On June 20th, the follow-up exhibit will be installed. The new photography show, NO FLAT CITY: Toronto's Incomparable Terrain, explores many of the same themes, but this time, instead of focusing on Toronto's hidden waterways it focuses on its variegated topography.
"Both these shows--NINE RIVERS CITES and NO FLAT CITY--are trying to dispel some common ways we look at our city by bringing in some new insights," says Patrick Macaulay, Harbourfront Centre's director of Visual Arts. "So, for example, we often think about Toronto as a 'lake city,' but NINE RIVERS brought attention to our rivers. In the same way, with Toronto being so built up we can forget about its distinct topographical features. NO FLAT CITY sheds light on our city in new ways. It's ultimately about bringing attention to things that are really important but are sort of hidden and out of the way."
NO FLAT CITY: Toronto's Incomparable Terrain, like NINE RIVERS before it will be housed at the Harbourfront Centre's Exhibition Common - Harbourfront Centre's impressive outdoor photography display area. The Exhibition Common, the largest outdoor photography display space in Canada, consists of 40 large steel structures that can house 72 large scale photographic images. The exhibition will feature works by six handpicked emerging artists, artists who Macaulay and his colleagues worked with closely throughout the project.
"Like last year, we were looking for artists that have recently graduated school and started their practice," Macauly says. "We selected a balance of photodoc photographers and those that are shooting more artistically."
Each artist, he says, was asked to work within four themes areas: Historic Landforms, Reshaping the Land, Living in the Landscape, and People and the Land.
Given the nature of the exhibition--outdoor, public, and financially and physically onerous to install--NO FLAT CITY: Toronto's Incomparable Terrain) will also remain on display for the better part of a year.
"I think this type of show lends itself to a longer run," says Macauly. "Normally exhibits run two to three months maximum but this one, because it's public and put on at such a large scale, we just want a lot of people to see. I think it's a wonderful opportunity for people to come down to the Waterfront and see an aspect of their city that they wouldn't normally be aware of."
NO FLAT CITY: Toronto's Incomparable Terrain is the second installment of Harbourfront's two-year partnership with the Toronto Region and Conservation Authority and real-estate company Menkes to put on public photography exhibits that "helps to give the public access to complicated social or ecological issues."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Pat Macaulay, Visual Curator, Harbourfront Center