Posts Tagged ‘David Rokeby’

Union Station and beyond

Posted: August 19, 2023 in construction, locations, people, public art, transportation
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Welcome back!

one of the statues of Maple Leaf hockey players,

below: Posing with the men of Legends Row

people taking picture

below: The CN Tower peaks out from behind glass buildings on Bremner.

CN Tower peaking out from behind galss buildings on Bremner, reflections in the glass too

below: A slightly different angle, but still looking west on Bremner towards the Rogers Centre, which of course everyone still calls the SkyDome. The very east end of Bremner is also known as Raptors Way in celebration of the Toronto Raptors NBA Championship win in 2019 (that’s basketball for those of you who don’t follow such things).

Bremner street scene, Longos, people, Rogers Centre in the background

below: Maple Leaf Square.  The three rusted metal cones form  “Search Light, Star Light, Spot Light” (1998) by John McEwen.  At night, light shines through the thousand star shaped holes in the metal.

3 large conical structures as public art, with star shaped holes in them, in front of Union Station

below: South entrance to Union Station.

south entrance of Union Station, at Maple Leaf Square, with tall office buildings behind,

below:  More public art with lights can be seen in the foyer at 25 York Street (enter at Union Station in photo above and turn left). Thirty thousand lights suspended from the ceiling and they are constantly changing colour.   This is David Rokeby’s “Pixel Cube”.

 

light art installation suspended from high ceiling, titled pixel cube,

below: If you had turned right instead of left into 25 York,  you would find yourself in the foyer of Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Pictured, larger than life on the wall, are 90 Ryan O’Reilly, 16 Mitch Marner, and 88 William Nylander.

picture on interior wall at one of the entrances to Scotiabank arena, showing portraits of 3 maple leaf hockey players

west entrance to scotiabank arena, interior shot, Canadian flags hanging from ceiling, reflections in polished floor, people,

a family of four with suitcases passes through entrance to Union station from scotiabank arena, with large picture of a Maple Leaf hockey player watching them

below: Russell Peters gives directions?

sign inside Union Station, on a large picture of comedian Russell Peters, directional signs showing York and Bay concourses as well as GO station and TTC

below: Although much of the Union Station renovation is complete, there are still mystery parts behind temporary walls and plastic barriers.

man walking with a cane, inside hallways of union station where there is still construction and renovation going on

people inside union station, at top of escalator for GO regional trains

union station, escalator, upper level with clear railing, advert on pillar

below: The walk from the railway side of the station to the TTC portion is now covered.  No more dodging the elements!

covered space between railway station at union station and entrance to TTC subway

construction and maintenence equipment like a wheelbarrow kept behind a green mesh fence, with danger due to construction signs on it

people walking down exterior stairs, union station

two men outside union station one in black pants, white shirt, and black tie standing and a construction worker in orange and yellow vest sitting on railing with back to camera

below: Construction on Bay Street, immediately north of the railway tracks.

construction of a tall building, steel frame of lower floors completed, tall crane, Bay street

below: A typical day in downtown Toronto?  Construction vehicles caught in the gridlock.

flatbed truck loaded with metal pipes, n Bay street, in traffic, with pedestrians waiting beside the road to cross over

pasteups and sticker graffiti on a red newspaper box with the word free on it

below: Intersection of Bay and Front (that truck is still there!).

a man on a scooter and other traffic at bay and front streets

below: At street level, something is happening with the gold tinted glass windows on the Royal Bank building.  No opportunities to play with reflections in the angled glass walls.   As an aside, if you want to discover how many plainclothes security people are lurking in the area, put your camera over the wall and aim it at the building.  Then smile.

construction zone around the base of the royal bank building at bay and front, a gold tinted glass building

below: Heading north, Bay and Wellington

people crossing wellington street on bay, pedestrians, tall buildings on either side of the street

teo men hugging each other in greeting as another man with bright blue sunglasses and pink shorts walks past

a workman repairs the large wide stairs on bay with passersby looking at him

a man in an orange and yellow work vests rests against a billboard sign for tangerine

a couple walk their bike on king street

humanity and a kraken

Posted: October 31, 2021 in locations, public art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

