BigArtTO is back in the Beach this October with a number of art projections planned for local landmarks.
This is the second year locally for BigArtTO which is an ongoing city-wide public art celebration featuring free access to more than 200 hours of temporary public artworks projected onto buildings and landmarks.
This month’s projections began earlier this week, and projections are slated for Oct. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 13, 14, 15 and 16 at three different locations.
For this weekend, projections and are set for the nights of Friday, Oct. 1, and Saturday, Oct. 2, from 7:15 to 10:15 p.m. on the wall of the Ashbridges Bay Pumping Station building in Pumphouse Park.
Artist Arshia Sobhan Sarbandi’s work will be projected onto the pumping station wall. The pump station is the white circular building located in the park, at 1091 Eastern Ave., just west of Coxwell Avenue.
The projections will be visible from the Beach Skateboard Park, which is located on the northwest corner of Lake Shore Boulevard East and Coxwell Avenue.
Sarbandi’s projection is titled Navigating the Latent. It is described as ”an endeavour to rethink the role of modern technology in the development of Islamic calligraphy in digital media.”
It follows the philosophy of hurufiyya (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurufiyya_movement ) and focuses on the visual aspects of the letters and “unleashes a new mode of creative expression that corresponds to the fluidity of the forms of Islamic calligraphy – a quality that has remained inaccessible using conventional analog or digital tools.”
Sarbandi has worked in a number of fields over the past 15 years. His research work in Digital Futures with the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) explores the potential of using machine learning systems in Islamic calligraphy for both artistic and other purposes.
Navigating the Latent is presented with OCAD.
BigArtTO projections continue from Wednesday, Oct. 6 to Saturday, Oct. 9 on the wall of the Donald D. Summerville Olympic Pool at the foot of Woodbine Avenue from 7:15 to 10:15 p.m. each night.
Artists Afifa Bari, kaya joan, Stephanie Avery and Rebecca Jane Houston will present their projection Echoes of Community on the pool’s wall.
Echoes of Community examines how collective and community experiences reimagine art practices.
It asks the questions, “How does ancestral knowledge of the past and the future inspire our making? What is revolutionary about community ties and how do we utilize those connections to upend oppressive systems?”
It is presented with Akin Projects, a Toronto-based arts organizations that provides creative studio space and arts-based programs.
For bios on the artists who created Echoes of Community, please go to https://www.artworxto.ca/event/bigartto-summerville
The projections set for Wednesday, Oct. 13 through to Saturday, Oct. 16, will take place nightly at the R.C. Harris Treatment Plant on Queen Street East from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The works of OCAD students will be featured on the plant’s walls in a presentation titled BigArtTO at R.C. Harris. “This custom and site-specific artwork will take into consideration the building’s history, purpose, and art deco designs,” said the BigArtTO press release.
When BigArtTO took place in November of 2020, the projections at the R.C. Harris plant were the best attended in all of Toronto.
This year’s BigArtTO also includes projections at the Scarborough Civic Centre; the Equinix Data Centre at 45 Parliament St.; the Earl Bales Community Centre on Bathurst Street in North York; and the Weston GO station.
For more information, please go to https://www.artworxto.ca/page/bigartto
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