Peace Centre

A place for their last hurrah, Peace Centre was recently taken over by Play Pan, who gave the space its last lease on life, gathering artists from different walks of life.

It was an utter riot.

The lights were dimly lit as if on reserve power, graffiti sprawled across the walls, people engaged in random loud chatter, amidst laughter and bargaining. Pop-up stores were set up with tables in an organized mess. It felt like a perfect chaos, almost apocalyptic, where people sought refuge in this run-down mall in the dystopian world out there.

I loved it.

I took in the moment, with shoegaze and alternative pop blaring. A handful of people were waving and cheering, chasing their escape. Another handful brought their pets over, as if they were their trusty companions in such dark times. There were storefronts still open, showcasing art, and these were definitely right up my alley.

Created by Play Pan, this space felt like another world. Like a portal created in the concrete jungle for us to dress up our avatars, to be whacky, to be ourselves away from judgmental eyes. A place where the weird, the wacky, and the wicked converged.

Calling it another world might be an overstatement, maybe. As we all know, this world is going to end when Peace Centre closes its doors in March. The impending doom made me feel like I was in the universe of "Carol & the End of the World." But this last breath of life was a good one.

We walked the different floors, where the boundary of time blurred. The old-school style of stores, behind the fresh coat of paint, behind the art that took over. It felt like a rebellion of sorts, an upheaval by the artists to do this space justice before we go down in a majestic flame.

It was a great place for me to connect with my inner avatar, the starving artist buried alive after working. And I could still feel his heart beating. Sometimes death could also mean a new beginning. I left the space yearning for more, but my stomach didn't agree since it had been a whole day out.

But I'll be back again to the portal, maybe a few more times before it closes... forever.

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