The results of a walk on what was probably the last warm evening of the year….

people walking on Queens Quay at night

below: In Sir John A. Macdonald Plaza (that’s the space in front of Union Station by Front Street) is an art installation by Masai Ujiri, “Humanity Movement”.  There are 35 words that represent what humanity means to Ujiri – words such as compassion, love, selfless, collective that are repeated as they cover the eight foot high installation.  A light in the center makes the words appear on the sidewalk and on the structures (and people) around it.

Humanity movement art installation in Sir John A Macdonald Plaza in front of Union Station, by Masai Ujiri. metal cylinder with words cut out, a light shines through from the middle and the words show as lights on the sidewalk

well lit Sir John A Macdonald Plaza in front of Union Station, at night, with lit clock, sculpture and an art installation by Masai Ujiri

below: Inside the Great Hall at Union Station is an image titled “House of Baby” that is the result of a collaboration between Camille Turner and Camal Pirbhal.  It is a image of people in the Great Hall that includes portraits of 18 Indigenous and Black people who were enslaved by the Baby family.

a few people standing in front of an image called house of baby, a collage of people who were enslaved by the Baby family all gathered in Union Station

Francois Baby (1768 Detroit – 1852 Windsor Ont) and his brother James (1763 Detroit – 1833 Toronto) were politicians, businessmen and land owners.  Francois stayed in what was then the Western District of Upper Canada (around Windsor).   His biography is long and I’m not going to go into details here but he did have slaves.  James moved to York in 1815 and was part of the establishment – between 1792 and 1830 he held more than 115 appointments or commissions of varying degrees of importance.

In 1793 John Graves Simcoe, then Lieutenant Governor, tried to abolish slavery in Upper Canada but many of the ruling class, including James Baby, were slave owners and outright abolishment failed.  Instead there was a compromise made (how Canadian!) and restrictions were put on slave ownership such that by 1833 there were none left.  A much more complete history of slavery in Upper Canada can be found in an article at Upper Canada History.

close up of part of an image called house of baby, a collage of people who were enslaved by the Baby family all gathered in Union Station

below: On the York Street side of Union Station

York street side of Union station

below: On the PATH system at 25 York Street there is a mural that is 25 metres long (or 100 feet long); it is “Entire City Project” by Michael Awad, 2009.  It is a warped panorama of commuters outside Union Station.

part of a mural by Michael Awad of people moving together, most walking, one man with a bicycle

below: The lights hanging from the ceiling are another art piece.  “Pixel Matrix”, is a large cube of 30,000 individually controllable LED lights on strings, with constantly changing lighting effects.  It was a collaboration between Michael Awad and David Rokeby

 

interior of 25 York street with 2 art installations, the hanging glass and lights, and a long mural by Michael Awad

detail of Michael Awad Entire City Project mural of people walking in commute

lights shining through exterior glass walls, blue lights on a staircase

below: Making a kraken.  One tentacle can be seen in the foreground.

below: The kraken’s eye is a video that plays on a screen bulging from the container that can barely hold its contents.  Will the kraken escape?  Is Queens Quay safe?

making a Kraken art installation out of a metal container

below: Lights in motion

a man riding a bike at night with blue LED lights all over it. his helmet has lights too

below:  The art installations at 10 York Street look much different at night!

art installation in the lobby of a condo building on York street

below: Lights over the harbour, Queens Quay

bridge over harbour on Queens Quay, at night, with lights and reflections of light in the water

a couple, at night, standing outside on one of the wave decks on Queens Quay

the back of a large boat, at night, one light on the boat, ladder, blue ropes

entrance and exit to a parking structure at night

2 small plastic orange pylons sit on a ledge in a broken window with a green staircase behind inside the building

two men walking in lit passageway, inside, blue wall on left, carrying photo equipment and tripod