NEW public art and art installations in your city

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Do other Canadian cities regularly do temporary installations like Montreal does?

I know Toronto had Mel Lastman's moose in the city at one point but I am not sure it was that well-received. Did London, Ontario not do something at one point as well?

Calgary had this sculpture on lease for about 5 years through the Glenbow museum.

Device to Root Out Evil by Dennis Oppenheim.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Montreal is special. And cool.

When you see the village done up like that you invariably wonder at how unique Montreal is. And you invariably think about Canada's other metropolis by way of comparison.

And, after a few moments, you invariably think of Rob Ford.

Montreal. Rob Ford. You can't put them into the same sentence. You can try, but it won't work. Montreal...Montreal...

Rob Ford.

Nope. They resist each other. Just for fun, try to imagine Rob Ford spearheading that kind of public installation in Toronto.

Thankfully the mayor isn't responsible for installing public art fixtures. There have been plenty of temporary art installations in Toronto over the years. Nuit Blanche alone has dozens of installations for just one night every year.
























Some more recent, permanent ones:

Zhang Huan's "Rising", Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto Ontario by Greg's Southern Ontario, on Flickr

[shreddog]

Barring anymore flooding this year, my favourite temporary Calgary art installation - RiverOfLight - will be back. They drop these balls at Edgeworthy that float down the Bow

CityOfCalgary

that change colour as they get downtown and it gets dark.

[Martin Mtl]

Great stuff all around.

That Shangri-la sculpture is amazing. And so are the Calgary's color balls. This is what makes a city exciting.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

This is what makes a city exciting.

I guess St. John's mustn't be very exciting then.

These are the type of things that add some colour and vibrancy to a city, but they don't make it.



Calgary's balls (huehuehue) look cool. Are they tethered, to anything or is it literally a couple hours long piece?

[kwoldtimer]

The 9th CAFKA bienal (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area) will be held here from May 31 to June 29, in conjunction with the Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound. The theme of CAFKA14 is "It Should Always Be This Way". There will be events, performance art and installations around town throughout the month.

[Chadillaccc]

The Calgary Peace Bridge is a functional work of art...



http://www.carsandtrains.com/travel/.../calgary1.html


As is Poppy Plaza...


Poppy Plaza in Calgary by Neil Zeller Photography, on Flickr

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/06/09...istan-gathered


Jaume Plensa's Wonderland and Alberta Dream


https://storify.com/calgarysun/plens...edf9832d005be6

https://twitter.com/AmandaLeduc/stat...03091022475264

http://www.encana.com/news-stories/o...sculpture.html

[thebasketballgeek]

Winnipeg has the Forks warming huts.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

I guess St. John's mustn't be very exciting then.

These are the type of things that add some colour and vibrancy to a city, but they don't make it.

Calgary's balls (huehuehue) look cool. Are they tethered, to anything or is it literally a couple hours long piece?

Impressive TO examples, BTW. We were wrong that it's just MTL doing it.

*****

Does performance art count?

St. John's does well enough in that area. There are official, scheduled musical performances throughout the downtown during the summer. The main ones are the lunch hour performances at Harbourside Park, and the grand welcoming for cruise ships on the harbour apron.

But it's everywhere, all the time, unofficially as well. And they're seldom beggars.

Here's one from YouTube, with the author's description:

I met a Japanese/Canadian guy after midnight in St. John's playing a traditional tune. One of the many things I love about the city is that you can just stumble across music anytime of the day.

• Video Link

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Winnipeg has the Forks warming huts.

Ya know, I was trying to think "hm, Winnipeg public art... Winnipeg public art...". Having lived there for so long, it's just something that's ingrained in my brain. I've never really separated the art from the larger public realm (architecture, people) so I've never given it enough thought to be able to point it out to people. You tend to notice art a lot more when you're a visitor or newcomer to a city - or at least, I do. I just took it for granted back home.

Come on, peggers, show us some pics!

[esquire]

Here are some of the newer pieces from Winnipeg.

One of Winnipeg's real crowd-pleasers from recent years is Emptyful in the Millennium Library park downtown... it uses mist and LED lighting to create a pretty interesting spectacle:



I also like the DIY Field at Central Park, a collection of 38 light posts that allow you to change the colour of the light by pressing a button:



The Cube functions as a stage but doubles as a piece of public art:



Agassiz Ice is a nice one by Assiniboine Park:



I'm not really in love with the marbles on Portage, but they're there:



New/rebuilt bridges now generally include public art components. Here's a shot of one part of the extensive From Here Until Now work on the Osborne Bridge:

[freeweed]

Thank you esquire! All things that have gone in since I left the city, and all things that I forget about because they blend so well into the existing fabric of my memories. I'm especially fond of the library flask, when it's working (inner geek here). And the marbles I just think are funky and cool; I'd have loved them during my teen years roaming downtown Winnipeg every weekend.

