Young and Giroux triangulate meanings of public space with their new public art work
TORONTO, May 5, 2018 /CNW/ - Dynamic Toronto art duo Daniel Young and Christian Giroux, known as Young and Giroux, have transformed a barren traffic island into a playful exploration of urbanism with their work Three Points Where Two Lines Meet, which was launched today at the intersection of Bathurst Street and Vaughan Road.
"This new public art work cleverly challenges viewers to reimagine what a public space is and what it can be by utilizing the shape and utility of a location as the basis of inspiration for the work," said Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21 St. Paul's).
Their work animates this triangular intersection with a large elevated structure of powder-coated aluminum shapes. Composed of 12 interlocking steel trusses painted in seven different colours, it borrows equally from the palettes of construction equipment and children's toys. LED lights on the frame will also gently illuminate the site.
"This formally barren triangular lot has struck many as an undeveloped oddity – a glitch in the city's spatial system," said artists Young and Giroux. "It is an industrial architectural fantasy, a sculpture at the scale of urban design; that simultaneously evokes alternate histories of use and planning and provokes a sharpening of the formal consciousness of the city while imagining alternate futures."
Young and Giroux have reshaped Toronto's urban landscape over the last decade with the Scarborough playground sculpture Reticulated Gambol (2009), and Nyctophilia (2014), an illuminated street light grove of hydro poles in the Mount Dennis neighbourhood. They were commissioned by the City of Toronto to produce Three Points Where Two Lines Meet in 2014 after being selected through an open, national competition.
The artists will also give a talk about this work and their artistic practice on Monday, May 14 at 7 p.m. at the Wychwood library, located at 1431 Bathurst St. Admission is free.
Young and Giroux have been collaborating since 2002. They produce cinema installations, public artworks, sculptures and books. Winners of the 2011 Sobey Award, solo exhibitions of their work have been presented at the Prefix Institute for Contemporary Art in Toronto, the Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal in Montreal, the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany and The Rooms in St. John's, N.L.
Their provocative use of common industrial materials and forms has earned them international acclaim and has resulted in them being commissioned to do a number of public art projects. More artist information is available at http://cgdy.com.
More information about the City's public art programs is available at https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/history-art-culture/public-art/.
Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/TorontoComms, on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/cityofto or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cityofto.
SOURCE City of Toronto
Media contact: Shane Gerard, Strategic Communications, 416-397-5711, [email protected]
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