Cartography 17 Artist Q & A

Mihai Morarusi, Event Documentation Associate

Mihai Morarusi is one of two Event Documentation Associates (EDA) at Arts Starts this summer, working closely with Julian Carvajal and Vanessa Tang. He is in his second year at Centennial College studying Film.

Could you give us a bit of background on who you are / what you do?

My name is Mihai Morarusi, I am currently enrolled in the Broadcasting and Film program at Centennial College. I finished my first year and will be going into my second year in September. I applied to the summer program here at Art Starts because I thought it would be a fit for the things that I want to do in the future and [I thought] that this would be a good way to start and extend my knowledge.

As a part of the artist team, what is your medium and contributions?

Basically what I do is take videos and photographs [to] document what happens at the different sites that we go to. We just finished filming for one of the Cartography activations and The Element Dance Program.

Normally, most of the videos that I have are usually for school and [those] are projects I just try to save to create a portfolio. For here, when I am finished filming and editing the videos, I upload them to the harddrive and let the Marketing and Communications team take over from there.

What are you excited to see come out of this project?

I’m just excited to see all these different communities come together and have fun. I’ve been to the activations with mostly kids and I liked the fact that kids are getting to interact with each other and have fun and they are not just staying home playing video games. They are able to go outside and draw together which is a good creative outlet for the kids, as well as helping them communicate with each other.

How did you get involved with Cartography 17?

I got involved because I am an EDA and Julian hired me to do this. But I am really happy that I got involved because I am able to extend my knowledge and interact with different people as well as to see all these communities come together.

What does Cartography 17 mean to you?

What it means to me is a way of bringing communities together and that is something that I enjoy seeing and that I advocate for. In the future, I’m guessing is just seeing how far we’ve come as a society. I am really proud to be involved in this and be a part of the team that got to capture this moment.

What is the impact you are hoping to see with the project?

I hope it will have a positive impact and that it will show others that everybody has to be united and come together. I also hope that it teaches us all a thing about friendship. Seeing the way that these kids and people came together and embraced one another during these activities. Sometimes, people feel like outsiders and I feel like this project has the unique ability to bring everyone together.

Why is it important to create a new map of Toronto?

It’s important because it shows a different perspective of Toronto and to show areas in Toronto that are not well known. The people participating are drawing their favourite supermarkets or their favourite places to go; there is always a story behind that; there might be a person that works at that supermarket that they have a bond with, and things like Cartography 17 show a different perspective of smaller neighbourhoods that people don’t see.

Do you have a memorable moment from the project you would like to share?

It was at the Neptune site and there was one kid who was done his neighbourhood chains very quickly, and everytime Daniel [the Map Animator for Cartography 17] asked who was finished or ready to move on to the next activity, he always had his hand up. I found that really funny and it has just stuck with me!

If you had to describe Cartography 17 to a potential participant, what would you say?

I would tell them that it is a huge project to create a [new] map of Toronto and highlight the different perspectives here. It’s important for them to come because they get to see all these different perspectives and meet all these different and new people. [They also] get either an impression or a different view of other people’s communities or maybe even their owns.

Why do you think it’s important to create an inclusive map of Toronto’s diverse population?  

I think that it will show different aspects of Toronto that others don’t see. People from all over the world will look at a map of Toronto’s diverse population and notice that everyone is welcomed and treated equally. It can bring cultures together and educate them about things they may have never known about other cultures.