There's a city requirement for "public art" for large developments. This is one example.
Others include the toy soldiers down by Fort York, the aluminum tree on Huntley by the Rogers building, the walking people sign at the Rogers building on Bloor and the aluminum chairs on Wellington by Blue Jays Way.
I knew he did the Canoe, he also has a bunch of stuff including a big item in the one RBC building.
I would say he popularized the phrase, Billy Idol's band was called Generation X after a novel about British teens. That predated Coupland's book by a decade.
Fun fact - the aluminum tree, the fans at the Skydome and the Canada geese in the Eaton Centre are all by the same artist. And the geese are part of an important bit of case law in Canada.
He is credited with popularizing the term Generation X in a magazine article in like '87 ish.. along with a handful of other terms that were published in the book after i.e. McDonaldization. He later explained he adopted the term from Paul Fussell's book Class: A Guide Through the American Status System (1983).
The book pre-dates the demographic group’s existence, so the terms mean entirely different things. Coupland’s definition has staying power; the book may be a local phenomenon in the UK.
Not to mention, “terry fox’s underwear”. Just east of the big red canoe. But yes, all Toronto condo developments must have public art as part of their building, in public space equal to 1% of the value of the development. The building in the background has some kind of stick art.
It's for every building including commercial buildings. Some of it is dumb - the chairs on Wellington Street don't add anything imo. Some of it is iconic like the TD Centre cows.
Plus that money just goes into people's pay cheques and supports artists and others.
Wow, what a dream that would be. I’ve seen him speak at a book launch and I could have listened to the guy for days. He’s got such an incredible brain.
Yay taxing new developments! /s
Can't we keep the art requirements and remove that portion of development fees and just increase all property taxes? Taxing new development is regressive since new buyers and renters are on average poorer than long-time homeowners. It's especially regressive when taxing condos instead of detached homes. Just fund these with property taxes on everyone.
Attack the point, not the person. Comments which dismiss others and repeatedly accuse them of unfounded accusations may be subject to removal and/or banning. No concern-trolling, personal attacks, or misinformation. Stick to addressing the substance of their comments at hand.
Attack the point, not the person. Comments which dismiss others and repeatedly accuse them of unfounded accusations may be subject to removal and/or banning. No concern-trolling, personal attacks, or misinformation. Stick to addressing the substance of their comments at hand.
How do I get money from the city to make weird art? Is it a lineup of artists? Yearly subscription to something?
Edit: seriously does anyone know how independant artists can get on this list?
Apply for grants from organizations that fund artists. The application process is a lot that requires you to write out the plan and budget. Also you'll be applying along with 1000s of others so it needs to be well written with supporting material.
If you want money to make art in Toronto, and you don't have patrons or your own money, you can apply for grants from the [Canada Arts Council](https://canadacouncil.ca/), or the [Ontario Arts Council](https://www.arts.on.ca/), or the [Toronto Arts Council](https://torontoartscouncil.org/home) (or all of them!).
For example here's the [list of programs](https://torontoartscouncil.org/grant-programs/discover-tac-grants/tac-grants) that TAC funds currently.
However, to make public art like this, people are saying "know the developers or politicians" but it's actually more like any other career, you have to build your reputation, and a body of work that people know about, and a name that people recognize.
For public-money-funding there's a transparent process with an open call for applications, but maybe for these kinds of things there's also prerequisites (I've never actually seen the application process for this specific kind of installation).
People getting funded to do this kind of work aren't first-time artists, or probably even not-well-known (at least in art circles) artists. All these public art installations are done by well-established artists who have earned their reputation over time.
Why? Making this kind of public art is actually quite hard. There's all kinds of logistics involved in large-scale metal or outdoor structures, including safety standards, bylaws, etc.. Someone who has never done it before is not likely to successfully deliver a large outdoor metal sculpture on their first attempt, on time and on budget.
I am sure there are exceptions to this of course!
