11 June 2025 - 12:32 PM - 78 hours and 28 minutes until the release exhibition of 40 Nights In Toronto begins

I’m sitting in the C/O Café. In the far back, at the second-to-last table. I’m the only person inside, except for the staff: two twenty-something-year-old women behind the counter at the other end of the room. I’m listening to their distant conversation. For a moment, unable to follow.

In two days, on Friday, 13 June, it’s the release day of 40 Nights in Toronto. I’ll go to the studio at Gerichtstr. 23 to set up the exhibition. I’ll have about 30 hours to get everything ready [sleep and meals included].

I decided a few weeks ago not to create a detailed plan for the setup. I made a list of ‘hardware’ to bring—artworks, technical supplies, snacks and drinks—and will connect what’s been taking shape in my mind, my notebooks, and my phone notes over the past months with the surroundings. I will turn it into whatever it will turn itself into. 

Today’s goal is to get what’s still missing from the list. I already printed photos, which turned out differently than expected: a malfunctioning printer drenched them in neon green. I like the result. It adds something unique, and I’ll exhibit these rather than spend time reprinting.

I also ordered postcards of the installation A path of being at peace [based on the notes you may have seen on Instagram before I deleted my account two weeks ago], and posters for the event.

One thing still on my list—and on my mind—is writing a placard for the exhibition. It wants out. It’s been chirping and flying around in my head like a bird trapped in a too-small cage.

In April 2024, I flew from Berlin to Toronto - planning to stay a year, maybe longer. I wanted a different life, in a different environment. But two weeks later, after I traveled to Montreal, I changed my mind.

I followed an intuitive impulse. I decided not to settle and/or find a job in Canada - but to return to Toronto, for as long as I could afford. To focus entirely on art.

Back in Toronto, I let myself exist outside of regular society. I limited input, consumed only what I needed. I embraced solitude, to be at peace in a hyperconnected world.

It was the first time I truly freed my mind. From societal norms, expectations, pressure, and judgement.

The result is 40 Nights In Toronto.

Sometimes, we think we need to escape. But what we need is a different perspective.

Free Your mind and explore. 

What are You waiting for?

15 June 2025 – 6:15 PM – 19 hours and 15 minutes after the release exhibition ended

Originally, I wanted this episode of disconnect to be a before/after of the release event. Now, as I type this, just after I finished typing the handwritten draft of the ‘before’, it’s Sunday, 6:15 PM, and I’m too tired to write. I’m only willing to do what’s necessary to survive.

24 hours ago, I finished the preparation which I began at 1:15 PM on Friday. After 12 intense hours of setup, 5 hours of sleep [in the studio], another 11 hours of preparation, and a joy- and peaceful evening with you, my body and mind feel like they ran a marathon—and achieved a new personal best.

To you who came—whether from around the corner or across half of Germany: thank you.

You made this evening unforgettable. The first audiovisual listening session of 40 Nights in Toronto. My first solo exhibition. I'm deeply grateful you took the time—no matter how far you traveled or what plans you changed—to experience my art. It means the world to me.

I’ll need some time to process these past 2–3 days. Maybe I’ll write more about it in the next episode of disconnect.

Enjoy your day [or night].

glg Soda Paapi

PS: I have a full set of the A path of being at peace postcards left. If you’d like a chance to receive them, recommend disconnect to someone you believe will enjoy reading it. Send me their email address [with their consent, of course], I’ll add them to the mailing list, and you’ll be entered into the raffle. The last day to participate is next Sunday, 29 June.

PPS: You couldn't make it? No worries—I filmed a POV walk-through of the exhibition just before it started. And a 40 Nights in Toronto audiovisual listening session may be coming to a city near you soon.