Major contemporary art fest coming to Union Station

Toronto will play host to the fourth in a series of important international art festivals in the new year. Co-organized by Raster Gallery in Warsaw and Art Metropole, over 20 contemporary art galleries will take over Union Station between January 16-23rd for Villa Toronto.

While not all the details have been made public, the participating galleries have been revealed. It's an impressive lineup, including locals like Jessica Bradley, Cooper Cole, Clint Roenisch, and Erin Stump alongside international spaces like i8 (Reykjavik), IBID Projects (London/LA), Johann Kรถnig (Berlin), LABOR (Mexico City), Misako & Rosen (Tokyo), and of course Raster.

The first in the Villa series of festivals took place in Warsaw in 2006 and gathered together 10 galleries from Europe and the US. The series then headed to to Reykjavik in 2010 and Tokyo in 2011. The Toronto iteration marks a return of sorts for the festival, which promises to feature a host of "collateral events held by major Toronto institutions, [including] concerts, performances, and discussions."

In short, this sounds like a big deal. And while Union Station doesn't promise to be as interesting as a villa in Warsaw or an impromptu art district in Reykjavik, it's a novel use for a gorgeous Toronto space and hell of a lot more intriguing than another art fair. Stay tuned for more information about the performance-based events, and mark your calendars for what already sounds like the art event of 2015 in Toronto.

Photo by Ben Roffelsen in the blogTO Flickr pool.