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. In Residence
July 1 – November 31, 2019
Scarborough Museum
Toronto
In Residence presented a series of artist residencies intended to challenge the role of a colonial house museum in present-day Scarborough, a district recognized for its diverse demographics, culture, and socio-economic realities. Each participating artist created work that interrogated the dominant, settler narratives of the Scarborough Museum, expanded on historic timelines and offered alternative, contemporary perspectives. Their projects cultivated meaningful connections between the museum and its surrounding neighbourhoods through informal dialogue, community collaboration, food, and participatory public programming.
Press
McCowan Spirit Walk with Annie Wong, Fan Wu (2019)
Acknowledgements
In Residence was funded through the Toronto Arts Council and made possible through collaboration with the team at the Scarborough Museum: Elaine Kemp, Meredyth Miller, Pailagi Pandya, Eden Capulong, Madalen Tojicic, and Tristan Simpson. Documentation for In Residence by Kat Rizza, and for Neither fortunes nor flowers last forever by Anthony Gebrehiwot, Kat Rizza, and Polina Tief. Special thanks to project contributors Allison Chow, Posy Gang, Abd Al-Mounim, Hanan Nanaa, Om Deepam Puja Centre, and Daniel Antonucci.
About the works
Sameer Farooq
Tandoor (Scarborough Museum)
Sameer Farooq’s residency project was inspired by a recent trip to Pakistan, where he encountered the unique designs of neighbourhood ovens and recognized their role as a gathering place for local residents. He constructed a tandoor (clay oven) as a semi-permanent fixture on the museum grounds, which are situated within a bustling public park frequented by families from the surrounding neighbourhood. The tandoor was intended to be activated by community members in collaboration with the Museum, encouraging a range of cultural approaches for its use. Farooq led several firing sessions for Museum staff and artist residents, which included preparing, cooking, and sharing naan and speaking more broadly about the history of tandoors.
Serena Lee
To Resemble Oak
Serena Lee’s residency involved interviews with museum staff, volunteers, and visitors around items in the collection related to labour and leisure, encouraging speculative interpretations. Lee then created 3D scans of the referenced artifacts to be used in augmented reality, fused with anecdotes gathered through her conversations. The resulting project provided alternative accounts to the prevailing narrative that has historically shaped the museum’s collection and purpose.
Petrina Ng
Neither fortunes nor flowers last foreverPetrina Ng’s Neither fortunes nor flowers last forever was a series of three workshops led by local florists that offered non-western approaches to flower arranging, illuminating the complex histories of both flowers and flower arrangements to reflect the many cultures and publics of Scarborough. Each workshop included dialogue with guest artists Shellie Zhang, Christine Balmes, Ramsankar Singh and Amrita Singh, and considered topics surrounding Indian diaspora and practice of Hindu garland making; the significant of jasmine flowers in both Syria and the Philippines; and connections between Chinese brush-painting-inspired floral arrangement and cultural appropriation.
Annie Wong
McCowan Spirit WalkAnnie Wong’s McCowan Spirit Walk was a guided tour based on the imagined, solitary life of pioneer William McCowan (1820-1902), whose log cabin is located at the museum. The walk mapped a mystical, pilgrimage-like ritual that reflected on the various spirits, energies, and stories of the surrounding site, as well as the cabin where McCowan lived alone for 54 years. Wong evoked the psychogeography of walking rituals, using embodied knowledge and soundwork to consider the entanglements between the profane and sacred in everyday life.
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.