February 28, 2008
The Gardiner Gallery?
This evening, Toronto Culture and Fort York are unveiling a permanent public art installation under the Gardiner Expressway (off Fort York Boulevard, between Bathurst and Fleet Streets). In WATERTABLE, Toronto artists Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak use video and lights to create the effect of rippling water on the underside of the highway—a reminder that the Gardiner runs along what used to the original shoreline of Lake Ontario. Ever wonder why the the Toronto Harbour Commission building is notably not on the harbour? It used to be surrounded by water on three sides!
The installation marks the new entrance to Fort York, and the City's first attempt to turn the Gardiner into something that doesn't inspire public hatred. It is often seen as a fence, or wall even, that separates the waterfront from vibrant city life. But while the cry for the Gardiner's destruction is loud and clear, the total demolition of the highway is financially unfeasible. Maybe it's time to try loving the Gardiner.
Last August, Torontoist considered ways that the Gardiner itself could be revitalized, applauding cities like Shanghai and Paris for their solutions for incorporating infrastructure into the urban landscape. Is public art the solution to making the Gardiner more permeable, so that downtown culture can diffuse through to the waterfront? It's possible. For now, it makes the Gardiner a little easier to like.
Councillor Joe Pantalone (Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina) will join city staff for an open house at Fort York's Blue Barracks tonight from 4–7 p.m. Hat tip to CanCult.
| 
This is a great idea, I hope it works well over time.
I'm all for public art, but this is fugly. Not to mention the fact that City Hall claims we are broke --- how much did this cost?
Cellphones in cars distracting?? Please.
Looks really cool, can't wait to check it out.
That looks awesome.
jaymo, you're not aware that using a cell phone while driving reduces the driver's ability as much as being impaired by alcohol?
Ben,
Is there a statistic that indicates how many traffic accidents are caused by the billboards and television screens posted all along the highways and at main intersections?
How about public art installations that make people crane their head so they can say "wow, cool" just before they drive into the guy in front of them?
Judging from the apathy and inattention many drivers already show on the show, I would say with confidence that they would drive by this installation in complete safety and ignorance.
Why exactly is it financially infeasible to tear down the Gardiner? The City could demolish it starting at the Ex on the west, before it goes airborne, and run an access ramp to Front at Bathurst and even a couple of tunnels to Richmond and Adelaide just east of Bathurst. (Sorry about the tunnels, I know other cities like Sydney, Boston, Paris, Montreal and soon Melbourne manage to have underground expressways but then they don't have deadbeat countries to support.) The DVP could end at the Richmond/Adelaide exits. I have to believe the increased assessments from redevelopment would more than pay for the cost but if not then the City could toll the remaining sections of the DVP and Gardiner to generate the revenue. Voila - suburbanites still get to drive into downtown, they just can't drive easily through downtown, and the City is spared the expense of burying the wretched thing.
Is there a statistic that indicates how many traffic accidents are caused by the billboards and television screens posted all along the highways and at main intersections?
There sort of are. The people who have done studies of that sort are careful to point out that accidents are usually caused by multiple factors, so they're hesitant to imply a direct causal relationship between billboards and accidents, other than to say that billboards are most definitely a proven and unnecessary distraction.
A few years ago, a guy wrote his Master's thesis in engineering at U of T on this topic, doing eye-tracking studies of drivers on the Gardiner. It's unfortunately not publicly-avaiable online, but you can get it via the U of T library website if you have a Tcard. Otherwise I could email it to you if you like, but it's massive.
Perhaps we should take down interesting buildings and force beautiful women off the sidewalks if drivers are so easily distracted. ;-)
Jonathan - billboards are a source of revenue for cities, so it's unlikely that we will ever hear them named as a cause of traffic accidents. I'm not sure if it is the same study, but someone at U of T concluded that in-car stereos are significantly more distracting than cellular phones.
We could go on and on here.
I'm with Svend though -- we should get rid of everything in our society that makes us unsafe from ourselves and each other. Let's all just live in bubbles.
lol@Svend
Why is responsibility always projected onto inanimate objects who can't make conscience decisions?
The photo reminds me of those cheezy sex lights you used to see driving up and down Yonge on Friday/Saturday nights.
billboards are a source of revenue for cities
No, they're not. Certainly not in Toronto, anyway.
Brilliant.
I've lived near the Gardiner for 15 years; I love it. It makes a belt of wasteland wherever it goes, something every city needs plenty of. This exhibit is a brilliant upsidewhat reflection of/on that. Well done!
I spent some years working in the outdoor advertising industry and I find most of your debate on the industry to be very naive or at least very narrow in scope.
That is a grossly malformed statement.
For one, billboards generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the city through employment each year (Especially in Toronto, as most of the billboard companies work out of this city who also maintain billboards in other parts of Canada).
Those people live here, they purchase things here, they pay taxes on their property here. Therefore, indirectly billboard actually ARE a HUGE source of revenue for the city.
Not to mention the money the city makes each year in permit fees. Thousands of hours each year go to the police dept to handle street safety during an installation of said billboards. That's a bit more direct.
Anywho, I respect your opinion of the industry, but misleading people, whether intentional or not, essentially negates your position.
Cool. Definitely a start.
How about painting it as a next step? Hire artists to put up murals over the whole thing. Maybe even install false facing for big intersections. I'm thinking of driving through false triumphal arches festooned with the mythology of the city, tunnels where the pillars are disguised as trees, their branches forming a canopy roof, and so on. I'm sure we could dream up tons of great ideas.
And instead of driving through, I really should be saying walking. Imagine that. It'd be the best way to see the artwork. Lets turn this hated eyesore into an attraction. An enormous art gallery.
I also wonder why it is that the tracks aren't discussed nearly as much as the expressway is in this conversation that always starts, 'There's a giant wall between the city and the lake.' Because, well, there are more like two walls (or elsewhere, a wall and a giant hole) between the city and the lake. Getting rid of the Gardiner would only be taking down ONE wall.
WAVES!!! Wheee!!! I'll grab my swim trunks.