Toronto
Project public preposition
swingstage
Year 2011
Institution Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2011, Toronto /CA
Place Exhibition Area Zone B, The Future Of The Present, Downtown Core, Skyscraper Toronto Eaton Centre, 250 Yonge Street, Toronto /CA
Curator Shirley Madill
Technique Performance, window cleaning on a vertical swing-stage by Patrick & Hendrik, window cleaner, LED lights, DMX controller
Thanks Kristine Germann, Umbereen Inayet, Nathaniel Kennedy, Sara Malabar, Roxanne Melliza
Photographer Maylynn Quan, Toronto /CA
Supported by Scotiabank, Toronto /CA

swingstage, Toronto, 2011

As part of the 2011 Nuit Blanche in Toronto, this night performance and light installation stretched across all 35 floors of the skyscraper at 250 Yonge Street designed by Eberhard Zeidler in 1977. Centrally situated on a main street connecting the north and south of the city, the building houses one of the largest shopping centers of Toronto. What usually remains in the background in everyday urban life was placed here in the forefront as a nighttime action with the help of a light projection. Successively two professional window washers cleaned a row of three windows per floor, which corresponded to the width of their floating and illuminated work platform. Synchronized with the light of the platform and reflected by the white façade, the respective interior spaces of the building were also illuminated. While the outer and inner space visually meshed, the light and action seemed mutually dependent and strengthened their symbolic meaning for a short time. (JO)