Sweetspot, 2008
Public Art Proposal
Final stage commission proposal for North Toronto Collegiate Institute
concrete, stainless steel, glass, viewer-generated sound
This proposed work for North Toronto Collegiate Institute weaved the science of sound travel with the active process of creating memory through voice. The installation integrated a fence structure with parabolic structures at either end, along with text-based signage based on parting yearbook statements by the graduating students. The installation operated as a communication and performative device, activated by participants who could intentionally or unintentionally generate sound within its forms. Sound traveled from one end of the fence to the other and was captured in the curved “sweetspot” stations at each end. The fence component — alternating red and grey panels, selected to echo the school’s colour scheme — created a visual hyphenation that follows the mathematical sequencing of the Fibonacci series, found in many patterns in the natural world.