Streamlined: Belterra, Amazônia / Alberta, Michigan positions moving images of nearly identical Ford Motor Company towns in dialogue with one another. The left side of the video moves across Belterra, a rubber plantation village in the Amazon forest, while the right shows Alberta, a sawmill town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Both were built at the same time in 1935 for the purposes of producing rubber and wood for the manufacturing of the Model T in the United States. Depicting the two towns in parallel, the work focuses in and out of residential buildings, tree harvests, moments of daily life and natural landscapes. Articulating the tensions between simulacrum and authenticity that inform these pre-planned communities, Tossin’s use of mirroring across disparate but deeply linked geographies both establishes and unsettles a sense of space and place. Ultimately, Streamlined offers a subtle inquiry into the histories of globalized production and their material and social residues.

Related Public Programs

Opening Reception

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 | 6–8 pm

Special Exhibition Tour: Streamlined: Belterra, Amazônia / Alberta, Michigan

Noa Bronstein

Wednesday, July 10, 2024 | 6 pm

All events take place at The Image Centre (33 Gould St., Toronto) unless otherwise noted.

Admission is always free

Gallery Hours

Wednesday: 12–8 pm

Thursday–Saturday: 12–6 pm

Sunday–Tuesday: Closed

Exhibition Tours

Tuesday: By appointment

Wednesday–Friday: Drop-in, 1:30 pm

Clarissa Tossin, Streamlined: Belterra, Amazônia / Alberta, Michigan (still), 2013, two-channel video. Courtesy of the artist