This makes me realize - public art seemed to be fairly common in the 60s/70s, and then kinda disappeared for a while (in terms of new installations). But now it's back with a vengeance. Is this true for Canada as a whole, or is it just my narrow view of a couple of prairie cities?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Thank you esquire! All things that have gone in since I left the city, and all things that I forget about because they blend so well into the existing fabric of my memories. I'm especially fond of the library flask, when it's working (inner geek here). And the marbles I just think are funky and cool; I'd have loved them during my teen years roaming downtown Winnipeg every weekend.

This makes me realize - public art seemed to be fairly common in the 60s/70s, and then kinda disappeared for a while (in terms of new installations). But now it's back with a vengeance. Is this true for Canada as a whole, or is it just my narrow view of a couple of prairie cities?

I agree with you on all points. So much of the public art in Canadian cities, especially the stuff from the 60s and 70s heyday, just kind of blends into the background because everyone gets so used to seeing it around.

I personally love some of the older modern pieces of public art... a lot of them have disappeared over the years, but there is a pretty nice collection of hidden surprises throughout the city.

The 90s were a pretty dead time for public art... in that era when every government was wrestling with what seemed like insurmountable deficits, funding dried up for such things. And the little that did get created during that time wasn't always great and became magnets for criticism.

It seemed like the 2000s were a period of resurgence for public art across the country... Winnipeg created a program for public art, and I know that Edmonton saw a lot of public art created during that decade too. Some of it has been controversial, but overall it has been a positive development. I'm glad that there is a renewed appreciation for the role of public art in enhancing the urban environment.

[J.OT13]

The Teapot, called "Northshore" in Ottawa's CBD. It was commissioned by Minto for the final phase of the Minto Place office complex (right) and installed in 2010.


http://spacing.ca/ottawa/2010/04/22/...ure-in-ottawa/

Back in 2005, the National Art Gallery installed Louise Bourgeois's "Maman", a giant spider with 26 marble eggs on its sac. 5 of these sculptures exist.


http://www.omnilexica.com/?q=maman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maman_(sculpture)

[Martin Mtl]

Art piece by Nicolas Baier erected in 2012 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Place Ville Marie.


Self-Portrait by Jerome Olivier on Flickr


Nicolas Baier, Autoportrait, Place Ville-Marie, 2012 by Retis on Flickr


Nicolas Baier, Autoportrait, Place Ville-Marie, 2012 by Retis on Flickr


Nicolas Baier, Autoportrait, Place Ville-Marie, 2012 by Retis on Flickr

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Calgary had this sculpture on lease for about 5 years through the Glenbow museum.

Device to Root Out Evil by Dennis Oppenheim.

If it hasn't been mentioned already this upsidedown church ^^^ was in downtown Vancouver for a few years for the city's Biennalle. (don't know how to spell it properly.)

[Denscity]

Castlegar has now become the Sculpture Capital of Canada. We have 50 sculptures displayed outside in our downtown this year. SculptureWalk started 3 years ago with the art on display year round. Every year people vote for their favourite and the city buys the winner and permanently displays it. Artists are from Canada, US, and one from Belgium this year.

sculpturewalkcastlegar.com

[kwoldtimer]

Various installations around town until June 29th for the CAFKA 14 biennial arts festival that got underway this weekend. These are all in downtown Kitchener.

http://www.cafka.org/cafka14/it-should-always-be-way

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Castlegar has now become the Sculpture Capital of Canada. We have 50 sculptures displayed outside in our downtown this year. SculptureWalk started 3 years ago with the art on display year round. Every year people vote for their favourite and the city buys the winner and permanently displays it. Artists are from Canada, US, and one from Belgium this year.

sculpturewalkcastlegar.com

Wow I had no idea! Thanks for sharing Denscity.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Castlegar has now become the Sculpture Capital of Canada. We have 50 sculptures displayed outside in our downtown this year. SculptureWalk started 3 years ago with the art on display year round. Every year people vote for their favourite and the city buys the winner and permanently displays it. Artists are from Canada, US, and one from Belgium this year.

sculpturewalkcastlegar.com

So that's really interesting, would makers of largish sculptures typically find the financing to create them on spec hoping to win? For some reason I figured most sculptures displayed in cities were paid for in advance.