Phone/PDA? Mobile version!
The City vs the city
Sunday, July 1st, 2007 @ 4:38 amThe City Of Toronto™ has this idea of how bridges are supposed to look. They’re supposed to be grey, minimalistic, empty and sterile. Not too sure why, the CN Tower isn’t even that way any more, but you know me, I’m not exactly one to rock the paradigm.
Anyhow, apparently things like graffiti, poverty and homelessness can all be grouped together as “dirt” and eradicated as a whole. All you have to do is have enough money to pay people to erase all the things in reality that you can’t come to terms with!
Enough wallets got together and agreed that bridges are grey and sterile, and put all their money into aggressively reconstructing reality to fit their worldview… not caring one lick whether that meant destroying not only the culture but the entire lives of those who fell outside the model.
On June 28th, the literally poor and unfortunate souls who had made their homes under the Bathurst bridge were evicted by the City™, and their last remaining bits of worldly possessions were bulldozed.
Along with trying to erase these people’s lives so as to not cause discomfort to the working masses passing by on their commuter trains, the City™ also felt that it was important, nay, probably vital that they cover all the cement columns’ graffiti with grey paint. Rich people like grey for some reason, I think it’s something to do with being too old.
Unfortunately for The City Of Toronto™, the city of Toronto has a powerful, thriving culture.
After two days of “work” painting the bridge’s underside a nice shade of blank, the City™ workers went home to sleep, and the city’s life came out to play.
All the stuff pictured here appeared in the span of one bridge party night. Paint cans were limited in number, but the blank slate encouraged people of all sorts to try their hand.
Even though the majority wasn’t necessarily the most mind-blowing, visually-appealing work I’d ever seen, I was brimming with joy just to see so many people trying to create at all.
Random scribblings appeared alongside stylistic tags and developed pieces.
The most elaborate piece was left unfinished, at least for the time being, as someone had run off with the necessary black paint:
However, my favourites of all weren’t the visually complex pieces, but the messages scrawled in red in different places…
You know, I’m starting to see a pattern established here…
Just like in the cases of the Perrier / GRL projection battle and the totally pirate tagging of Coca-Cola’s giant inflatable adver-bottle (installed on a rooftop at a major downtown Toronto intersection), here The City Of Toronto™ has decided to lock horns with the actual city of Toronto, and wound up with its pathetic little committee being absolutely hung out to dry.
This note was left for the city workers:
This just in: You lose, we win.
Care for a rematch? We could play at this ’til the end of time.
We invented the game and we still write all the rules.
July 1st, 2007 at 5:14 am
It’s tragic that we couldn’t make up for the losses suffered by those who had been living in the ‘tent city’ and I hope to see retaliation for that occur on a separate level. (Is it just me, or has OCAP seemed kinda sleepy lately?)
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:16 pm
they lose. we win.
you found my red marker.
July 2nd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Don’t forget that Home Depot also bulldozed a previous tent city in Toronto a few years back. If you aren’t a revenue generating unit you might as well die.
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:03 pm
^ yep, and that site is still nothing but overgrown piles of rubble at this point. things are eradicated in this city for no reason whatsoever except that they aren’t good representations of the capitalist culture and the way its supposed to function
July 4th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
we win! hurray!
i bet it’s painted over already, which means it’s about time for another visit with some paint. maybe we can laquer over it after we paint, or put pieces up really, really high using a pressure painter.
(although it is worth noting that in casual conversation, every resident of the bridge admitted to having a home in etobicoke, but point taken)
July 5th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
lol, etobicoke
it’s part of a pattern of thinking and pattern of behaviour anyhow, which was, yes, the point i was chasing
there was one piece that they hadn’t cleared off beforehand… a tag and the words “spot finder” and the year 2000… for it to survive 7 years in this spot… spot finder definitely chose the right words.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
OLA!!!
SOU RAFAEL SLIKS, GRAFFITEIRO DE SAO PAULO.. BRASIL
GOSTARIA DE PARTICIPAR DE EVENTOS OU EXPOSICOES.
OBRIGADO
BLESSINGS
July 12th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
http://WWW.FOTOLOG.NET/SLIKS123
July 26th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
The power of the grey capitalist aesthetic. That efficious fucking notice really gets my goat. It looks like a great spot to camp out and live - a natural urban haven, any wonder there was a community there.
Where did the people go?
Shaun.
July 29th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Just so you all know, cement and concrete dries to a gray finish because of the material used to mix it. And it’s not like baking where you can add a few drops of food colouring to add flare. There is no conspiracy of old rich people to make a grey city. A concrete one perhaps, but not a grey one.
July 30th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
i think you’re missing the point, there obviously isn’t literally some colour-based conspiracy, does that really need to be made clear?
my point is that people put a lot of effort into creating real art and culture in this city and it is aggressively and even violently rejected, no beyond rejected (though i hate to keep saying eradicated), by those who we’re supposed to accept are “in charge of us”
niches are the homes and living spaces of every form of life, and the powers that be in this city and this society have decided to dedicate huge amounts of their time, their power, and our resources towards eliminating the niches and thus the culture and life of everything/everyone that does not fit in with globalized American capitalism. it’s cultural genocide, and it’s not just an issue of colour schemes.
August 7th, 2007 at 3:57 am
to reiterate and simplify/concentrate my message:
This system dedicates part of its time and energy towards the elimination of all other ways of life.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
The case against grey might be stronger if there was any work involving some vision or effort here, nahmean? If you want to make a strong statement try preparing. Put some thought into it. Make a sketch first. Practice. Execute.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
The vast majority of people here were near or complete amateurs, like I said, and only deciding to do this in the moment because paint was available. Obviously, better looks better - which is exactly why the city shouldn’t have painted over the more meticulously done pieces that were in the spot in the first place!
October 16th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
its unfortunate how ridiculous our society is towards any expression used on our streets. its mind droning, to walk by so many empty grey walls. even evidence of tagging leaves you to think there is human life within these dead life sucking walls. i often think about if we all disappeared, and some other nation came across toronto, wondering what kind of life we lead… they wouldn’t see any beautiful artwork, that we took the beauty in our lives and allowed everyone to express it, they would see bland walls.. they would have never suspected we had passion…
where as other cultures, you come across their old ‘habitats’ if you will, and it reflects a rich appreciation for life, culture and colour. if we wanted our society to go further in life we would want to inspire everyone, allowing beautiful artwork everywhere. this whole idea of ‘brushing off graffiti’ in the city really boggles my mind, what tourist really wants to visit a bland city? i know i wouldn’t be impressed. anyway, thanks for allowing me a place to vent.
January 26th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
[...] jobs the city spends our money on afterwards. Not only is this unappealing aesthetically, but (as demonstrated here last summer) it’s totally futile, and is really just about creating an image of control over the [...]