The CN Tower kicked-off its 50th anniversary on January 21 with the unveiling of a $21-million renovation to the Lower Observation Level, which includes the immersive interactive art showcase, Artmosphere.
OCAD U President Ana Serrano joined Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, the Hon. Marc Miller in marking the CN Tower’s milestone anniversary.
Artmosphere, the centrepiece of the CN Tower’s renovated Lower Observation Level, features expansive, state-of-the-art video walls of animated visual representations of original works by a collective of Canadian artists.
These include artworks by Indigenous artists from across the country as well as members from the OCAD U community: artist, animator and Interim Dean of OCAD U’s Faculty of Art Philippe Blanchard, multidisciplinary fine artist and alum Curtia Wright and interdisciplinary artist and alum Enna Kim.
The animated and interactive original artworks in Artmosphere represent one part of a four-part seasonally themed audio-visual experience, conceived and directed by Pedro Narváez and Emma López Hechem of AVA Animation and Visual Arts Inc. who attended the unveiling event. They also curated and produced the collection. Interactivity is being provided by WORKSOFAR.
Blanchard’s piece, Weather Pattern, A Scarf for New Winters (above), is one of three featured in the winter season. Inspired by traditional Faire Isle patterns’ use of natural winter imagery, his work questions how we represent the weather visually in a time of rapid climate change.
The wool knit scarf mimics the wide aspect ratio of the accompanying interactive animation screen and employs noise and other digital imaging strategies to degrade the predictability of various snowflake patterns, hinting at seasons becoming glitched, random, and inconsistent.
Wright’s piece, Sweet Breeze (above), is one of three works featured in the summer season. Her painting aims to capture that moment of joy when an ice cream truck pulls up to a street after a long humid Toronto day.
The cool truck loaded with sugary items, vibrant coloured illustrations and a happy jingle draws humans in and is surrounded by a plethora of vibrant flowers accompanied by honeybees allured by their striking colour and pollen.
Kim’s piece, In Full Bloom (above), is also part of the summer season. This original artwork was inspired by the organic patterns seen in biomimicry – the design of systems that mimic strategies found in nature.
Fueled by the vibrant colours in Toronto summers, this immersive psychedelic landscape painting was created where viewers can "smudge" the painting with their body movements.
OCAD U and AVA have a history of collaborative projection mapping projects, involving Blanchard, OCAD U students and alums. These include Light Up the Dark at the Aga Khan Museum held in December for the past four years and the projection mapping at Canada’s Malting Silos during Nuit Blanche for the past two years.
ABOUT THE CN TOWER
The tower stands at 553.3 metres tall and has been Toronto’s primary tourist draw for five decades, welcoming more than 1.98 million visitors last year.
From 1975 to 2010, it was the world’s tallest tower, building and freestanding structure, and according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, it is one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
The CN Tower is managed by Canada Lands Company, a self-financing federal Crown corporation specializing in real estate development and attractions management.
