We are happy to say that the gears of the OYT-team are starting to churn once again!
We are excited to have an exciting new crowd-sourced submission (all accepted) planned, as well as another show and public forum. Check out these photos from last years event! and stay tuned for updates.
- Geoff Christou
Thanks to everyone who made it out to Open Eyes Toronto this summer! From the exhibition, to the reception, to the discussion the event exceeded everyone's best expectations. Be sure to check back for future OYT happenings and check out these photos from the event!
- Matthew Compeau
I experimented with line transformations for the Open Eyes Toronto Graphic. During the opening night of the exhibition, we projected a 3d version of it that animated the morphing silhouettes of the Toronto landscape: from the pitched roof neightborhoods, to the iconic skyline.
- Bi-Ying Miao
Following the fantastic success of the event on Thursday we are hosting an open forum this afternoon at the gallery. We'll be shifting gears to have an open and in-depth discussion of the issues that arose in conversations around the gallery on Thursday. Bring your sketchbooks, your opinions and your complaints as we reflect on ways to address the issues we are passionate about in Toronto.
Open Eyes Toronto Open Forum
Saturday August 20 (Today!)
Gladstone Hotel, 2nd Floor Gallery
2pm - 5pm
- Matthew Compeau
Tonight is the official reception for Open Eyes Toronto! Come down to the second floor gallery at the Gladstone Hotel and chat with the artists while having a drink and enjoying the music from our live DJ. The night starts at 7pm, hope everyone can make it!
- Matthew Compeau
The last few days have certainly been nothing short of intensive for the Expedition Team. Special thanks to Siba Al-Adhami, Mohammad Albayaty, Skanda Lin and Tristan Thom for their contributions. From cataloging, housing, transit, and finally display, the relics have finally found their way to their temporary home at the Gladstone.
To find out what discoveries lie in the boxes, join us at the Open Eyes Toronto opening party August 18, 7pm (or drop by before Aug. 22).
- Omar Aljebouri + Michael CC Lin
We're quickly finishing our final preparations as today marks the commencement of Open Eyes Toronto! Drop by the Gladstone anytime this week at 1214 Queen Street West and join us in reflecting on our city. We'll be following up with more pictures of the event shortly and don't forget that Thursday is the official reception with DJ and cash bar!
- Matthew Compeau
#makespaceTO works within a market dynamic, within the complex adaptive system of supply and demand. Unused laneway garages are posted to the internet with #makespaceTO in the post. Artists, musicians, makers, and creators find theses spaces and use them to create and make.
Within this dynamic the price of the space will adjust according to the availability of supply and the strength of demand.
- Geoff Christou, Andrew Azzopardi, Henry Murdock
This is a critical point in the process of our excavation. New discoveries are being studied closely. Compositions are being examined to identify patterns. Documentation is still in progress. Cataloging has become an essential tool in unveiling the exceptional qualities of our finds.
- Omar Aljebouri + Michael CC Lin
As the downtown core of Toronto continues to overdevelop, without any TTC infrastructure or expansion, commuting has become one of the most frustrating facets of this city.
With more and more time spent waiting for transit services, TTC designated areas should become social playgrounds rather than stress lounges.
- Carlos Weisz
There are a lot of cool ways to document information. Thinking about this documentation and how it relates to exploration of life, activity, various media, etc. has been part of my process for Open Eyes Toronto.
- Joanne Frisch
The Cycle 2 Graffiti and Mural Arts graduates executed the UforChange signature mural on the head office outer wall as part of their Vivacity graduation project. UforChange will be featured at Open Eyes Toronto.
“UforChange UforChange works with new Canadian and low-income youth living in and around St. James Town to navigate their futures by providing support and resources to pursue higher education, mentoring, and employment opportunities. We are committed to connecting youth with professionals, artists, and activists who help them to use the arts as a vehicle for cultural, economic and social change.” www.uforchange.org
- Joanne Frisch
The City's neighbourhoods offer many histories, tales, and myths. Our ongoing search begins with the excavation of "artifacts and specimen" from such narratives. We are currently testing different methods to house these rich but delicate finds.
- Omar Aljebouri + Michael CC Lin
top: Street Cleaning Department - Lane Scenes, 1940s; left: Slum - Price's Lane - August 27, 1914; right: Slum interior, Price's Lane - August 28, 1914.
