Art on the Long Weekend, pt. 2

On Saturday it rained quite a bit, but it finally slowed down around 1:45 or so.  I decided to go over to the Queen Garden Centre.  It didn't have as much as I had hoped for (no bark chips, no paving stones), but it had some really nice trees and bushes.  I may well buy one of the ornamental trees, though it looks like I would have to have this delivered and planted next weekend, since they aren't open on Sunday.  That's ok.  I want to make sure I want to do the landscaping this summer before I launch into it.

Then I decided to head over to the Unilever site to see the exhibit (part of the larger Scotiabank festival).  It took several times to get there (it can only be accessed from Lake Shore Blvd. or the Lower Don bike trail).  This was quite frustrating to me, and I almost gave up.  If the city does succeed in getting an East Harbour GO station and of course the Downtown Relief Line station, they are going to have to change the street configuration to open this site up to Eastern at a minimum.

Once I actually made it, it was pretty cool.  The concept is not that different from when Luminato was over at the Hearn Power Plant, opening up an unused industrial space but this is a much more low-key event, and it is nicer that way.

On the inside.

The art installation was somewhat secondary to just being inside the Unilever Factory.  There were manikins catching soap bubbles (apparently, these manikins used to be part of an installation at Canada Place). 

Plus one manikin looking suspiciously like a young Andy Warhol.

Then on the upper level, lots and lots of photos of the manikins in different poses, usually without their heads.

I thought the parking lot full of these grey compact cars was itself an interesting installation.

Definitely not the most profound art installation I've ever seen, but worth a look if you like industrial spaces and happen to be on the East End over the next two or three weeks.