Strip Mining for Creative Cities

A new show 'Strip Mining for Creative Cities' opens at the Toronto Free Gallery, (1277 Bloor Street West at Landsdowne) opens this Thursday, January 15. Curated by Heather Haynes & Izida Zorde the description of the show reads like this:

"Strip Mining for Creative Cities explores the processes that strip away neighborhood and community resources and leave behind “facades” to be consumed by the market.

Through the voices of artists, youth, urban geographers and architects, the exhibition critically examines the acts that displace residents, cultural practices and community infrastructure, replacing vital social safety nets with simulacra of pre-existing forms.

Locating this exhibition at Toronto Free Gallery in the Bloor/Lansdowne community, the curators both recognize this neighborhood as contested space threatened by gentrification and work to engage the community in documenting and creating alternatives to the stripped-down Creative City.

Artists: Pavitra Wickramasinghe, Thorben Wieditz and Ute Lehrer, Janis Demkiw, Emily Hogg and Olia Mishchenko, Michal Maciej Bartosik, Janet Wang, Seth Porcello, Douglas Paulson, Elaine Gan, Regent Park Focus, Toronto Video Activist Collective and Pamila Matharu with students from Parkdale Collegiate Institute."

The opening on Thursday will be followed by a party to follow with DJs Dorian & Dorian. The show runs through March 1.