On September 25, the Power Plant Gallery—located on the Harbourfront—opened its new season to a receptive and welcoming audience of more than 5,000, which created a line-up outside the door before the gallery’s opening. The Power Plant is “renowned for its global vision and special commitment to ground-breaking contemporary Canadian art and widely supported as essential to the cultural infrastructure [of] Toronto, Ontario, and Canada.”
There were three exhibits that premiered at the opening. The first was Mark Lewis’s work Invention, which toys with the concept of architecture captured on film. The Canada-born, UK-based artist travelled to Toronto to create three films that showcase the modernist architecture of the city (one of the locations filmed was UofT’s own Robarts library). Lewis focuses on the medium of film itself, creating a highly aesthetic-focused art exhibit and highlighting the beauty of the city in the process.
The curation of the exhibit was minimal, which was underwhelming; the second-floor installation appeared underdeveloped, as if the final film was an afterthought.
Invention was overshadowed by its neighbour installation and the show’s star—Carlos Amorales’s, Black Cloud. The site-specific installation features 30,000 black paper moths installed in a wave pattern on almost every surface down the gallery’s main hall. The massive display was the most visually stimulating, even attracting a number of people who tried to photograph the piece. Black Cloud illuminates the Power Plant’s own history as an industrial space.
Amorales’s work is inspired by the peppered moth evolution—a natural phenomenon wherein Britain’s black moth population skyrocketed due to increased levels of industrial pollution during the Industrial Revolution. Black Cloud is meant as a cautionary tale of the effect human activity has on its environment. Taking into account the Power Plant’s history as an industrial facility makes the impact of this site-specific installation even stronger. The perfect combination of location, idea, and beauty make it the night’s highlight.
The final installation, I See Words, I Hear Voices by Spanish artist Dora García, failed to marry theme and aesthetic in a compelling way. At first, it seemed that the Irish writer James Joyce served as inspiration for the collection. The Joycean Society was a 53-minute film, which depicted the members of the Zurich James Joyce Foundation discussing the author’s work. Despite being well filmed and visually appealing, the piece did fit not with many of the other pieces that revolved around the theme of exile. Watching the film was distracting, as it was shown in the main room along with several other pieces on display, making it difficult to comprehend the message being conveyed.
It was because of such issues of curation that the installation suffered. One piece, Exile, which featured postal items sent to specific locations by various authors, was a response to the central theme. The layout and description of it as a “real-time installation” led many guests to believe that they were meant to interact with the mail. The gallery was quick to allot someone to shoo away those who wanted to touch, which would not have been necessary if it had appropriate installation.
Overall, the energy and positivity of the crowd added an exciting atmosphere to the evening.
Black Cloud was a clear favourite, with visitors trying to capture the dramatic composition from every angle. Yet the lack of flow (from one artist to another as well as in the collections themselves) was confusing not only visually but physically as well, as many guests were unsure of where they were supposed to be heading next. However, The Power Plant is a Canadian institution that has garnered acclaim in Canada and overseas, and one I was very proud to support, regardless.
