The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA) has been active for more than twenty-five years in the city. It spans five floors of the Tower Automotive Building at 158 Sterling Road in the Lower Junction neighbourhood, having moved from a refurbished textile factory on Queen Street West, which has since become a commercial office building. Currently undergoing substantive residential and commercial redevelopment, the Junction has a history similar to that of the Port Lands, as both were principal centres of manufacturing and railway transit in the city.
When it was built in 1919, the Tower Automotive Building was the tallest building in Toronto. Until 2006 it operated as a factory, first producing aluminium products during World War II, and later making items such as kitchen tools, bottle caps, and car parts. Its distinctive, concrete flat-slab architecture—considered innovative at the time of its opening a century ago—has been retained throughout the recent renovations that have seen the site become a new cultural hub. Today the building is home to artists’ studios as well as art and ideas in the form of exhibitions and programming. Like many of Toronto’s cultural centres, it is a site rich with stories that pertain to centuries of industry.
This Biennial site description was generated by the curatorial team, in consultation with our creative partners, to offer lesser-known facts and histories, and explore sites in relation to the changing shoreline.
This exhibition is a partnership with MOCA.
