Photo by MarkyBon. The CONTACT Photography Festival: it's back, and it's everywhere. Now in its twelfth year, CONTACT 2008 has over 675 artists at 220 venues from May 1–31, making it the largest photography festival in the world—an entirely believable statistic if the amount of CONTACT shows being touted on Facebook Events is any indicator. This year's theme is Between Memory and History, which explores the complex relationships between photography and the human experience,......

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......

Will people ever appreciate the fine architecture or heritage value of such widely-detested buildings as Robarts Library or the Sheraton Centre? If history is any guide, they will—but only if the buildings manage to survive our collective hatred (or apathy) for another 40 years or so. As the Star's Christopher Hume has written on several occasions, buildings are most at risk of demolition when they are 40–60 years old. That's when their architectural styles are......

Anyone who grew up in Toronto has been on at least one school field trip to historic Fort York. You've smelled the horseshit, eaten the biscuits, and probably watched some corny performance by someone in a costume telling you how things used to be in the olden days. So it might be tempting to dismiss Crate Productions' new play The Fort at York as an educational play, or worse, historical reenactment. This would be......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. ZanzibarBY MOONWIRE SideBY DISCARNATEQUERN UntitledBY TORONTOGAL PHOTOS OutfallBY INVENTOR 77 CastlesBY MECHRISMAN BloorBY K-BEER SupersamplerBY UWAJEDI Balzac's ChandelierBY J.T.R. Beach biteBY CHELSEAGIRL UntitledBY K-BEER......

The Gardiner Expressway re-opened this morning after closures due to deadly "ice missiles" falling from the CN tower. One ice sheet was reportedly 50 metres tall and 6 metres wide! Canadian and British troops launched a massive offensive attack against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, a mission titled "Operation Achilles". This time, dinner's on us. City Council voted in favour of having food provided for their monthly meetings, which will cost taxpayers $20,000 a year.......

Police have closed the Gardiner Expressway after baseball-sized chunks of ice began flying off the CN Tower. Flying chunks of ice? Closing the Gardiner? Good ol' Mel would've just brought in the army and called a wrap on the day. Power has finally been restored to homes affected by last Thursday's ice storm. The only people who could possibly still be without power are those who have failed to notify Toronto Hydro, a spokesman......

Each weekday morning, we pick a recent image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve! Here lie the abandoned frozen remains of the Microsoft's promotional Vista and Office ice house. Where, you ask? That's right -- dumped under Toronto's very own Gardiner Expressway. Toronto photographer Cliph discovered the cast-off remains by accident while out......

As pointed out by an astute reader, Spacing Wire and Ward 20 candidate Chris Ouellette's blog, there exists another option (that has been getting little media attention) for solving the dual waterfront barriers of the rail tracks and the Gardiner Expressway: the Toronto Waterfront Viaduct. The proposal calls for a massive, attractive, elevated structure supported by pylons and cables that carries CN, VIA and GO rail traffic, east-west automobile traffic, pedestrians, cyclists and light rail......

The TTC is apparently losing about a bus a day to repairs and safety issues. Many of the buses are around 18 years old and nearing the end of their lifecycle. By next year the TTC will lose around 320 buses, more than five a week. Toronto, York Region, and Provincial officials are lobbying Ottawa to pony up money for the York U subway extension. Many of them complain about the lack of help the......

Hello, class! Ron isn't here today. I will be your substitute Ron. The TTC will be reviewing a controversial no-compete proposal from Bombardier for new TTC subway cars today. An offer exists from Siemens to fill the contract for much less (we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars here); however, the Bombardier contract would mean increased tax revenues in Ontario that TTC chair Howard Moscoe argues would outstrip the additional costs. During a fact-finding......

In the not-so-far-off future, we’ll be able to dial 511 to get told that it’s hot outside and that the Gardiner Expressway is backed up. The CRTC has assigned 511 as the new telephone number for weather and traveller information services. The 24-hour, cross-Canada phone service should be in full operation in 2007: “Once Canada's 511 service is in place, Environment Canada, one of the partners in the Canada 511 Consortium, will provide current weather......

Six men have been arrested for an early morning home invasion in a condo near the Rogers Centre. This is the first time we've heard of a home invasion in a condo building and hope that it isn't a new trend in crime. A motorcyclist in his early 20s died after slamming into a Gardiner Expressway off-ramp. The City has found two companies to take about half of Toronto's sludge. The Michigan landfill that took......