Park life for Jason Bruges in Toronto
Jason Bruges Studio has been commissioned to design and build an interactive art installation in granite for a Toronto park. The piece will permanently sit in a privately owned, publicly accessible park as part of a residential development in the city’s downtown entertainment district. It is entitled Front to Back, which references its location on Front Street, near to the city’s historic waterfront and Lake Ontario, which exposes the city to dramatic weather conditions year round.
The work will consist of an array of monolithic granite structures that sense changing levels of light and dynamic movements from people and trees in the park in real-time, and represent them via artwork one through the granite as animated silhouettes on the opposite side. The images on the 3m x 60cm x 20cm monoliths are revealed by controlling an array of LED lights, diffused by glass lenses embedded in the stone.
The use of granite, and sedimentary limestone for the surrounding pavement, refernces the history in stonework of Tridel, the developer of the area. It was established in the Twenties by stone mason Jack DelZotto, who was renowned for building stone-crafted houses in Canada.