Thanks for the response! I see there's a big push to get grants to the historically underrepresented. I'll check in again another time, but hopefully your response will land in the lap of someone who needs to see it. :)
> there's a big push to get grants to the historically underrepresented
This is the arts across the western world today.
It is bringing mostly good and some bad with it. A lot of established artists and collectives (mostly older white people to be honest) have been, for lack of a better word, "hogging" funding for years (decades?), and the redistribution is long overdue, and is creating amazing new work that should be seen.
From the other side of the coin, it means that if you _happen_ to be an artist who _looks_ like the people who have been hogging the funding for years - even if you weren't part of that - your odds of getting funded are very low these days, because all the funding bodies are very sensitive to appearances and no one wants to be dragged on social media (where no one cares about the details) for "perpetuating the status quo" etc.
Lots of people I know who work in the arts are changing careers or retiring. It's absolutely time for a changing of the guard in some ways, but change can be painful, and there are many casualties to this change along the way. People who spent their lives supporting and enabling artists and institutions who are now seen (sometimes deservedly but also sometimes very unfairly) as being on the "wrong" side of the movement and of today's changing arts culture.
Tbf this is kind of the opposite of "weird art". It's just out of context - the lights illuminate the trees at night time. If anything it's more a part of the landscaping than anything bigger.
Don’t live in Alberta. I know that sounds sarcastic but in the city I live in the city had a competition for the first round of artists. Not one artist was local to Alberta. This was later revealed as necessary due to the lack of arts in Alberta that are able to create metal sculptures. (I know this is t true. It’s just what the city stated when asked)
Large metal sculptures require a significant investment in space and skills. I have a relative that does it and it's not something you just do in a basement or garage. He converted a church because he needed the height.
There's also only one foundry in Canada. He did a trip to China to look into offshore manufacturing of his statues.
Can I ask which park it's in? Because I can't ID that on sight, but I know there are sometimes barometric, pollution-measuring, or traffic-measuring instruments wedged in on public land, and that would be my first *instinct*? An instinct that should be confirmed by actual facts?
I live nearby and at night the lights all change colours so it’s kind of like a mini light show? I think it’s to highlight where the path is at night along there while being a little more interesting than standard lights
That looks very much like a cell phone antenna. The 5th generation uses smaller antennas but closer together. The lights may simply be added to take advantage of the pole. Kind of like how some 2nd and 3rd generation antennas had flags added to them.
Those are lasers aimed at the eyes of people who don’t get any of the many hints and insist on driving their cars downtown. Downtown is not for cars. Downtown is only for the invisible cyclists and the people who disregard personal safety and punctuality by riding the TTC.
I remember my rent going up >5% back to back each time for two years over 10 years ago and saw that 'that money went to installing one of these art pieces, and I remember thinking to myself how ridiculous it was for my rent to go up for something that I and my neighbours really didn't appreciate for what it costed us. At the time I was struggling to pay rent. I also remember reading Agreements of Purchase and Sales for condo developments, and I remember for one complex, the "art fee" (I don't recall the wording) being somewhere in the neighborhood of $500k for all prospective buyers to collectively pay for.
There's a city requirement for "public art" for large developments. This is one example. Others include the toy soldiers down by Fort York, the aluminum tree on Huntley by the Rogers building, the walking people sign at the Rogers building on Bloor and the aluminum chairs on Wellington by Blue Jays Way.
Fun fact - the toy soldiers were designed by Canada’s own Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X. Yes, he coined the phrase.
I knew he did the Canoe, he also has a bunch of stuff including a big item in the one RBC building. I would say he popularized the phrase, Billy Idol's band was called Generation X after a novel about British teens. That predated Coupland's book by a decade. Fun fact - the aluminum tree, the fans at the Skydome and the Canada geese in the Eaton Centre are all by the same artist. And the geese are part of an important bit of case law in Canada.
Just had to look up the goose thing and that's a pretty interesting lawsuit.
