March 10, 2006

If you thought Flickr was exciting, just wait until I tell you what terminus1525.ca can do!

<insert pregnant pause>

It allows you to share your art!

“But isn’t that exactly what Flickr does?” you ask.

Yes, but terminus1525.ca does so with much less intensity and more vacuous descriptors. Besides, it’s Canadian. The project started in 2001 with over $1.25 million in government funding. This dough was instantly used to create shiny brochures proclaiming that terminus1525 will allow Canadian artists to “broaden their artistic experience and meet peers and potential mentors.”

Consequently, the promotions for the site are littered with lofty slogans like “young Canadian creators, unite!” “emerging artist, exhibit!” and “get your titties tattooed here!” Unfortunately, despite its grand ideas and its generous level of funding, the terminus project has caught on slowly. With its database of over 70 million photos, Flickr dominates our visual cortex, while terminus1525’s collection of 15,000 artworks inspires no respect (mainly because most of those 15,000 artworks are mind-numbingly dull).

<insert sarcasm here>

And I like dull. That’s why last night I jumped right in there and uploaded some of my visual creations. My “studio” is an attempt to reach out to young Canadian artists, to explore the boundaries confining our existence, and to directly confront questions of art and taste. I feel sufficiently pretentious to buy a beret.

Sarcasm aside, the terminus project has potential as a creative outlet, and just for that it deserves every single tax dollars it receives. And unlike Flickr, terminus seems to embrace representations of the human body; visitors are assured that they might encounter adult content and shouldn’t panic. This contrasts with Flickr which recently banned explicit photos from all public areas. If you don’t allow explicit photos, THE TERRORISTS WIN.

So let’s see what we can do with this brave new space. You should get an account too, you “young, emerging artist,” and we’ll collaborate.