Aisle 4 is a curatorial collective based in Tkaronto/Toronto working in social practice and public art. Learn more about us; view our complete list of collaborators; and explore our current & past projects, including exhibitions, public programming, research, and advocacy. Aisle 4 is a curatorial collective based in Tkaronto/Toronto working in social practice and public art. Learn more about us; view our complete list of collaborators; and explore our current & past projects, including exhibitions, public programming, research, and advocacy. East Danforth Public Works
May 2-11, 2014
Art of the Danforth
Toronto
East Danforth Public Works was a series of installations, performances, and interventions that engaged local residents and animated spaces throughout the East Danforth neighbourhood, including businesses, residential spaces, transit stations, and parks. In response to the Art of the Danforth Festival’s theme that looked at a neighbourhood in transition, each community-engaged, site-specific work was commissioned to honour the area and shed new perspective on the familiar. Further, those visiting the area for the festival were encouraged to use art as a tool for exploration, with the goal of bridging the gap between east and west Toronto.
Press
Art of the Danforth festival on now, Vanessa Campbell, Toronto Observer (2014)
Urban Encounters with Curatorial Collective Aisle 4, Jessica Hein, artseverywhere (2014)
Artwork of Chanel storefront along Danforth Avenue sparks talk of gentrification, Joanna Lavoie, toronto.com (2014)
Fake Chanel store might yield a Chanel suit — a lawsuit, Ashante Infantry, Toronto Star (2014)
Acknowledgements
East Danforth Public Works was presented as part of Art of the Danforth and produced by East End Arts. Festival documentation by Kat Rizza. Special thanks to the neighbourhood residents and businesses who helped make these projects possible: Kate Morris, Linsmore Tavern, Maple Cafe, and Gerrard Pizza.
About the works
Sean Martindale
DANI/DAN IV
Sean Martindale’s DANI/DAN IV was a series of whimsical installations, performances and workshops wherein a neighbourhood king or queen was elected each day and treated like royalty.
Rebecca Noone
From Here To
Rebecca Noone’s sculptural performance installation, From Here To, was a travelling information booth where the artist collected and distributed personalized conceptual maps of the neigbourhood created by passersby.
Ryan Park
RabbitRyan Park’s playful looped projection, Rabbit, tracked the 20-minute lifespan of a shadow puppet, illuminating an unsuspecting space and engaging an unintended audience at the Greenwood bus stop.
Mango Peeler
Laundry LinesMango Peeler’s Laundry Lines was an interactive run and relay race resulting in a silkscreen performance, where printed t-shirts hung on laundry lines to create colourful festival flags.
Mahmood Popal
Opening SoonMahmood Popal’s Opening Soon was a sculptural intervention that explored the stages of a neighbourhood’s transformation, urging audiences to consider the potential changes that might come to their community with continued development and gentrification.
VSVSVS
Temporary Monument
Art collective VSVSVS staged the durational performance, Temporary Monument, where they burned a 12-foot wooden obelisk in a public park while local community members and visitors to the festival beared witness. The event marked a semi-official opening ceremony to the festival while questioning the authority of nation building rituals and monuments.
We acknowledge Indigenous sovereignty and are grateful to live and work on the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.
aisle4aisle4@gmail.com @_aisle4
Website by Natasha Whyte-Gray, 2024.