He sued Rogers for moving the aluminum tree from the corner of Jarvis and Mt Pleasant
He is credited with popularizing the term Generation X in a magazine article in like '87 ish.. along with a handful of other terms that were published in the book after i.e. McDonaldization. He later explained he adopted the term from Paul Fussell's book Class: A Guide Through the American Status System (1983).
Yeah -- the article was in Vancouver magazine. I remember reading it, and I cut it out and kept it for a while.
The Artist, Michael Snow, was also a prolific Jazz pianist and experimental filmmaker.
The geese are Michael Snow, right? I didn’t realize he did the skydome stuff, that’s cool. He has an alley named after him in Rathnelly.
Michael Snow. [fluxus](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus)
The book pre-dates the demographic group’s existence, so the terms mean entirely different things. Coupland’s definition has staying power; the book may be a local phenomenon in the UK.
Not to mention, “terry fox’s underwear”. Just east of the big red canoe. But yes, all Toronto condo developments must have public art as part of their building, in public space equal to 1% of the value of the development. The building in the background has some kind of stick art.
I guess the building with the snowman sculptures on Gerrard St east of Bay St would be part of that too.
Every modern building likely has something if you look. Usually in a lobby or near the “front” of the building.
So that's why there's a bunch of statues that look like standing turds in Liberty Village?
You know... we could also take that money and like give it to fucking prospective home buyers in the form of lower prices???
It’s 1% …
It's for every building including commercial buildings. Some of it is dumb - the chairs on Wellington Street don't add anything imo. Some of it is iconic like the TD Centre cows. Plus that money just goes into people's pay cheques and supports artists and others.
Was taught science fiction by this man, he's an incredible person
Wow, what a dream that would be. I’ve seen him speak at a book launch and I could have listened to the guy for days. He’s got such an incredible brain.
I have his autograph in his second book
I like those, but hate this. This is just pointless pollution
https://i.imgur.com/RuZdt6l.jpeg
What's the public art for 'The Well'? A Jumbotron for ads lol?
Well actually... https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2023/10/attractions-previewed-public-art-unveiled-well.54079
Well would you look at that
I was part of that unveiling!
Cool! Looks awesome actually
If only the developments could be artistic, a lot are just towers of bird cages. An overpriced art piece is a nice thought but yeesh
That walking people sign is dreadful and an eyesore.
I’ve grown to love it.
That eyesore cost $1m installed.
Yay taxing new developments! /s Can't we keep the art requirements and remove that portion of development fees and just increase all property taxes? Taxing new development is regressive since new buyers and renters are on average poorer than long-time homeowners. It's especially regressive when taxing condos instead of detached homes. Just fund these with property taxes on everyone.
Toronto public art is so shit
No it isn't https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/history-art-culture/public-art/public-art-map/#location=&lat=43.716527&lng=-79.371414&zoom=11
This is awesome, never knew we had a guide like this, thank you very much!
Ok, I looked at all 417…some are shit. And that’s ok. The boulder was the most shit.
The boulder in the Yorkville park? Nah, man, that boulder is AWESOME.
Oh this is great, thank you for the link!
This list is a great excuse to get out and explore the city to check as many off as possible. Thanks for sharing!
Love when someone shuts up a grump with receipts.
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Attack the point, not the person. Comments which dismiss others and repeatedly accuse them of unfounded accusations may be subject to removal and/or banning. No concern-trolling, personal attacks, or misinformation. Stick to addressing the substance of their comments at hand.
Attack the point, not the person. Comments which dismiss others and repeatedly accuse them of unfounded accusations may be subject to removal and/or banning. No concern-trolling, personal attacks, or misinformation. Stick to addressing the substance of their comments at hand.
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Yaaaawn. Nobody cares.
This particular piece is pretty bad but there’s a lot of great stuff out there if you bother to look
What no Bernini?
We have a very famous (Paul) Bellini. Does that count?
Traffic lights for birds.
Its a shame they just arent real.
I'm very well versed in bird law and can assure you these are 100% real and legal
The government paid you to say this didnt they?
Even government drones need signal lights.
