interview with Ali, we talk about his formative creative pursuits in video terrorism, his experiences with drug addiction and how he now uses that relationship to rekindle his relationship to making his art.

Ali talks about the music scene in Mexico City. The crazy, chaotic atmosphere there and how that chaos translates into a feeling of freedom that feeds his creativity. We discuss the nature of isolation in creation. What it allows for and what it can take away. Ali also talks about the emotional impetus required for him to get into a creative headspace. We talk record labels, PR and having somebody in your corner. 

Finally, we talk about dance music culture now vs. during the early years of techno and rave and about our collective memories of primal and transcendental parties, and why that spirit doesn’t seem to exist so much anymore. 

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE

Music throughout the show are all upcoming releases from Ali X x Xemena. 

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thealix/

This week on Mind to Make, I'm speaking with visual artist and film maker Oliver Husain. Oliver is the creator of MTM logo (yeah!) and his pieces involve image, sculpture, movement and textile. In this interview we discuss the importance of training to underscore your practice. We discuss Oliver’s early influences, his humbling and educational experiences connecting with artists in other cultures and how the spaces you create in and show your work in change the context in which you see that work. For Oliver, perspectives ultimately remain constant despite the inspiratory sources we encounter, but technology is a tool he uses to breath new life into his work. Lastly we discuss the importance of not defining what art means and why being sure and safe are perhaps the biggest obstacles to achieving your artistic goals.

Music throughout the podcast was taken from Oliver Husain's films - Green Dolphin and Isla Santa Maria 3D (Sound design/Music by Michelle Irving) which can be found along with the rest of Oliver's portfolio at http://www.husain.de/

If you're in Toronto between May 10th - June 16th, you can catch Oliver's latest show French Exit at the Susan Hobbs gallery

 

OLIVER HUSAIN BIO

Working at the intersection of moving image, performance, sculpture and installation, Oliver Husain has developed a captivating and curious art practice. Oliver Husain (1969, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto. He came to Canada in 2006 having completed a short-film trilogy set in Shanghai, Jakarta and Hyderabad. Husain studied fine art at the University of Baroda in India, and holds a BA and an MFA from HfG Offenbach, Germany. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at Gallery TPW, Toronto; Western Front, Vancouver; Art Gallery of York University, Toronto; and Frankfurter Kunstverein, Germany (with DaGroup). His work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including Form Follows Fiction: Art and Artists in Toronto (2016), Art Museum at the University of Toronto; Depth of Perception (2015), Oakville Galleries; Qual und Wahl (2013), Kunstverein Wolfsburg; Blowing on a Hairy Shoulder/Grief Hunters (2011), ICA Philadelphia; and Q (2005), Para Site, Hong Kong. His films have been screened at numerous international events, including Toronto International Film Festival; Experimenta Festival, Bangalore; Malaysian Video Awards, Kuala Lumpur; New Generations Independent Indian Film Festival, Frankfurt; and San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. A monograph on his work, Spoiler Alert, was published in 2012.

AIR DATE: APRIL 23th, 2018

On the 3rd episode of Mind To Make, I sit down with pretty and pun-y fashion designer and drag queen Buzz. I wanted to have Buzz on the show because since having been introduced to the world of drag, I’ve been astounded by the numerous disciplines it involves, from performance to design and how consistently creative the artists in that world have to be to compete. This is no different for Buzz. Buzz’s bio reads as follows…

Buzz is an emerging fashion thing who runs a label called ReBaie by Rebée. ReBaie was born in the mall (proverbially and otherwise), and currently converges at the fun n' funky intersection of tween-ness, me-ness and Venus. Buzz is on the bored of some stuff and never salts her driveway before she tastes it.

Though Buzz doesn’t spend as much time in that world these days, we discuss her secretive introduction to fashion and drag and the sometimes sticky relationship between familial expectations and the need to pursue art. 

We talk about how fashion changes your perceived role in society both internally and externally and what it means to put yourself into your art both literally and figuratively. We discuss breaking through societal norms and what it means to develop your brand means and how it can evolve over time. As you can discern from Buzz’s bio, the worlds of drag and fashion is are permeated by a strong sense of humour and self-deprecation and we talk about how that’s influenced Buzz’s work.

Finally, we talk about Buzz's perspective on being a millennial in the art world.