The last block at the south end of Bay Street is closed to traffic at the moment because of the continuing, i.e. never ending, construction on Queens Quay. In that block there are now three pieces of public art. The most recent addition is a large photograph by Sarah Ann Johnson that covers a large portion of the west wall of the Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre.
‘Best Beach’ is a welcome addition to the bunker-like structure of the Westin Hotel. It is part of this year’s CONTACT photography festival and it is scheduled to remain here until the end of December. StreetARToronto and Partners in ART also played a role in bringing this project to life.
UPDATED: There is now a youtube video on this installation, produced by the City of Toronto.
Two small sculptures are also on this block, one on the SW corner of Harbour and Bay and the other on the NW corner of Queens Quay and Bay. Both are difficult to take photos of!
First, ‘The Wave’ by Ivan Kostov
Second, ‘Nautilius’ by Judith Schwarz
Toronto has a habit of cluttering up its sidewalks and public art like this one tends to become just another part of the mess. There is no overall plan. Placement of public art might look great on paper but does anyone take into consideration all the other stuff? Stuff that doesn’t appear on architects’ drawings – the garbage bins, newspaper boxes, TTC signs, phone booths, no parking signs, hydro poles, and such things like that.
And lastly, I couldn’t resist this little guy who’s stuck on a Bell payphone.
as I walk Toronto 