Part of the delight of being on the street is in not knowing what you’ll encounter next… Taking as inspiration the various types of convergences and events that often occur in streets, this kinetic installation infuses the Bentway’s skate trail with the vitality of the city and the ever-shifting variables of the street. A motorized conveyor belt overhead becomes an artery of sorts, soaring and looping around the bents above, carrying objects that march through the space like sorcerer’s apprentices. The unassuming signage and objects that are part of the quotidian landscape of the street such as stop signs, traffic cones, and bike racks are composed and deployed in a playful and subversive treatment of order and chaos: a procession of inverted road pylons with cheerfully blinking warning lights; a mobile of one-way signs, spinning aimlessly; a train of traffic mirrors pointing in different directions, multiplying and distorting the images of viewers below.

PARADE deconstructs the street, and marshals these iconic elements in a celebratory procession, transforming a mundane urban scene into street theatre. Reflecting on the continuous movement of the Gardiner Expressway above, and the bustle of the Bentway below, the viewer becomes a still point amidst the traffic of everyday life.

PARADE

Commission by Bentway Conservatory (2022)

Curators: Anna Gallagher-Ross, Ilana Altman

Project Lead: Michael Awad

Associate Designer: Tatiana Kahvegian

Renderings: Jason Lajka