A (mobile) sign of the times
Scarborough installation to tour neighbourhoods until end of October
It’s 11 metres wide, one and a half metres tall and organizers hope it inspires selfies just like its counterpart in downtown Toronto.
There’s one important difference between the famous “Toronto” sign in Nathan Phillips Square and the new “Scarborough” sign: the latter is mobile.
It will tour through six neighbourhoods in north and central Scarborough in the coming months and feature different art installations.
“Scarborough does not have a centre of activity,” said Derek Spooner, executive director at the non-profit organization Scarborough Arts. “Rather, it has centres of activity and so much vibrancy in all of its communities.”
Scarborough Arts produced the sign in partnership with the city of Toronto’s Cultural Hotspot initiative, which is running events in the community until October.
The Scarborough sign is currently installed at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, on the grassy southwest corner of Military Trail and Ellesmere Rd.
Spooner says it’s a “signifier” of what Scarborough is and has to offer.
“Its purpose is to inspire, to elevate the profile of Scarborough so people take pictures with it and click on the hashtag #MyScarborough. We’re driving attention and making noise for Scarborough,” he said. “We want to show people there’s really great art here, programming, people, things to see here and reasons to come out here.”
The sign is also a platform for artists to showcase their work.
Currently, it features a vinyl wrap of Toronto photographer Adam Zivo’s #LOVEISLOVEISLOVE project, which showcases positive images of the LGBTQ community to fight against homophobia.
Zivo wanted to take his project out of the city core and into the suburbs, and found a “perfect fit” with the sign.
“Progress for LGBT rights isn’t always equally distributed across the city,” he said.
“LGBT people flock downtown; we tend to feel safe in the Village, but there are neighbourhoods in the suburbs where we’re not always as safe as we should be, and I wanted to find a way to call attention to that problem and offer support to visibility for LGBT people in Scarborough.”
The sign will be at U of T Scarborough until July 11 and will tour until Oct. 31.
Spooner said the sign will be part of a pilot project for three to five years. adandrea@toronto.com