Friends, thank you for joining us in another global roundtable of artful conversations. Issue 11 — 1NTERSECT1ONS is inspired by the spaces where art forms intersect, where aesthetic trends collide, and where artistic vision converges with social mission. Growing up in Toronto – a city that’s renowned for the strict grid on which its neighbourhoods are distributed – I’ve always found our intersections more fascinating than the streets that form them. Similarly, from the perspective of an immigrant to Canada, it is the blend of different cultures that provides the most fertile ground for creative innovations and artistic experimentation. With a broad and comprehensive survey of the visual and performing arts, smART Magazine likewise reflects this utmost regard for the many avenues through which one artistic tradition can bisect another. 

“I have all these dualities: the soft, the hard. Hope, angst. East, west. Electronic, acoustic. Young, old. Life, death. It’s a balance. The intersection is just that spectrum.” Aiko Tomi, page 101

Our exploration of that spectrum begins with a French photographer in search of American landscapes while capturing the faces of Hollywood (p.7), and ends in a deeply effusive conversation with the Poet Laureate of Oregon (p.163). Along the way, we traverse various creative landscapes and make pit stops in nine interview series. In CLOSE UP, one of Canada’s most celebrated directors, Xavier Dolan, speaks to us about his first foray into TV (p.71). In STUDIO SESSIONS, we invite a Buffalo-based designer to curate his Top 10 list of books on design (p.13). In MATERIALS, artist Raluca Buzura joins us