The goal of A Walk Across Space and Time is to observe—and share observations—about plural understandings of the shoreline, Toronto, and the landscape embodied in the area around 259 Lake Shore Blvd E. The past remains present in the material landscape, but its absence from most people’s everyday consciousness is striking. Through walking and talking indoors and outdoors together with Anishinaabe Grandmother Kim Wheatley, James Roche, Susan Schwartzenberg, Sandy Smith, and Jane Wolff, we can observe (and document) what comes to the surface. As part of the walk, a temporary installation transforms part of the Programs Hub at 259 Lake Shore Blvd into a field station where visitors can trace their own relationships to the shoreline.
Meeting point: Biennial venue entrance at 259 Lake Shore Boulevard East.
Event note: Rain or shine, the walk will start promptly at 1.30pm at the Biennial venue 259 Lake Shore Boulevard East. Participants are invited to dress warmly and wear comfortable shoes.
Accessibility: This event involves active walking along varied terrain with a few stops to rest over the course of the program. We are committed to supporting the accessibility needs of all participants, and invite those willing to share their needs through the walk registration form or by email: PPL@torontobiennial.org.
Image Credit: A Walk Across Space and Time, 2019. Photo: Yuula Benivolski
For further details of the program, see here for the summary catalogue.
Bios
James Roche (born and lives in Toronto, ON) is a Partner at DTAH with over twenty years of experience working across North America. As a landscape architect, James’s work encompasses all aspects of public realm design including parks, plazas, waterfronts, campus master plans, revitalizations, streetscapes and transportation-related urban design. Prior to joining DTAH, he was the Director of Park Design and Construction with Waterfront Toronto where he worked on several award-winning projects including Sherbourne Common, Sugar Beach, and Queen’s Quay Revitalization.
Jane Wolff (born in Boston, MA, USA; lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) studies, draws, and writes about the complicated landscapes that emerge from interactions between natural processes and cultural interventions; her goal is to make these difficult (and often contested) places legible to the wide range of audiences with a stake in the future. She is an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.
Kim Wheatley is an Anishinaabe Ojibway Grandmother from Shawanaga First Nation Reserve who carries the Spirit name Head or Leader of the Fireflower and is Turtle clan. She has appeared on TV, radio and in many news articles connected to her passion of Indigenous Knowledge sharing. Grandmother Kim Wheatley is deeply committed to creating and promoting awareness of the Indigenous perspective utilizing her gifts of song, storytelling and Traditional teachings. Grandmother Kim Wheatley has worked with over 34 First Nation communities having organized many Indigenous events, authored four books, received city awards & volunteers on a variety of boards as an Indigenous Advisor.
Sandy M Smith (born in Alberta, lives in Toronto, ON) is a professor at University of Toronto specializing in forest health and urban forestry and is a leading expert in the ecology and biological management of invasive forest insects. She has published over 150 journal articles and book chapters, supervised 65+ graduate theses, and served as a reviewer for international journals, national NSERC committees, and scientific panels, as well as on several not-for-profit Boards. As a 7th-generation Canadian, she grew up near Ottawa, spent her summers in Montreal and BC, made annual trips to the Maritimes, raised her three boys with her husband in Toronto, and worked many years in the forests of northern and southern Ontario.
Susan Schwartzenberg (born in Chicago, IL, USA; lives in San Francisco, CA, USA) is a visual artist, photographer, and curator whose work engages the public dialogue through themes of memory, history, and the psychology of place. She works in the public realm investigating the ways stories of people and place find form within the surrounding landscape and environmental conditions. She is the director of the Fisher Bay Observatory, Exploratorium, San Francisco and a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, US.