TTC still at impasse over dormant $1.9-million art installation
De-activated light sculpture at Pioneer Village Station cost four times more than previously reported.

TheStar.com
Jan. 18, 2018
Ben Spurr

A controversial public art piece lying dormant at a new TTC subway station is more expensive than previously thought, and despite paying nearly $2 million for the work the agency doesn’t appear any closer to reaching an agreement with the artists to activate it.

The $1.9-million work, called LightSpell, was installed at Pioneer Village Station on the new Spadina subway extension. It consists of touch screens that the public can use to write messages of up to eight characters in length, which are then displayed in real time on light elements suspended throughout the station.

The TTC previously told media the work had cost $500,000, but according to an agency spokesperson that was based on the average price of public art for the six new stations on the extension. “Upon further review” the TTC determined the project had been more costly than the others, he said.

Most of the $1.9-million budget was for construction and design of the piece, while $200,000 went to the artists at German studio realities: united, which was co-founded by brothers Jan and Tim Edler.

Despite the TTC approving and paying for the piece, the agency refused to turn it on when the subway extension entered service last month, citing concerns the public could employ its text capability for “hate speech or other misuse.”

On Thursday the TTC board debated a report that recommended the piece not be activated until the agency had held further discussions with the artists, and until “mitigation features can be added to limit the potential” for abuse.

The report included an attachment that was kept confidential because it contained advice subject to solicitor-client privilege, and the board debated the issue behind closed doors. But a TTC spokesperson confirmed the board “endorsed not activating the system until further consultation is undertaken with the artists around ways to mitigate misuse.”

“We hope to continue to work with them, see if there’s something we can figure out because we want to have it activated and used,” said TTC Chair Josh Colle.

In a phone interview Thursday, Jan Edler said he hasn’t discussed the issue with the TTC since a phone call with former chief executive officer Andy Byford before Christmas. Edler said he was eager to talk to the transit agency and find a way forward, but stressed he wouldn’t agree to a “mitigation feature” or “white list” to filter out potentially offensive words being a prerequisite to talks.

“I think it helps to join a discussion like that open-minded, without any preconditions. And so far my impression is the whole decision-making process has been steered by fear and not based on facts and looking at the specific piece,” he said.

The artists describe LightSpell as a “democratic installation” about “the freedom of the individual versus the interest of the larger group.” In their vision other members of the public can use the keypads to erase text they find inappropriate.

According to the TTC report, before the station opened agency staff “repeatedly raised concerns with the artists and believed that some mitigation feature (such as a filter) was going to be included” in the software that controls the installation. The agency said it was “not until just prior to commissioning of the artwork” that it realized there was no filter to block offensive messages.

Edler refuted that account.

“This is wrong,” he said. “We have repeatedly clarified that automatic censorship is not acceptable and that there will be no such system included with the artistic software.”

Edler said his team offered to install a keypad in the collectors’ booth at the station to allow TTC employees to wipe out messages they deemed offensive. But he learned shortly before the station opened the plan wouldn’t work because the TTC is moving to a new staffing model that eliminates the collector position.

Colle admitted the price tag for LightSpell was “a huge one,” and questioned whether the agency should have commissioned the piece in the first place.

“I think the stations themselves in these cases are pieces of art, and we probably could have left it at that,” he said.

“It’s irrelevant now. We paid for it, we have it. We’re going to use it and operate it and use it to engage our passengers and make it a welcoming place.”