culture
Art Exhibit Pulls Into Union Station
The traveling contemporary art show Villa brings its latest exhibit to Toronto's transit hub.
Photo by Francois Doury, courtesy of Jocelyn Wolff Gallery, Paris.
Villa Toronto
Union Station’s Great Hall (65 Front Street West)
January 16–23
FREE
Union Station’s Great Hall renovation is not yet complete, but Torontonians will get a chance to see the space all dressed up this week as the centrepiece of Villa Toronto. The free art event opens this Friday, and includes work from 20 local and international galleries.
Launched by Raster in 2006, Villa is a collaborative, traveling contemporary art show. The project takes art out of galleries and into the streets, creating accessible, temporary art communities around the world. Toronto will be Villa’s fourth showing, following past events in Warsaw, Reykjavik, and Tokyo.
Although much of the exhibit will be on display in the Great Hall, the show will not be confined to Union Station. Villa Toronto will also host performances, readings, and other projects across the city for its week-long run from January 16 to 23. The exhibit agenda includes diverse offerings like the Villa Toronto book launch on Saturday at Art Metropole, a Food Panel with Reto Pulfer at the Drake on Tuesday, and “Edward Krasiński’s Studio”, a film by Babette Mangolte which will play all week long at the AGO.
Art and transit enthusiasts alike will no doubt be excited to see Union Station transform into a temporary art installation. This exhibit won’t be the transit hub’s last, as more exhibits and a permanent Art Metropole booth are slated for the Great Hall following renovations.