northpublik: design above the 44th parallel

It’s been so long since the AGO started it’s Transformation, beginning with closing down space by space, that I’d almost forgotten it existed. It wasn’t until I Stumbled [the best procrastination app on the web] across its website that I realized we are mere breaths away from its reopening.

For a long time I avoided the AGO as I was forced to attend many of its shows during high school and was often bored by what I saw. Maybe it was just my pompous youth, but I never felt I saw anything unique there, and I often preferred the smaller indie galleries that are scattered around the AGO’s footprint. Let’s face it, the MOMA or Louvre it’s not — nor will it ever be — but it’s ours, so I hope the new exhibits include a better balance of contemporary and cutting edge artists. I do like Jenny Holzer and General Idea, but it’s time to move on.

Having started as the Art Museum of Toronto in 1900, the AGO has been under some form of transformation since its inception. There was no physical home for it until 1911, and almost every decade since then has seen some form of significant change. Darling & Pearson [which became Darling, Pearson & Cleveland by the time they were re-engaged in the 30s] where the first to architect space for the AMT. John C. Parkin were hired for the opening of Stage I and II in the 70s, and Barton Myers completed Stage III in 1993. The expansion that we are seeing this decade is predominantly thanks to gallery friend Ken Thomson’s donation of his 2000 piece collection and $50 million gift.

Starchitect Frank Gehry was awarded the momentous project but it seems that the new AGO will not display too much of the grand, sweeping forms that is Gehry’s signature style. The plans appear to be quite sedate when compared to such ambitious projects like Bilbao or the Jay Pritzker Music Pavillion. I’m curious as to why this is. We’ve already shown our abilities to welcome accept innovative design [the Libeskind angular tumor that is now the ROM; Alsop's stilted Sharp Centre for Design at OCAD, incomplete with bathrooms because the plumbing would ruin the silhouette], so why stop now?

Guggenheim Museum | Bilbao, Spain

[side notes: you can find some pretty slick construction photos on flickr without looking too hard; and check out Sketches of Frank Gehry, a doc by one of my fave directors, the late Sydney Pollack, who was a close friend of Gehry]

Even if it’s typical polite and safe-playing Toronto that is the reason behind the simpler design, it’s nice to see another unveiling belonging to the larger city renaissance project. Add the AGO to the list that includes the new National Ballet School, The Telus Centre for Performance and Learning, The Four Seasons Centre and the Gardiner [go figure KPMB features a lot in this architectural rejuvenation; lovely, but certainly not as adventurous as Gehry or Alsop].

Gehry’s AGO: Really? You got that from a napkin sketch?

Not just a facelift, but the AGO has undergone an entire rebranding, complete with new logo, done by none other than Bruce Mau. Long-time friend of the AGO, Mau has been involved with many of the gallery’s projects, including housing Massive Change as the AGO’s final major show. I can’t say that I love the new logo. I’m not one for fitting shapes into black boxes as they tend to force a specific meaning onto an entity. I also feel it looks kind of dated — a bit too 80s. I have a feeling that if I submitted this while at school, that prof that I hated would have pinned it up and skinned me alive in front of the class, à la Winter Sorbeck in the Cheese Monkeys. I will concede that letterforms pick up on the energy of a typical Gehry sketch, complete with frenetic linework.

It’s a new look nonetheless, and it’s what the AGO needs. I don’t know many people who have frequented the gallery, which, for all its previous shortcomings, is a shame. We need to support our art institutions, both large and small [I must say, though, it's hard when admission fees are quite steep: $50 and all you've done is walk through the doors. It's hard to expose your kid to large scale works when you can't afford the cover; yes, I'm talking to you, ROM].

So after many months of waiting, we are finally all invited to attend the grand reopening of the AGO this Friday, and you can enjoy it all weekend free of charge. So there’s no excuse not to go.

photo creds: AGO, Scott Norsworthy; Bilbao, unknown; AGO, Gehry Int’l Architects