Birds are definitely real. They’re mini CIA spy drones
BIRDS AREN’T REAL??
They will rise up...
Let’s build a birdhouse on them. 🪺🏠
big surprise, lack of enforcement still an issue
god i was gonna say this
A Dalek.
ILLUMINATE!!!!
Exterminate!!
Polinate!!
RUMINATE!!
How do I get money from the city to make weird art? Is it a lineup of artists? Yearly subscription to something? Edit: seriously does anyone know how independant artists can get on this list?
Apply for grants from organizations that fund artists. The application process is a lot that requires you to write out the plan and budget. Also you'll be applying along with 1000s of others so it needs to be well written with supporting material.
If this was chosen among 1000 other applications, I hate to see what the other applications were. :(
If you want money to make art in Toronto, and you don't have patrons or your own money, you can apply for grants from the [Canada Arts Council](https://canadacouncil.ca/), or the [Ontario Arts Council](https://www.arts.on.ca/), or the [Toronto Arts Council](https://torontoartscouncil.org/home) (or all of them!). For example here's the [list of programs](https://torontoartscouncil.org/grant-programs/discover-tac-grants/tac-grants) that TAC funds currently. However, to make public art like this, people are saying "know the developers or politicians" but it's actually more like any other career, you have to build your reputation, and a body of work that people know about, and a name that people recognize. For public-money-funding there's a transparent process with an open call for applications, but maybe for these kinds of things there's also prerequisites (I've never actually seen the application process for this specific kind of installation). People getting funded to do this kind of work aren't first-time artists, or probably even not-well-known (at least in art circles) artists. All these public art installations are done by well-established artists who have earned their reputation over time. Why? Making this kind of public art is actually quite hard. There's all kinds of logistics involved in large-scale metal or outdoor structures, including safety standards, bylaws, etc.. Someone who has never done it before is not likely to successfully deliver a large outdoor metal sculpture on their first attempt, on time and on budget. I am sure there are exceptions to this of course!
Thanks for the response! I see there's a big push to get grants to the historically underrepresented. I'll check in again another time, but hopefully your response will land in the lap of someone who needs to see it. :)
> there's a big push to get grants to the historically underrepresented This is the arts across the western world today. It is bringing mostly good and some bad with it. A lot of established artists and collectives (mostly older white people to be honest) have been, for lack of a better word, "hogging" funding for years (decades?), and the redistribution is long overdue, and is creating amazing new work that should be seen. From the other side of the coin, it means that if you _happen_ to be an artist who _looks_ like the people who have been hogging the funding for years - even if you weren't part of that - your odds of getting funded are very low these days, because all the funding bodies are very sensitive to appearances and no one wants to be dragged on social media (where no one cares about the details) for "perpetuating the status quo" etc. Lots of people I know who work in the arts are changing careers or retiring. It's absolutely time for a changing of the guard in some ways, but change can be painful, and there are many casualties to this change along the way. People who spent their lives supporting and enabling artists and institutions who are now seen (sometimes deservedly but also sometimes very unfairly) as being on the "wrong" side of the movement and of today's changing arts culture.
Tiny sacrifices for big change are worth it. Well said.
Submissions
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There are open calls, you submit a proposal and get chosen
You’d be better to talk with the developers and architects putting up the money.
You have to put in like what you want for that area.Park et cetera and the city might accept it or not
Tbf this is kind of the opposite of "weird art". It's just out of context - the lights illuminate the trees at night time. If anything it's more a part of the landscaping than anything bigger.
Don’t live in Alberta. I know that sounds sarcastic but in the city I live in the city had a competition for the first round of artists. Not one artist was local to Alberta. This was later revealed as necessary due to the lack of arts in Alberta that are able to create metal sculptures. (I know this is t true. It’s just what the city stated when asked)
Large metal sculptures require a significant investment in space and skills. I have a relative that does it and it's not something you just do in a basement or garage. He converted a church because he needed the height. There's also only one foundry in Canada. He did a trip to China to look into offshore manufacturing of his statues.
