un-set-tled
adjective
lacking stability; worried or uneasy; unpredictable; not yet resolved; having no settlers. verb
cause to feel anxious or uneasy; disturb. (Un)settled is a site-specific exhibition and residency that sets out to investigate and unsettle the history of the Guild Park and Gardens—formerly the Guild of all Arts—in Scarborough, which has grown from a collection of rural communitie
s into a dense and culturally diverse urban sprawl on the eastern flank of Toronto. Working onsite as part of a series of mini-residencies taking place over several weeks, participating artists will explore the Guild’s eccentric utopianism, which stands as an emblem of Scarborough’s ambitions for the 20th century. Using a variety of media and strategies ranging from performance to video and sound, participants will set out to create a generative response between the modernist, urbanist and industrial ambitions represented by the former Guild of all Arts and their own aesthetic, political and social intentions. The artists’ presence and public interventions will also pointedly address a much deeper indigenous history that has been obfuscated from the site by a still-dominant colonial architecture and settler-ideology. The project involves participating artists Lori Blondeau, Basil Alzeri, Terrance Houle, Matt Walker, Duorama (Ed Johnson & Paul Couillard), alongside Lisa Myers and her York University undergraduate class, and Bojana Videkanic’s University of Waterloo Landmarks2017 undergraduate class. Artists and students will work on site at different times for the duration of the project. Visitors attending regularly scheduled weekly events will be invited to meet 15 minutes prior in front of the main entrance to Guild Park, located at 201 Guildwood Parkway, Scarborough. Once gathered, visitors will be lead by volunteers on a guided tour. Each weekly event will culminate in an artist talk and a walking tour of projects throughout the park. (Un)settled will probe themes ranging from the indigenous history of Scarborough to the proliferation of modernism, from immigration to urban sprawl, and the underlying tensions between ecology and human intervention.
–– Bojana Videkanic, curator.
