Garden of Future Follies, Bayview and Front, Toronto, ON
Excerpt from blog.waterfrontoronto.ca:
Recently, Waterfront Toronto awarded a commission to Berlin-based artists Hadley+Maxwell to create a new sculptural installation for the corner of Front Street East and Bayview Avenue in the West Don Lands community. Installation of this new public art work is expected to be completed in late 2016, after the Pan/Parapan American Games. The site is part of a series of “continuous urban rooms” that will define this section of Front Street East. This new commission joins two previously announced public art projects in the same area, which include work by artist Tadashi Kawamata and the Canadian duo Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins.
Hadley+Maxwell’s work for Front Street will bring the past to life by fragmenting and rearranging parts of monuments, sculptures and architecture from all over the City of Toronto. Based on the idea of follies – fanciful and purely decorative structures that were popular in 18th and 19th century landscape gardens– this project reimagines a ‘garden of follies’ using features from the built environment that are normally inaccessible. The artists will incorporate elements from monuments that are normally high above the street and physically out of reach, bringing them down to street level where they can be celebrated and enjoyed. The work will build a collection of characters that creates a sense of play, inviting us to explore and interact with our city’s history.
The sculptures will be created using a “cinefoil” process, which uses a thick aluminum foil material pressed against an object to take its shape. The aluminum impression is then used to create a mold and cast a bronze version of the original. In the case of Hadley+Maxwell’s work, this often means envisioning how parts of an existing work can create a completely new sculpture. The project site and surrounding landscaping will be designed to flow around the work and build a sense of movement.
With this new public art work, Hadley and Maxwell are tackling the idea of the monument and asking us to question the way we think about public art. This installation will create a unique urban experience along the promenade, engaging passersby with a landscape of sculptures that relate and respond to one another. Imagine the much-loved Guildwood Park in Scarborough, with its forgotten monuments and statues, updated and translated into a walkable, downtown streetscape.
Hadley+Maxwell have been exploring these ideas in their artistic practice since they began working together in 1997. Canadian, but currently Berlin-based, these two artists have exhibited their work in cities all over the world, including Amsterdam, Taipei, Seattle, and Rotterdam. Many Toronto art lovers will also remember their immersive installation for Toronto’s Nuit Blanche in 2012, ‘Smells Like Spirit’. Their body of work includes video and sound-based work and examines the representation of popular culture and ideas of personal/private life versus public appearance. An important aspect of their artistic practice is that process of creating art is as important as the art object created.
Garden of Future Follies, Bayview and Front, Toronto, ON
Excerpt from blog.waterfrontoronto.ca:
Recently, Waterfront Toronto awarded a commission to Berlin-based artists Hadley+Maxwell to create a new sculptural installation for the corner of Front Street East and Bayview Avenue in the West Don Lands community. Installation of this new public art work is expected to be completed in late 2016, after the Pan/Parapan American Games. The site is part of a series of “continuous urban rooms” that will define this section of Front Street East. This new commission joins two previously announced public art projects in the same area, which include work by artist Tadashi Kawamata and the Canadian duo Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins.
Hadley+Maxwell’s work for Front Street will bring the past to life by fragmenting and rearranging parts of monuments, sculptures and architecture from all over the City of Toronto. Based on the idea of follies – fanciful and purely decorative structures that were popular in 18th and 19th century landscape gardens– this project reimagines a ‘garden of follies’ using features from the built environment that are normally inaccessible. The artists will incorporate elements from monuments that are normally high above the street and physically out of reach, bringing them down to street level where they can be celebrated and enjoyed. The work will build a collection of characters that creates a sense of play, inviting us to explore and interact with our city’s history.
The sculptures will be created using a “cinefoil” process, which uses a thick aluminum foil material pressed against an object to take its shape. The aluminum impression is then used to create a mold and cast a bronze version of the original. In the case of Hadley+Maxwell’s work, this often means envisioning how parts of an existing work can create a completely new sculpture. The project site and surrounding landscaping will be designed to flow around the work and build a sense of movement.
With this new public art work, Hadley and Maxwell are tackling the idea of the monument and asking us to question the way we think about public art. This installation will create a unique urban experience along the promenade, engaging passersby with a landscape of sculptures that relate and respond to one another. Imagine the much-loved Guildwood Park in Scarborough, with its forgotten monuments and statues, updated and translated into a walkable, downtown streetscape.
Hadley+Maxwell have been exploring these ideas in their artistic practice since they began working together in 1997. Canadian, but currently Berlin-based, these two artists have exhibited their work in cities all over the world, including Amsterdam, Taipei, Seattle, and Rotterdam. Many Toronto art lovers will also remember their immersive installation for Toronto’s Nuit Blanche in 2012, ‘Smells Like Spirit’. Their body of work includes video and sound-based work and examines the representation of popular culture and ideas of personal/private life versus public appearance. An important aspect of their artistic practice is that process of creating art is as important as the art object created.