Concordia Journal Home > Archives > October 23, 2008 issue >

One can make a difference 

Concordia's Design Art Student Association (DASA) walked away with half of the prizes offered at the 2008 Canstruction Competition at its inaugural Montreal event held earlier this month at the Just For Laughs Museum.

Canstruction is an innovative charity project developed by the society for Design Administration 15 years ago and held in participating cities across North America. The competition invites designers, engineers and architects to participate with their students to build a project entirely out of full cans of food. The structure can take any form, and is judged by a jury of experts.

DASA sent two teams into the competition, under the auspices of design professor Martin Racine. According to team leader Mohammad Haidar, Patience on Ice (at left) was designed using anamorphosis, where the viewer can only see the image from only one specific angle. The rest of the team — Carole Montias, Kamel Haidar, Liz Rogers, Brian Li, Kyosuke Nishida and Keri Mullin — also earned the Best Meal prize for the piece.

Meanwhile, Marian Shaghoury, Gasser Mobarak, Doa'a Mousa, Farnaz Waheed, Jessie Kravitz and Jena Roker were granted the structural integrity award for their piece, Rebirth.

Montreal was one of a hundred participating cities this year. The cans were donated by Heinz and Costco Boisbriand, with some subsidized support from the Métro du Parc store in the basement of the La Cité complex.

The cans of food used must be nutritious and non-perishable, according to competition rules. After the competition, 401 kilos of food were donated to the Maison du Père, and 3 115 kilos went to Moisson Montréal, for their Christmas baskets. Since the project began, over ten million pounds of food have been donated to organizations.

For more information about the event: www.canstruction.org/