New AGO marks start of a new arts era for Toronto
Time:2009-01-05
The opening of the renovated Art Gallery of Ontario on Nov. 14 marked the end of a glorious spurt of new cultural buildings in Toronto.
So, are we a cooler city for all the new additions?
"W-a-a-y cooler, m-a-a-an!" joked Christopher Hume, the Toronto Star's urban affairs columnist, to ctvtoronto.ca.
The AGO appears to be an instant hit. People lined up for blocks on the opening weekend to get a first look at what $276 million and superstar architect Frank Gehry, who grew up near the gallery, could create.
On the outside, they saw:
a glass-and-douglas fir façade on Dundas Street, meant to evoke the lines of a canoe
a gleaming blue titanium addition with an eye-catching, curved external staircase
a wood spiral staircase inside
New skylights to allow in natural light
"What I hope people will feel when they literally walk in is a sense of welcome," said Matthew Teitelbaum, director and CEO of the AGO, on Nov. 13.
"A sense that this is a building that embraces you, whether it's the light, wood, whether it's the procession straight into Walker Court -- but that there is a sense that we as an institution want you here and want to embrace you."
The latest expansion of the AGO, a 108-year-old institution, came about as a result of a massive donation of 2,000 artworks by the late Kenneth Thomson. The Thomson family also donated $100 million to the renovation's cost. The AGO will have 4,000 works on display in 110 galleries.
Gehry, who calls Los Angeles home, said he didn't know the power of Canadian art before he worked on this project. "And now that I see it in this setting, in all its glory, it makes you realize that this could be a big deal for future generations," he said.
However, time will tell how the public ultimately accepts the new AGO.
In June 2007, the Royal Ontario Museum's Crystal addition opened. A year later, Toronto Life published an article saying the jagged $320-million addition towering above Bloor Street was a bust on the inside and had done little to boost the museum's attendance.
Hume disagreed with the article and said objections to the Crystal are likely due to "the shock of the new."
Still, the gallery's revitalization had Hume call this one of Toronto's best architectural years ever.
With the AGO, the ROM, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts and the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts all being either built or renovated in the past two years, the rebuilding of Toronto's cultural infrastructure is complete.
The Royal Conservatory of Music also mostly completed a renovation this year, he said.
But now, Toronto does have a suite of world-class cultural facilities, even though some have utilitarian rather than interesting architecture, Hume said.
"This has been an important process for the city. In addition to ending up with a series of first-rate buildings, we've gone through an exercise of Toronto learning who it is. It's been an entirely positive thing -- in spite of all the griping about the ROM," he said.
