The finishing touches are being put on five installations for the new Ice Breakers event along Queens Quay West and the waterfront. Everything will be up and running this weekend and the installations will remain until the event ends on the 26th of February. Ice Breakers is the result of a collaboration between the Waterfront BIA and Winter Stations (the people that brought the winter warming stations installations to the Beaches)
below: The first installation that I saw was ‘Incognito’ which stands out in Rees Street Parkette on Queens Quay. It is by Curio Art Consultancy and Jaspal Riyait.
below: Set your sails and round you go! Sailboats that go in circles. ‘Leeward Fleet’ by RAW design sailing at Canada Square.
below: ‘Icebox ‘ is a black box on HTO beach which is where the yellow umbrellas are. Alan and Alex of Anex Works were putting the finishing touches on it when I walked by. Polymetis designed it, but Anex Works built it. In fact, they are the ones responsible for construction of most of these installations. I didn’t take any photos inside the box in part because it’s not complete… but the inside walls are made from hardened spray foam insulation and that’s all I’m going to tell you. This one will be more fun if it’s a surprise. I definitely plan to go back later in the month to check out the finished product. And yes, it is reminiscent of the black box that was one of the Warming Stations in 2015, Hot Box, because it was the same artist (or group of artists).
below: From across the street it looks like two hands gesturing like “It was this big!”
Or perhaps they are holding that grey building up?
below: The hands are made of wood. The palms are covered in a shiny gold coloured material that will reflect the light that shines from the bottom of each hand. “Tailored Twins” by Ferris + Associates.
below: And last, an installation that probably looks much better in the dark when each diamond shaped module is lit from inside. This is ‘Winter Diamonds’ and it was designed by Platant, a Danish design and artistic consultancy. Their website is in Danish but it does have some interesting pictures on it, including an installation similar to this that was in Copenhagen last winter (I think!)
#TOicebreakers | #TOwaterfront
Note: Winter Stations returns to Balmy, Kew and Ashbridges Bay beaches on the 20th of February.
as I walk Toronto 