Toronto, Canada. The capital of fusion.
Just check out the city's food offer. Funky clothes, cool people, mixed ethnies.
A skyline dominated by the CN Tower - the tallest building in the world until 2010.
Toronto itself is a patchwork of ethnic blocks. I'm in Little Portugal which isn't far from Little Italy that then eventually turns into China Town (one of the two China Towns). But you can find Little Greece, Korea Town and - I've been told - a once Little Vietnam.
Just check out the city's food offer. Funky clothes, cool people, mixed ethnies.
A skyline dominated by the CN Tower - the tallest building in the world until 2010.
Canadian immigration policies are quite flexible, so there is a big immigration flux from all over the world . Most of the immigrants come to live in the Great Toronto Area, a big urban stretch around Toronto, an expanse of multiple centres whose borders melted together.
Toronto itself is a patchwork of ethnic blocks. I'm in Little Portugal which isn't far from Little Italy that then eventually turns into China Town (one of the two China Towns). But you can find Little Greece, Korea Town and - I've been told - a once Little Vietnam.
These areas are no ghettos. People mix naturally and hybridity seems just at its starting point: the beginning of an effective meltin'-pot.
What is the art world in Toronto? Is it a fusion of multiple disciplines?
This what I'm trying to figure out by visiting museum, seeing shows, getting in contact with local artists (theatre actors and directors, dancers, choreographers, musicians, writers, academics, etc.). I've been meeting a lot of interesting people, I've seen a couple of shows (not as much as interesting, though) but I couldn't afford more (above all with no guarantee of worthiness) for a cheap ticket is at least 20/25 dollars. I have also been visiting museum of Canadian art, taking advantage of free entrances times, for -again- the tickets could be around 25 dollars (tax excluded!)
The artists receive some help for the state though, like there is a program that helps artists to buy their house. The economical situation in a time of global crisis is not as bad as in the USA or in most of Europe.
But still, one thing is for sure: culture is very expensive and not affordable by all the people.
So, what is the place of the Art in society? What's its social weight? What's its social usefulness if it can't reach everybody? Could the institutionalized art be political and/or social if not everybody can get in touch with it? Does Canadian art really correspond to Canadian fusion identity?
The Canadian duo Carol Condé and Karl Beveridge tried to raise a similar issue.
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Carol Condé and Karl Beveridge - Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1976 |
Check the documentary film shown on the Festival Planet in focus:
What's your art temperature? What is the art temperature of the city you're living in? What's the artistic fever that's infecting the country you're in this moment?
What are local issues, questions, wonderings, stylistic concerns that surround you? What artscape are you living in?
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