Forget the Box

WHAT FEAR AWAKENS Let's take a short time warp back to Monday of last week. It was a lovely day, the hope of spring was shining brightly, and I was sure we'd seen the last frost warning of the season. (More disappointed than surprised, my flowers are in for the night as I write this, because, well, weather.) The only glitch in the matrix or fly in the soup, whichever you prefer, was that I’d been having some weird chest pains for a few days.

Where in Montreal are you located? New Rosemont. What do you love about your neighborhood? I love my proximity to Parc Maisonneuve and the Botanical Gardens, I feel both in the city and in my own little oasis of urban forests and rare birds. What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why? I honestly can’t single out just one when it comes to exhibiting great art, as there are several galleries and artist-run centres I value.

What sparked your passion for music? Music making is ingrained in my family history, my Detho's father was the village drummer, my Grandmother was a pianist, my Uncle plays the bouzouki and synth, my elder cousin is a drummer. I grew up a Greek dancer, listened to Led Zeppelin with my Mom and Pink Floyd with my Dad. Describe your sound. Ethereal, mysterious, aquatic, slow and low. What does your creative process look like?

Montreal is a city of festivals, running non-stop throughout the year, especially in the warmer months. These span from massive corporate juggernauts run by shills to grassroots programs powered by volunteers. To me, there is no festival that better platforms the ground level, underground, and marginalized voices of the city than FringeMTL. I mean, that’s what it’s meant to do.

Where in Montreal are you located? Mile End What do you love about that neighborhood? There are so many performance spaces! Equally the neighborhood has a vibrant blend of fresh new cafes and bars while also being home to long rooted Portuguese and Hasidic communities that ground the area. What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why? So my answer on this one is definitely a bit more sentimental than practical, its Eva-B on St-Laurent.

Teesri Duniya’s Rangshala Studio on the second floor of the Cité-des-Hospitalières is one of the more versatile independent theatre spaces in Montreal. In the expansive room, featuring tile flooring, the company has constructed bleachers for seating and a “tech booth”, along with an impressive lighting truss, created and maintained by Aurora Torok.

Six years ago, local literary magazine yolk broke out of its shell and splattered all over Montreal’s literary scene by way of an event called Egg the Poet. The Instagram post promoting this event is captioned as follows: “Come join us January 17th to celebrate the launch of Yolk, a new Montreal-based literary journal dedicated to the word.

MR: When you use world plays in your poems, are you approaching that from a linguistics angle? KS: “Clockwork Soda” [the title of a poem] was the name of an imaginary band that I wrote about when I was probably in my early 20s. I was always kind of interested in puns and plays on words, partly to be funny, but [also for] the possibilities of words meaning different things. I wasn’t thinking specifically about linguistics then.

Where in Montreal are you located? Quartier Olympique! What do you love about that neighborhood? Every time I go to the park next to my place with my dog, I can see the Olympic stadium! It's like a big guardian watching over me. What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why? My work bestie's apartment/art studio (also located in the Quartier Olympique)! I go there pretty much once a week and it's one of the most art imbued spaces I know.

Where in Montreal are you located? I am located in Berri UQAM, in Montreal's old red light district. What do you love about your neighborhood? I love the ecosystem, and how you can do things quickly, even with the harsh winter here. it's so central that it makes life easy. What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why? After so many spaces have shut down recently, its hard to pick one. I used to go to Bleury Bar a Vinyl.