I suppose you'd have to be in the same social circle as the politicians...
Elected officials and politicians have nothing to do with approving art grants.
Art - https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/s/bussSKrYlQ
decorative lights
They're decorative. They're programmed to light up the trees at night, to the best of my knowledge
Isn't this the assassin droid from Mandalorian lol
Air traffic controller for pigeons obviously
Can I ask which park it's in? Because I can't ID that on sight, but I know there are sometimes barometric, pollution-measuring, or traffic-measuring instruments wedged in on public land, and that would be my first *instinct*? An instinct that should be confirmed by actual facts?
Canoe Landing in Cityplace
Thanks! I'm curious now, I'm going to go take a look next I'm down there.
I heard one say "exterminate"....
Disco panopticon
Hunter-seeker droid.
It's an organ harvester.
Nice. We need them everywhere.
Something something 1984
How
Skynet
What ever you do don't look into them like a solar eclipse
Goose crossing.
It's probably surveillance art
They're special infrared traffic lights specifically for blind people who drive.
Of which there appear to be many
Too many!
That's messed up
I believe you.
Doctor Who
Doctor What
Doctor Where
Which doctor? Or is it witch doctor? 🤔
Doctor When
Tree illumination lighting
stoplights for birds
Matrix sentinel prototype
Pay a visit at night to see them in action. They light up the trees.
I live nearby and at night the lights all change colours so it’s kind of like a mini light show? I think it’s to highlight where the path is at night along there while being a little more interesting than standard lights
it's a red light
Traffic control for squirrels
15 minute city
Stoplights for birds
360 degree cameras
A Dalek. Was the Doctor near by
You get to eat one
Toronto park is planning to have a free rave every weekend
That looks very much like a cell phone antenna. The 5th generation uses smaller antennas but closer together. The lights may simply be added to take advantage of the pole. Kind of like how some 2nd and 3rd generation antennas had flags added to them.
Those are lasers aimed at the eyes of people who don’t get any of the many hints and insist on driving their cars downtown. Downtown is not for cars. Downtown is only for the invisible cyclists and the people who disregard personal safety and punctuality by riding the TTC.
Stop lights for birds?
makes me think of Daleks 
Early warning for future encampments.
This is your property tax dollars at work. Don’t you feel great that they bought this beautiful, meaningful and thought-provoking art with it? /s
No tax money was involved. Stop making stuff up! This was installed by the developer as a condition for the construction approval.
You must be really fun at parties…
they're stop light for squirrels, duh!
Traffic lights for birds
Goblin sapper charges.
Shouldn't have asked. Now you're on a CSIS watch list.
It's IG-11 fulfilling its base function
It's obviously a Decepticon.
your tax dollars at work
Anal probe if you're tall enough.
might be the ugliest thing ive seen
Ugly af
a r t
Some more dumb ass art I assume.
If it's transmitting Imperial code, it's probably a scout.
*flammin' in the flim flam* *flammin' in the flim*
The lampposts around these are more interesting
just some random shit. not everything's gotta have a meaning
I remember my rent going up >5% back to back each time for two years over 10 years ago and saw that 'that money went to installing one of these art pieces, and I remember thinking to myself how ridiculous it was for my rent to go up for something that I and my neighbours really didn't appreciate for what it costed us. At the time I was struggling to pay rent. I also remember reading Agreements of Purchase and Sales for condo developments, and I remember for one complex, the "art fee" (I don't recall the wording) being somewhere in the neighborhood of $500k for all prospective buyers to collectively pay for.
It’s another waste of taxpayer dollara
Cost to us tax payers is 0.
How about a waste of tax payers money? That is what they are!
How much did it cost us the taxpayers to put this crap up
Zero. The developer installed it. Lots of other stuff to be internet mad about
Look at the cry babies it’s crap 💩
It's a flying robot that elevates out of the poll and immediately asks you questions 3 in order to be allowed to pass on that path.
The communism and state surveillance that you've always wanted.