Style Swellness: Simons x Douglas Coupland 3DCanada
“Imagine you are sitting down in a chair and on a screen before you you are shown a bloody, ripping film of yourself undergoing surgery. The surgery saved your life. It was pivotal in making you you. But you don’t remember it. Or do you? Do we understand the events that make us who we are? Do we ever understand the factors that make us do the things we do?
When we sleep at night – when we walk across a field and see a tree full of sleeping birds – when we tell small lies to our friends – when we make love – what acts of surgery are happening to our souls – what damage and healing and shock are we going through that we will never be able to fathom? What films are generated that we will never be shown?”
That’s an excerpt from Douglas Coupland‘s book Shampoo Planet, which I read when I was in CEGEP, and it really, really struck such a chord with me (I’d had a very similar dream with the same theme around that time),so much so that I copied it down back then.
So having the chance to finally meet the author and artist on Friday at Simons was pretty damn exciting to me. And he was so warm and friendly (not sure why I was not expecting that?), even when I awkwardly blurted out that I’m a big fan of his work.
I was there for the media event for scanning and printing 3D busts. It’s a crowd-sourced art initiative, a collab between Simons and Coupland. Between 2015 and 2017, Coupland is traveling across the country to scan Canadians at existing and future Simons locations where we can each get scanned and take home a 3D bust of ourselves. And in 2019, Coupland will unveil 3DCanada, a sculpture made of hundreds of 3D busts, each one being 5 centimetres tall and 10 grams in weight. (I always knew I was meant to be a work of art, haha!)
On Saturday, April 30, 2016, is the 5th scanning event, and it’s taking place at the Simons in Square One Shopping Centre. (And the next scanning event set for the Rideau Centre in Ottawa in Fall 2016).
If you’re in the GTA, head to Simons in Square One tomorrow from noon until 12:30 to have your own scan and bust printed (you’ll find this happening on the second level). I’m so excited to receive my bust soon!
Leave a Comment April 30, 2016