Displace, 2021-2023
Part of solo show Displace, Project 107 Gallery, Toronto, ON Canada.
January 4 to 8, 2023
This building is slated to be demolished. The first development notice went up in 2014, outlining a plan to replace the site with a high-rise condominium complex. In the eight years since, the plans have evolved and the demolition — ever pending — has been delayed. Perhaps indefinitely. Perhaps for a few months. In the meantime, memories remain. The walls, windows, rugs, floors, light switches and layers of paint bear the palimpsest of a century. These are the scenes captured in photography.
In the early 20th century, this site was an industrial setting, where electrical appliances were manufactured. By the 1990s, artist studios and small, independent businesses carved out a new territory, and were eventually joined by offices and a data centre, with car dealerships and apartment towers as their neighbours. Walls were covered in stucco, floorplans were redrawn, windows and floors were replaced, but the bones remain. According to the City of Toronto’s Planning department, “This site was not deemed to have any historical value.” It is a calculus that erases the cultural life behind the bricks — the affordable, creative spaces that breathe life into the building and the city beyond. At 7 Labatt and across Toronto, this heritage, history and culture is disappearing into oblivion. But for now, the building remembers.
In a space where erasure is on the horizon, the sense of fragility is palpable. In lieu of a traditional gallery setting, where works of fine art are framed and displayed on white walls, the exhibition takes an unconventional form, recognizing the vulnerability of its site — and subject — via an ephemeral medium. These fleeting, vulnerable images are displayed in different scales and settings, creating a dialogue with the building and its uncertain future. There is no permanence through photography, no immortality through art. In a few days, this will all be gone forever.
Text by Stefan Novakovic, Architecture Critic
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