POTPURRI

Farihah Shah (Toronto), Ed Pien (Toronto), Court Gee (Toronto),

Rob Nicolls (Toronto), and Suzy Oliveria (Toronto)

Union Station with OCAD U, Toronto

Jan 7 - Feb 1, 2019

Seeing over 300,000 daily visitors, Potpurri was OCAD University, Toronto and Union Station’s first public art project within the “Oak Room” corridor. Commissioned for conceptualization to realization , I organized an 5 artist exhibition, along with creating its design and directing in constructing the 120-foot long, 25’ wide wooden trellis exhibition display structure that displayed paintings, photography, and sculpture. A collaborative public art exhibition features OCAD U Alumni and faculty employing floral imagery as a vehicle to discuss identity politics, virtual realms, mortality, and image veracity. In response to Union Station’s January theme, ‘The Possibility of Transformation”, OCAD U’s public art intervention Potpourri transforms the Oak Room with an immersive greenery-inspired indoor trellis.

Responding to the room’s rich hues and elegant architecture, this temporary art structure transmutes the visitor experience into a vibrant and organic garden environment, complete with flora-inspired artworks and overhead Douglas Fir beams. The contrast of dark oak and soft spruce invokes an eclecticism of natural materials providing fertile grounds for an artwork exhibition. Shifting away from free-standing white walls that divorce exhibition from site-specificity,

Potpourri presents an untreated timber structure to showcase artworks, converting Union Station’s Oak Room into a visitor-friendly flora experience.