The Essentials

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Fall 2020

The Bentway travels beyond the Gardiner Expressway this fall with The Essentials, a series of art projects along the Waterfront that reflect on what we as a community collectively value as “essential” during this period of change, recovery and rebuilding. 

From September to November, three Toronto-based artists will explore that which is essential now, reaffirming priorities and commitments for a post-COVID Toronto, told through novel projection-based artworks. The Essentials works to imagine and project an urban future that thrives on fundamentals, all the while asserting art’s own essential role in that evolution. Each projection is approximately 10-15 minutes in length and will be looped. 

Echoing The Bentway’s relationship with the Gardiner Expressway, the exhibit will be presented across three sites of industry, leisure and infrastructure, with access generously facilitated by the City of Toronto and Canada Post. Here, The Bentway works to re-imagine spaces along the Waterfront, suggesting ways we can further multi-purpose our civic assets and find connection with our surroundings. Passers-by are asked to stop and contemplate (safely) while enjoying the works. 

events

  • Interchanges
    Interchanges
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    Interchanges, by Winnie Truong, takes inspiration from the postal network that keep us connected while we’re apart, and reveals the paralleled complexity in seed dispersion among local urban flora. By making a connection between planting and mail distribution this work reveals how these overlooked systems are essential to meaningful connections to nature and each other. 

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  • Life Preserver
    Life Preserver
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    In Alvin Luong’s Life Preserver, a leisurely walk along the water leads to the discovery of a bundle of food that has been washed ashore. The bundle appears purposeful in its assembly, yet its function is unknown. The artwork is inspired by the essentials of food, shelter, and mobility; and the pursuit of these essentials by…

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  • Projection 1
    Projection 1
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    In her piece, Scarborough artist Erika DeFreitas’ fingers caringly trace the architectural lines and wounded cracks of the city’s many structures, including the Canada Malting Silos, suggesting a much-needed tenderness and tactility during this period of distancing.

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supporters

The Essentials is presented in partnership with the Waterfront BIA and the City of Toronto, with the generous participation of Canada Post. 

The Bentway is supported by the City of Toronto, Maxine Granovsky Gluskin & Ira Gluskin, Richard Ivey, Frances & Tim Price, Rosamond Ivey, Mazyar Mortazavi & Bita Doagoo, the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Balsam Foundation, Howard Sokolowski & Linda Frum, Donald K. Johnson O.C. & Anna McCowan-Johnson, DiamondCorp, and a growing family of friends and supporters.