Council to get first peek at Woodbine public art plan

Torontosun.com
February 5, 2020
Bryan Passifiume

As Toronto prepares for 2021 -- proclaimed by the mayor as the “year of public art” -- the city is gearing up to install a major project at the future Woodbine casino site.

On the agenda for Wednesday’s Etobicoke community council meeting is a report from the city planning division which highlights public art plans for the massive Woodbine Racetrack expansion project, set for completion by 2022.

One of the conditions for the project’s approval was devoting 1% of the project’s construction costs -- about $5 million of an estimated $500 million -- towards public art projects.

About $3million will be split between the project’s six-storey parkade and casino arrival court -- the latter described in the plan as a “grand location” for an expansive art installation.

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Serving as the facility’s “front door,” the plan says either a singular large sculpture,  “or a series of sculptural works” would serve as a “welcoming beacon” for the development.

Located on the development’s east end, the installation proposed for the east wall of the six-storey parking structure should serve to “screen the building off from the surrounding area” while creating a “massive-scale” public art piece, according to the report.

The artist, said the report, will influence the composition of the north, south and eastern frontages of the structure, “while the approximately 100 metres long by 11 metres tall east-facing façade which faces the future parkette space will be designed by the artist as a grand artistic intervention.”

Public art installation locations for the upcoming Woodbine Casino Resort development. Area No. 1 is the casino entrance, No. 2 is an entrance parkette, No. 3 is the hotel entrance, No. 4 is a the eastern facade of the six-storey parking structure, and No. 5 are areas reserved for artists from Indigenous or equity groups. City of Toronto

Under the proposal, artists will be chosen through a two-stage competition. The jury will consist of five members of the arts community, including two representatives of the developers.