Our second stop on Tuesday was Xpace, an artist-run space supported by the OCAD Student Union that provides students and starting artists with a space to showcase their work in a professional manner. I had some questions prepared beforehand:

• What particular feature in Xpace makes it a good place for emerging artists to expose their art?
• How interactive pieces (such as games, etc.) are displayed, if at all?
• Is there any active marketing activity to make this space known not only to OCAD students but to other interested parties?

Summary

As we arrived, we had the chance to chat with two staff members and learn more about Xpace. They told us how it provides a chance for students to display their work in an adequate environment and reach out to professional contacts, and also talked about several staff positions required to make the business work, such as writers and designers for their printed books. Throughout the presentation we learned that Digital Futures students such as us are welcome to display our projects even if they’re of a complete different nature from art exhibitions like the one being presented at the time, and there’d be adequate structure to accommodate these types of projects. The place itself was really small so there was no need for a tour, but we walked around to see the exhibitions and also received their book compilation from the last year. Our visit was very short but still meaningful.

Impressions

Although at first glance it looks like a place more focused on traditional art, Xpace can be certainly a valid option for any professional in the creative industry seeking to display their work and attract more attention to it. I’m still not exactly sure how a person could, for example, display a game project in there, but I imagine it would require a lot of organization and creative displays. What I liked about this place is how it provides students with an affordable opportunity to introduce their work to the industry, something that can be really tricky and complicated for new artists, designers and people in the creative industry in general. I only wish the place was a little bigger and attracted more attention, it feels like it might be too small to handle bigger expositions and cannot take a lot of people at once.