Part of Escapist Actions: Performance in Recession

Magpie by Tom Jonsson

Magpie creates a personal engagement with a variety store that has been a long time fixture in the Junction neighbourhood of Toronto, another area of the city whose retail identity is rapidly changing. Creating a dynamic that resisted the usual flow of investment and speculation (eviction/gentrification), Magpie offers an ongoing adjunct redundant economy by selecting, purchasing, sorting and then “reselling” various items on the street to passersby. In place of monetary gain, other forms of exchange are favoured. The objects function as opportunities for discussion about the role and ritual of corner store shopping, the economic and material transformations taking place in the neighbourhood / city, and the determination of value and exchange.