A Brief History of the Laneway:
The laneway emerged from the 19th century Victorian alleys of London. These alleys, known as mews’, serviced the stately homes - acting as stables, and providing the servants with sleeping quarters. The laneway was a luxury, separating utility from the Victorian home (an object of immense psychosis).
In North America the laneway shows up in cities such as Chicago, Washington and Toronto in prolific quantities to deal with the emergence of mass-personal transit and the need tostore vehicles. Over time, these laneways were removed due to the growing population of slum-housing, and the public perception of the laneways as squalor-filled blots. Later, the boom of the 1950’s retrenched the importance of laneways within our urban fabric.
Currently the laneways are ignored as urban-space, viewed as utilitarian storage for vehicles and bric-a-brac. We propose that these environments are latent real estate, for which there is an untapped market both of supply and demand. We purpose that money can be made across the city with zero capital investment within weeks by individualhomeowners.
This is #makespaceTO
- Geoff Christou, Andrew Azzopardi, Henry Murdock
Last weekend yielded not only great weather, but also amazing reception to my “Public Drawing Survey” on the CN Tower. Sketchers included those from Trinity Bellwoods Park and people at the intersection of Queen and John. Thank you to all those that have participated so far. We are in the works of printing our official promo cards, so I made hand-drawn ones to give out in lieu. They turned out well, I think! Thanks to Steph, who provided some good company and awesome colouring skills. Stay posted for future blog posts as progress continues!
- Jane Wong
I really love to paint! I love to turn up the music loud, navigate the canvas, mix the colours, make a mess, and not think about anything else. This is the beginning of the first canvas I painted for this show. Before that it had been a while - My original plan was to paint the streets black and put cars; I figured I’d do a base of white first. I liked the white so I kept them white. You’ll see at the Gladstone what happened to the cars.
- Joanne Frisch
Each year a small group of artists, activists and architects gather together to share work and reflect on the issues that effect our city. This year marks the first time we are able to open this event to the public. We've launched this website so you can follow our progress in the lead-up to the exhibition and we hope you are able to join us:
Location: Gladstone Hotel, 2nd Floor Gallery
Exhibition: August 16 - 22
Reception (with live DJ and cash bar): August 18
Open Panel Discussion (details to follow): August 21
Be sure to check out our Facebook Event and check back for regular updates!
- Matthew Compeau
As an architect I focus on the relationship between infrastructure, the environment, aesthetics, people and energy. I’ve lived and worked in several countries; I continue to travel - and then come home - to think about what makes places special, why people do what they do and how things evolve in this crazy, beautiful world.
Intrigued by the interface between us and our environment, from buildings to cell phones, I work to zero-in on the unpredictable and transformative way in which these systems interact. For this event, I will be generating imagery that begin to unveil these changing qualities.
I am a Toronto-based designer currently engaged in research in critical urbanism and new forms of self-aggregating social architecture. I will be exploring Toronto’s unconscious collective memory and identity through a “public drawing survey” involving residents to confront their own relationship with our most representational physical icon: the CN Tower.
I booked this year off, having recently graduated with a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, to travel and become worldly-wise, etc. Currently I’m launching a business, trying to finish a story about my neighbourhood, working with a design-research firm in Toronto, prepping for UW M.Arch in January, and cycling nightly without intent.
As an artist, I like to explore themes related to pop culture and basic conducts of human behavior while applying a layer of humour. My current obsession lies in drawing animals with anthropomorphic qualities, and how they relate to a multicultural landscape like Toronto.
As people, we are intrigued by what we might never understand; inspired by things that might be lost; driven by a longing to achieve the unlikely. As designers in Toronto, a city at once familiar and yet so foreign, we begin to collect stories, excavate fears, document hopes and uncover objects of desire.
I am a Toronto based designer/musician who is currently working on an album, several works which pertain to GTA urban conditions and a full time collaborator with Partisan Projects.
As a recent graduate of architecture one of my interests lie in observing frameworks that create art and architecture and how they change over time. For this event we are investigating the potential use of laneways in Toronto.
As a producer of communications and live event, my constant is 'the experience'. Always preoccupied with the sensual, I hope to create a space for growth, education and celebration. For this event I am exploring some of the city's less frequented spaces - through layers of texture and light.
As a graphic designer and photographer, I am drawn to images of contrast in line and shape, light and shadow, and positive and negative space. My architectural imagery explores the oftentimes unseen and overlooked beauty in the impermanence of man-made structures and materials.
