KENSINGTON KREATORS supports the market’s creative community (artists, designers, performers, not-for profits etc) with the opportunity to test one out of three themed based reactivation ideas made for the Market, by the Market through the City’s Innovation Grant for up to $25,000 in funding.
Kensington Kreator WINNERS
PROJECTS TO BE COMPLETED BY NOVEMBER 30th 2021
Brief Description of Project
Living in Technicolour is an immersive and interactive multimedia exhibition that explores senses, emotions and feelings associated with grasping the new realities that we live in. It will showcase a series of performances, music, installations, stories and archives that reimagine/ redefine what it means to be in this time of pandemic.
The event is a monthly exhibition with a series of performances and art installations from January to March. It will be held every last Saturday of the month. We will be collaborating with upcoming and established artists in Toronto to put together the exhibition that will cater to the Kensington community and Torontonians in general.
The monthly exhibition will showcase themes such as Whirlwind, Longing and Enchantment that symbolize feelings and emotions during COVID. The exhibition invites the Kensington community to participate and interact (socially-distance version) with artists and performances. Visitors and participants of the exhibition will be given a zine that contains a ‘bingo’ card that will hopefully encourage them to shop and spend around Kensington market. In this way, the exhibition ‘Living in Technicolour’ would hopefully revitalize and bring back vibrancy in the community after months of quarantine.
ELEMENTALE
“5 glowing optical illusion murals celebrating the elements of traditional cosmology through sacred geometry”
Brief Description of Project
The goal of this proposal is to create a series of Op Art public interventions that would attract art and astrology lovers to visit Kensington Market during the winter season (2021). Five murals are proposed at strategic locations in the market – four at the key gateways inviting guests to explore/ shop/dine, and a final centerpiece is proposed in the “heart” of Kensington – Baldwin and Augusta.
Each installation will represent one of the five elements of the Universe: Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Ether.Kensington is a beacon for celebrating the mystical and preserving the ancestral wisdoms often swept under the distractions of modern life.
This series aspires to remind people of the intrinsic role that Kensington plays as a platform for nurturing and sharing the healing arts from around the world.
These optical illusion murals would be designed to glow at night with the assistance of discreetly located exterior black-lights, creating a desirable night-time experience, particularly in the long dark hours of the winter. In addition, the murals would be accompanied by information panels where visitors can readily access the stories through which the geometrical symbols incorporates wisdom from the Vedism, Sufi Islam, the Aanishinaabe and Orisha African cosmological traditions.
GIGABIKE Mobile Stage
Brief Description of Project
A mobile stage for DJs and MC/singers and live bands to collaborate in the streets of Kensington Market. The bike will be designed to have full capabilities to hold equipment and produce sound in any outdoor space.
The Gigabike stage is designed to collapse and unfold and ride away in minutes. The goal for this project is to create a space for artists to be able to perform and make income, for local establishments to be promoted and for the wellbeing of the market’s livelihood. The Gigabike will open up an innovative way to social distance and enjoy the sounds outside by local artists for years to come.