PARADE

Part of the delight of being on the street is not knowing what you’ll encounter next…

Inspired by the dynamic convergences and events that transpire in our streets, PARADE is a kinetic installation that infuses The Bentway’s skate trail with the vitality of the city and the ever-shifting variables of the streetscape. A motorised conveyor-belt overhead becomes an artery, soaring and looping around the bents above, carrying objects that march through the space like sorcerer’s apprentices. Everyday signage and objects we might encounter on our morning commute such as stop signs, traffic cones, and bike racks are composed and deployed in a playful and subversive treatment of order and chaos:  a procession of inverted road pylons with cheerfully blinking warning lights; a mobile of one-way signs, spinning aimlessly; a train of traffic mirrors pointing in different directions, multiplying and distorting the images of viewers below. 

PARADE deconstructs the street, and marshals these iconic elements in a celebratory procession, transforming a mundane urban scene into street theatre. Reflecting on the continuous movement of the Gardiner Expressway above, and the bustle of the Bentway below, the viewer becomes a still point amidst the traffic of everyday life.

PARADE is scheduled to be in motion from 1:00pm to 9:00pm, seven days a week. Environmental factors like wind, as well as maintenance activity, may impact this schedule. During periods of idleness, PARADE is viewable as a still sculpture.

Commissioned by The Bentway Conservancy.