Mr. MACLAREN and I originally planned to meet on the street, but it was raining miserably. Instead we met at Toronto's iconic Dufferin Mall (iykyk). If you have been away from Toronto for a long time (as both Mr. MACLAREN and I had been), Dufferin Mall can bring on a feeling of culture shock so it punctuated the absurdity of the task. Mr. MACLAREN spotted the Cinnabon kiosk (a very specific baked good that you can only get at a Canadian mall) and said he was going to get one before he left. I wondered if Dufferin Mall made him feel strange and nostalgic. The mall was both convenient to where Mr. MACLAREN was staying and en route to a dinner party I was headed to that night. When we met up, Mr. MACLAREN filled me in on how he came to be in possession of the shoes and what happened when he went to the Bata Shoe Museum.
I was slightly late for dinner because of the stop to meet Mr. MACLAREN at the mall. When I arrived, I explained the story of all the coincidences that lined up, that for me, began with having met Yezi at an art opening in Guangzhou and ended up with me bringing the shoes to dinner in Toronto. We were howling with laughter because we all work in art and it's unheard of to just stop into a museum with an artwork and make a proposal on the spot, AND get a positive response, as Mr. MACLAREN did. This was my first time seeing friends after being in China for 3 months and the first of my many unbelievable stories. They were eager to see the smuggler shoes, but they were protected in bubble wrap and I didn't want to unwrap them and risk getting them wet on my walk home.
For now, the shoes are in my closet, until I get instruction from Yezi about what to do with them, or I successfully propose an exhibition/project with them. I do have an idea for all of this...
Was just at the Bata Museum and I think things are looking good! The front desk staff were skeptical at first (our people can’t accept unscheduled meetings, etc) until they saw the piece (they were pretty surprised I had it there with me) and totally got on board. One of them went straight away to get Elizabeth, the curator of last year’s crime show, out of a meeting.
She came down and we talked a bit, I showed her the short video, and she seemed to enjoy and get the piece. She emphasized that they don’t collect art-art (say sculptures of shoes) but she understood these were functional things made out of actual shoe parts.
Yezi, she asked you to get in touch with her — [...] feel free to send her something right away otherwise let me know and I’d be happy to write an introduction.
Will hand off the piece to Su-Ying tomorrow evening.
All three people I spoke with said this makes a lot more sense than most random proposals they have coming in, so congratulations!
Mr. MACLAREN
Called but couldn’t get through to the two people you’d previously emailed. Left them both messages — hopefully a Toronto-area callback number helps matters. General office number got no answer either, front desk says they’ll probably be back Monday as most people are out of the office on holiday already. I’ll try to call again then, and if I can’t get a hold of anyone I’ll probably go lunatic-off-the-street mode and check things out in person, hopefully enlisting a friend to come along and film.
Will send videos from the trip and recordings of the messages I left when I have a chance.
2025-12-21，09:39 UTC+01：
慢遞員麥克拉倫先生更新：「出發啦！」
COURIER Mr. MACLAREN UPDATE：Heading off now!
2025-12-13，20:00 UTC+01：
慢遞員麥克拉倫先生於布魯塞爾溫諾娜/巴伊-路易斯通道觀賞《反向行動》及其對HQL-662的報導後，立即主動提供協助。該影片記錄了快遞員林女士與快遞員便攜式嘗試聯繫多倫多巴塔鞋博物館策展人，欲將其自製的走私鞋捐贈予該館收藏，卻屢遭失敗的過程。麥克拉倫先生將代表展銷場攜帶鞋履親赴博物館進行捐贈。
COURIER Mr. MACLAREN offered his services immediately after watching Reverse Action at Winona/Passage Bailli-Louise, Brussels, and its coverage of HQL-662. The film documents COURIER Ms. LIN and COURIER PORTABLE's failed attempts to contact the curators of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto to donate their self-built smuggler shoes to its collection. COURIER Mr. MACLAREN will bring the shoes to the museum and offer them on behalf of 展銷場 DISPLAY DISTRIBUTE and Ms. LIN.
媒體記錄 TRACKING:
多倫多晚餐 Toronto Dinner
未打開的HQL-781 Dispatch HQL-781 unopened
慢遞員李小姐去吃晚飯遲到但是相機食先 COURIER Ms. LEE late for dinner but camera ready to eat
慢遞員家 COURIER's home
Passage Bailli-Louise 商場
Passage Bailli-Louise 商場
Passage Bailli-Louise 商場
Passage Bailli-Louise 商場
Passage Bailli-Louise 商場
林葉子《Reverse Action》放映會 / HQL-662 Screening of Reverse Action by Ms. LIN / HQL-662
由快遞員MCLAREN先生收取HQL-782包裹 Pickup of HQL-782 by courier Mr. MACLAREN
由快遞員MCLAREN先生收取HQL-782包裹 Pickup of HQL-782 by courier Mr. MACLAREN
由快遞員MCLAREN先生收取HQL-782包裹 Pickup of HQL-782 by courier Mr. MACLAREN
由快遞員MCLAREN先生收取HQL-782包裹 Pickup of HQL-782 by courier Mr. MACLAREN
