The Learning Zone

The grOCAD team has been actively gardening at the Windowfarm garden installed in the Learning Zone at 113 McCaul Street. After the successful harvest of basil last summer, grOCAD will be experimenting with a diverse collection of seeds over the fall and winter.

This DIY project is a year-round hydroponic vertical garden allowing the grOCAD community to grow herbs and vegetables using natural window light, organic based plant food, and a water based watering system. The growing containers are made out of recycled plastic bottles, and use clay pellets to support the plants.

Che Chi Liu, one of the members of grOCAD has been collecting and harvesting dried flowers and vegetable seeds from pea shoots, radish, spinach, chives, nasturtium and mystery flowers, germinating these seeds in rockwool cubes.

The windowfarm was first installed in the LZ spring 2012 and we are excited to see the continuing development of the windowfarm project.

Visit grOCAD to discover more about their community.

Broken pencil: The Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts Issue 61, a Toronto based magazine dedicated to underground culture and the independent arts, is now available at the Learning Zone.

Visit the Learning Zone and check-out a copy!

The OCAD U’s Annual Holiday Food Drive has returned!

From now thru December 13, show your support to the OCAD U Student Union’s Starving Artist Food Pantry by making non-perishable donations to any of the campus wide drop off boxes. Most needed items:

• Peanut butter
• Canned fruit and vegetables
• Dried pasta and tomato sauce
• Lentils and beans
• Powdered, canned or Tetra Pak milk
• Baby Formula and baby food
• Canned fish and meat
• Rice
• Cans of soup or stew
• Macaroni & Cheese

Visit the Learning Zone and make a donation today.

Queenston Quarry by Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik is a series of 3D animations on view at the External Space gallery located in the Learning Zone thru December 9th.

Loeppky-Kolesnik created this video series in response to the future development of the Queenston Quarry Restoration Project on the Niagara Escarpment which re-envisions the abandoned limestone quarry property into residential buildings, recreational facilities and tourist destination. The developers vision is to design a community that embraces and compliments both the natural and man-made environment.

Using 3D modeling software Loeppky-Kolesnik takes a playful approach to  that vision, re-imagining the architectural renderings and constructing abstract forms, unified in series of animations.

Kolesnik (seemingly) takes no direct stance for or against the proposed developments of the quarry. Rather, the series highlights the absurdity of human progress and the multiple transformations of the space.
— Connor Crawford

To view Queenston Quarry live, visit the Learning Zone or access it online at xpace Cultural Centre.