Chasm demands exploration of the oppressive systems embedded in traditional museum practices. The McMaster Museum of Art is undertaking a bold rethinking of the museum concept. Beginning June 13, curators Pamela Edmonds and Betty Julian are presenting an exploratory collection exhibition that looks inward…

It may be illegal to keep hens and roosters within the city limits of Hamilton, but backyard chickens are a great addition to urban life. Driving through the tony neighbourhood of Kirkendall South a few years ago, you might have been surprised to see an escape artist chicken…

Artist Julia Veenstra and her family will celebrate the grand opening of the Art Deco-inspired gallery, cafe and event space on June 16. Things are happening in the 3,500-square-foot old Ottawa Street storefront now known as Crown & Press Gallery. When I sat down with…

Ring the bells, Hamilton’s church conversion game is heating up all across the city. It all started with a parade. When they laid the cornerstone at St. Thomas Anglican Church, Victorian Hamilton threw a party. To celebrate the new church at Main Street and West Avenue, the band…

A morning that begins at one of Hamilton’s wonderful coffee shops is a morning done right. Whether you are just looking to fuel up on your own with some java, yearning to chat with a friend over a hot (or cold) drink, or searching for that perfect work…

Organizers Steve Strongman and Tim Potocic hope to make this an annual event. Hamilton is a music-loving community, brimming with talented musicians and avid fans. The weekend of May 26 saw the birth of a monumental new music extravaganza – the first-ever Smokestack Festival. It was a weekend of…

Opponents of a 45-storey tower on the Hamilton waterfront say it’s too tall. The fact is, it’s not tall enough, argues architect Bill Curran. The Hancock Tower in Chicago was the world’s first high-rise home built in 1969, with 700 apartments stretching up 100 floors. It remains a…

Andrew F. Sullivan’s near-future horror story The Marigold tells of a city haunted by the dead. The Marigold is the story of a city eating itself.  Set in Toronto in the not-so-distant future, a sentient fungal mould, known as the Wet, has infiltrated the city’s infrastructure. Most cases…