SummerWorks is kicking off ther 2022 programming a bit earlier this year with the announcement of a significantly expanded Public Works program, including three large-scale works that consider the possibilities for the public realm, emphasize making the artistic process public, and engaging the public in creation.

As part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art  these works will activate city-wide engagement and create connections on the streets of Toronto, accompanied by an unprecedented number of of additional public space performances and art interventions that will be announced later this year. These multidisciplinary, community-centred projects will offer free and accessible activities across  many neighbourhoods. 

Public facing elements of these projects will begin in May and June and culminate with live and interactive components in August, when the Festival will return to an in-person, 11-day format, August 4-14, 2022. 
 
The three projects comprising SummerWorks’ core contribution to ArtworxTO are: 

Future Perfect (New By-laws for Civic Spaces) from Action Hero (UK) and Mia & Eric, a dismantling and rearranging of city bylaws into rules for living in the new world, shared on billboards around Toronto beginning late spring and co-presented in partnership with The Bentway

Health & Safety Notes by Mark Reinhart (Chatham) which first appeared in Toronto for SummerWorks 2020, animating additional buildings and alleyways in the city with messages from the community to the community beginning in June\

Switching Queen(s) by Switch Collective (Toronto), a two-part project interrogating challenges facing Parkdale and its residents and considering art-making as an accomplice to radical social reorganization, which begins in May with the audio journey presented in association with bcurrent, and culminates with an in-person performance experience in August.

All three presentations are part of unique multi-year engagements between the artists and SummerWorks Festival, through which the projects have had extended periods of creative development and community engagement.

Alongside the core Public Works ArtworxTO projects, SummerWorks will also be presenting a complementary series of Public Works Special Projects to animate public byways around the city in the warmer months. These projects are supported by the Toronto Arts Council’s Animating Streets Initiative, enacted for the Year of Public Art as well. The additional public space project line-up and artists will be announced later this year alongside the full programming line-up for SummerWorks Festival 2022. 

More information about SummerWorks and the 2022  activities can be found here. 

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist with a focus on travel, lifestyle, entertainment and hospitality. He has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He enjoys discovering delicious eats, tasting spirited treats, and being mesmerized by musical beats.