Winning Team Selected for Public Art Installation in Aitken Place Park

By Ilana Shamoon

Waterfront Toronto has awarded the public art commission for Bayside's Aitken Place Park to the Calgary-based artist team of Caitlind Brown, Wayne Garrett, and Studio North. The artists have proposed a large-scale light projection that invites slow, contemplative interaction with visitors to the park.

The team’s artwork concept responded in an unexpected and imaginative way to the Request for Proposal issued by Waterfront Toronto in July 2016, which asked shortlisted artists to propose an artwork that uses the non-physical medium of light to add a layer of experience to the park. Artists were challenged to create a light installation with a minimal physical structure to animate the park’s “urban porch” space. The winning artwork also needed to address the overall theme of water outlined in the East Bayfront Public Art Master Plan.

There are three categories of artwork within the East Bayfront Public Art Master Plan: Thresholds, Connections, and Destination. As part of the “Connections” program, this public artwork will play an important role in linking the new neighbourhood to the city and the lake, drawing residents and visitors alike to Aitken Place Park.

Caitlind Brown, Wayne Garrett, and Studio North have proposed a work that projects moon and wave imagery onto the park. The artists chose analogue technology instead of a digital technology, such as LED lights. The projection will be generated by prismatic refraction – light will shine through a handmade glass Fresnel lens. Changes in the wind will cause the projected image to move. The overall effect of the artwork emphasizes subtlety, reflection, and spatial awareness, intended to build relationships between park users and their surroundings, especially after dark. Speaking to complex spaces between natural and constructed environments, and intimate and public spaces, this poetic artwork proposes an ongoing and mesmerizing experience.

This rendering shows people sitting on the future park's "urban porch," where the light from this artwork will be projected.

This public artwork is set to be revealed at the same time as the opening of Aitken Place Park, in July 2018. Until then, the artist team will be developing the artwork design and fabrication details in close collaboration with Waterfront Toronto.

Members of this artist team have created artworks for the public realm in the past, though this installation marks the first time that they will collaboratively realize a permanent public artwork in Toronto. Waterfront Toronto is thrilled to be supporting them in this endeavour.

Learn more about Caitlind Brown, Wayne Garrett and Studio North.

Learn more about Waterfront Toronto's public art commissioning process.

Digital rendering of the winning artwork concept shows light projected onto the “urban porch” in Aitken Place Park. Image courtesy of the artists © Caitlind Brown, Wayne Garrett, and Studio North