Inside an inner-city mall in Hamilton, you'll find this exhibition of experimental film

Over the past decade, shopping malls have assumed a melancholy place in the collective consciousness of North America. Once beacons of late-20th-century consumerism, they have been usurped by the convenience of online shopping and the downfall of the anchor store. 

To put it simply, malls are passé. 

As their relevance fades, the nostalgia for them has become potent. Whether it's through documenting so-called "dead malls," celebrating them before they disappear, or unpacking their cultural importance, their legacies are felt by anyone who has wiled away an afternoon window shopping in air-conditioned comfort.

One inner-city mall holding on is Hamilton's Jackson Square, which opened in 1972 as part of the city's downtown revitalization program. It's an artifact of the halcyon days of 1970s optimism in Ontario, and although it has lost its lustre, it remains the lower city's town square. Connected to the Hamilton Farmer's Market, Hamilton Central Library and a number of office towers, thousands of residents pass through the mall daily. 

If you've been there recently, you may have noticed a curious new tenant. Tucked down the hall from the Rexall and across from the Heroes N' Legends memorabilia store, a gallery space has sprouted.

In early June, Dandelion Film Collective launched their summer exhibition, Midi Onodera: Landscaping, on until July 23rd, with a satellite installation at Factory Media Centre running in tandem. Curated by collective member and Hamilton native Lesley Loksi Chan, it is a quietly radical experiment that taps into the community-building potential of these bygone commercial spaces. 

Landscaping is dedicated to the work of award-winning Toronto artist Midi Onodera. It is the second instalment of the collective's Light Study series, which began last fall with a spotlight on film artist Franci Duran. Inspired by the legacy of late Hamiltonian experimental filmmaker Josephine Massarella, the series is dedicated to elements that were integral to Massarella's practice, like nature (the Niagara Escarpment being a regular subject). Although landscapes are the anchor for this summer's exhibition, Chan was interested in challenging what audiences may have come to expect when they hear that word. 

"When I started talking to [Onodera] about landscapes, it was really refreshing because it sort of challenged the typical view of what landscape is in art history and film history," she explains. Onodera's films don't dwell on the untamed wilderness of Canadiana. Rather, she focuses on the urban ecosystems and social dynamics we inhabit, and the five films presented in the exhibition provide a concise introduction to her over 40-year career that defies easy classification. 

Two Super 8 films on display near the front door pull viewers in with their studied gaze on the urban landscape. 1984's Ville-quelle ville? and its follow up C'est à Qui, Cette Ville? from 2022 move through the same Toronto locations 38 years apart and provide visual anchors for curious audiences drawn in by the familiar sight of Becker's convenience store signs, streetcars and well-trod intersections. Onodera's camera captures a deeply personal terrain but leaves space for the viewer to find themselves in her vision of a city. 

The exhibition also allows for the organizers to parse through their own relationship with the space. "The mall is my landscape that I grew up in," says Chan. "So when we were thinking about venues or locations, because I had been passing through Jackson Square every day on my way to work, and noticing all the empty spaces, there's almost a blank canvas sort of quality to these empty storefronts."

The space has been left raw. Monitors playing Onodera's films are stacked on top of wooden pallets. An industrial dolly with exhibition literature sits in the centre of the space and a pop-up cinema is tucked in the back half of the room with a series of ladders acting as a partition. Despite the industrial trappings of the space, there's an eye-catching display designed to draw window shoppers in for a closer look — like any good shop. "We really wanted to engage with the mall audience," explains Onodera. "We were told this space used to be a game store where people would come and hang out. This was an inspiration to create a similar space."

"We're bringing in people who might not come into the mall, but we're also bringing people in the mall who might not come into this kind of space," says Chan. Dandelion has become part of the mall's landscape since it opened in June, and these audiences have included young children returning to rewatch films with their parents, office workers on lunch, college students en route to the library and teenagers skipping class in the final weeks of the school year.

Recently, a group of seniors stopped by the gallery after an event at the library. They watched A Canadian Ghost Story: The Quilt for Joyce Wieland (2025), and when it was done, they asked to have it projected again. Chan was more than happy to oblige the enthusiastic patrons. "That is the programmer's ideal. Just even being able to play a film again for an audience is very refreshing." 

Onodera couldn't be happier with the results. "By being here, art and the consumption of it becomes an embedded part of our everyday experiences," she says. "I don't think art has to be a rarified commodity. If you want to speak with people through your art, you need to be where the people are. The Jackson Square patrons are wonderful. They're curious, brave and open to experiencing something unusual."    

This focus on community is aligned with the overarching goals of the Dandelion Film Collective. Founded in 2020 by local filmmaker and executive director of Hamilton Artists Inc. Derek Jenkins, the group has grown to include like-minded curators and filmmakers dedicated to lowering the barriers of access for experimental film and filmmaking materials. Having now hosted a number of screenings and special events, they are building capacity for artists working with film in the region. "I think folks in general are looking for physical ways to engage the world, methodologies that are more tactile and maybe a bit slower," explains Jenkins.

"It's tough to enter analogue production and exhibition without a guide, and one thing I saw missing in the Hamilton landscape was an entry point. I think if people can find a way to approach this type of work that seems accessible, if someone can show them a way in and maybe point out potential stumbling blocks, they're eager to pick it up." 

With Landscaping, Dandelion is finding new audiences through the curiosity of the window shopper, who may just decide to step inside and take a closer look.

Midi Onodera: Landscaping is on until July 23, Wed.-Sun., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. in Jackson Square, Unit 55,  2 King St. W., Hamilton. A satellite installation is on view at Factory Media Centre.