Set against the backdrop of Toronto’s unprecedented construction and growth, North By Northeast Art unveils a brave new world of concepts and designs for urban life after the dust settles. NXNE Art will showcase these groundbreaking ideas by combining art, technology and civil action throughout Toronto June 16-22, 2014.
NXNE Art gives people the power to participate – not simply spectate – in the new NXNE Art Lounge on King Street West. Alex Josephson of Partisans Projects and Norm Li Architectural Graphics + Illustrations – both leaders in the innovative use of public space – will create an imagined streetscape for Toronto’s future in a stunning 3D visual installation, where visitors will be able to glimpse and help envision the city’s evolution.
The NXNE Art Lounge will also include an infinity-mirrored art work by Jamie Webster of Common Good in partnership with Future Talk; David Spriggs’ 15-foot circular examination of space; and a custom 10-foot vinyl illustration of a future Toronto by homegrown artist Juliana Neufeld.
NXNE Art will infiltrate the streets of Toronto with “Urban Takeovers” by artists including En Masse, a Montreal art collective, transforming a Toronto alley into a large-scale art piece featuring their well-known collaborative black and white drawings; Alex Senna, a special guest artist from Brazil, who will paint three walls along Queen Street West with his touching street art; and Dawn of Man, who will bring their roaming projection Space Monkey to Toronto to create guerilla projections – or, as the “New York Times” wrote, “Works that are shown in public without any of the necessary approvals.”
NXNE Art will team up with other NXNE Festival streams: NXNE Interactive hosts a talk by Sakchin Bessette, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Moment Factory; and NXNE Music will include unique art experiences within selected band showcases. “Artists from the northeast part of the continent are shaping a radically different public experience,” stated Jacquelyn West, Art Festival Director of NXNE, in a press release. “In this watershed year for this newest stream of the festival, we wanted to use the potential of art to imagine the future of everyday city life in Toronto. For one week we will escape the bureaucracy and institutions and connect to one another in experience rooted in inspiration.”
