Don River: Throw Me A Lifesaver!

  • Posted by Jade
  • Filed in Arts
  • April 23, 2008

Follow the signs to No. 9During yesterday's much-blogged about Earth Day I decided to take the 501 streetcar down to the Lower Don River and check out the latest project by No. 9. According to their website's mission statement, No. 9 believes that "contemporary art can stimulate positive social and environmental change". For this particular piece, executive director Andrew Davies (of NYC's MoMA and Evergreen @ The Brickworks' fame) commissioned Quebec artists BGL to install a 30-foot sunken cruise ship* on the water and a huge orange lifesaver with "Don River" painted on it.

I missed the Earth Day walking tour which happened in conjunction to the April 22 project launch so when I got there the only people in that area were a few cyclists and a homeless man shouting indecipherable words at me from under a bridge. I was expecting a "sunken ship"* like it says on the website but this is what I saw:

No. 9's BGL: Project for the Don River
That doesn't look too sunken to me.

Out of the 20 minutes or so I spent standing there mulling about the piece, only a couple of people actually took time to look at it. Most of the cyclists would just glance while a group of kids showed more excitement with a potential beaver-sighting.

Did the project fall short of its promise to arouse reflection on the ecological issues plaguing our beloved Don River? Maybe, maybe not. It did get me to pause and ponder on the waterway's poor state in all its murky, smelly glory instead of just forging straight on the bike path. However if you were a mere passer-by with no knowledge of the artistic and environmental goals of the ship and the lifesaver, would you even stop and look?

The BGL: Project for the Don River runs from April 22 to June 29, 2008. Aside from yesterday's activities the artists will be discussing the project at the Art & Ecology Symposium on June 26, 6:00 to 8:30 pm at the Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St. West. For more information visit www.no9.ca.

*Edited: Thanks to Graham for pointing out that it said SHRUNKEN not sunken in the press release. I don't think it would have made any difference if the artists decided to sink the ship though.

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Sure... why not sink throw more junk in the Don. It's such an 'artsy' thought and gay too!

Posted by: Sean at April 23, 2008 2:00 PM

Damn -- I thought this project sounded interesting, but you're right, it looks quite underwhelming!

Posted by: -andrea. at April 23, 2008 2:18 PM

I had a sense of "I came all the way down here for this" kind of feeling when I arrived but chasing the potential beaver with those cute kids made my trek memorable, haha.

Posted by: Jade at April 23, 2008 2:20 PM

I Was drivng up the dvp and wondered what the hell that life preserver was.

Posted by: apetimberlake [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 23, 2008 2:25 PM

as torontoist pointed out in their post on the matter, many misread the release and website, which do indeed say "shrunken" and not "sunken." either way...booooo-ring.

Posted by: graham at April 23, 2008 2:47 PM

@graham: Oh thanks for pointing that out, Graham! It DOES say sHRunken. Geez I've read that press release at least 5 times and could've sworn I saw "sunken".

Posted by: Jade at April 23, 2008 2:56 PM

I never stop on a bike path, 'cause there's always some idiot clad entirely in plastic with a plastic hat and plastic water bottle, roaring up behind on his techo-extreme-adventure-expensive-bike.

This art would not be worth the risk.

Posted by: Patrick at April 23, 2008 3:07 PM

I ran into this last night (out for my first big ride of 2008) and was pleasantly surprised. Kinda cool!

Posted by: Jorge at April 23, 2008 3:48 PM

"Sure... why not sink throw more junk in the Don. It's such an 'artsy' thought and gay too!"

I don't see anything 'gay' about it. Unless it's attracted to other poorly orchestrated artistic events.

Posted by: Adam at April 23, 2008 4:11 PM

A sunken ship would have been more interesting.

My first thought when I saw it, after navigating all the idiots stopped on the bike path on my way up, was whether the artists (I thought model ships were a craft, but whatever) had even seen the site before they delivered the model.

Posted by: the other Adam at April 23, 2008 8:52 PM

this rivals Spinal Tap's Stonehenge...

Posted by: JC at April 24, 2008 10:04 AM

At first this post was angry that the boat wasn't sunken as advertised -- and now that the press release was misread by the writer, it still sucks for other reason. Please don't be Torontoist, write better than that.

How long did you hang around? Did you think about anything other than your boredom?

You are allowed not to like a piece of art, but write intelligently about it, write critically, but ya, don't be torontoistish, it's uncouth.

Posted by: Soupy at April 24, 2008 11:38 PM

@Soupy: Wait a minute, isn't art meant to arouse differences in peoples' feelings and reactions? Hey, some like it, some don't, and I didn't say I was bored - it actually DID make me think about how the river and its surroundings are in need of a hypothetical lifesaver.

And I admit I made a mistake about the whole sunken-shrunken fiasco but where in this post did I ever come across as "angry"?

What did YOU think of the installation, Soupy?

Posted by: Jade at April 25, 2008 9:21 AM

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