in praise of fails: Weatherworks - land art installations by K.I.A.

TL; DR: 30-foot art done-30° (“The Window” winterlude)

On Horizons

The newly frozen bay, somewhat snow white, sounds out as it warps — ringing, and singing, like an ice siren, alarm and allure. I jump, stomp, and kick down while walking onto this winter canvas. I’m holding a broom sideways — if I fall through, maybe it’ll save me. Should I be wearing a life jacket?

F1: Cities in Dust

Every December I make enormous weatherworks. The process is physically demanding — a duel, a sport, a dance — due to the difficult conditions (which are different every year). This art is always in cooperation with acquiescent to nature; i.e. this year, for the first time in ten, there is no ice. So “going-with-the-no-floe”, I shifted my colordrifts and glyphs to nearby snowy fields and frozen flora. But because the art is not at the time-honoured site, and I can only work at a much smaller size… all attempts are fails. (F1-F4):

F2: Color…Elide

Every December I make enormous weatherworks. The process is physically demanding — a duel, a sport, a dance — due to the difficult conditions (which are different every year). This art is always in cooperation with acquiescent to nature; i.e. this year, for the first time…

READ THE REST OF THE POST & SUBSCRIBE TO THE K.I.A. substack HERE

earthwork art installation by K.I.A.

Every year for the last decade I’ve done large outdoor art installations (earthworks, or “weatherworks”) on a frozen lake. Here’s the 2023 edition. (See some earlier ones at my Substack HERE. Editioned prints available: contact.).

They are usually done in very cold weather (-20). They take anywhere from 10-25 hours to make and document. They usually last for about 30 minutes after completion—I work as long a I can in the daylight hours until the sun starts to set before I have to photograph them. They never last overnight because snow, wind, rain, etc destroys them.

Except this time.

It didin’t snow overnight, and the weather warmed up the next day, melting the snow, which allowed the colors to mix together, and the textures I’d created to morph. The work went from matte to gloss, and some parts showed became translucent, adding visual depth. This was perfect, because chance, change, and ephemerality are major themes in my work.

I photograph the work in ways that obscure scale and perspective. The images could be taken from a sattelite over Jupiter, a drone over a coral system, a closeup of moss in some exotic rainforest, an electron microscope examining microorganisms.

The works are physically arduous — squatting, leaning, extending, but also frozen fingers and numb fingers. But it puts you in tune with the environment, because you have to watch the clouds coming in, pay attention to the light, feel the direction and strength of the wind, place your feet right on the ice. This year the ice was really noisy, weird and very loud warping sounds (like a whale call? or giant steel rubber band?) that would sound out, and at least a couple times let to audible and visible cracks.

The Window by K.I.A.: compilation images

Compilation of photographs as grouped by theme into a single image.

The compilations range from two up to 60+ images. Dimensions variable and flexible — portrait, landscape, square, etc. Inquiries welcome.

Here are a few examples of the “visual poems” compilted from The Window, a 24/7/365/1 project documenting the diversity, velocity, and humanity of life at this moment.

See more of the compilations HERE (and more being added over time.)

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“ultimulticulti” (39 image compilation):

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“Views From the Six” (36 image compilation):

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“Happiness Is Motion” (aka “Wheelers and Wheelies” (6 image compilation):

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Other compilations: Gravity/Antigravity, Wraiths Below the Window, Sequences….

Frostbite + Concussion = Landart

Every year I do an earthwork — more accurately, a snowwork — on a frozen lakebed flat and white like a canvas (what artist could resist) . This year the season started out unseasonably warm (no ice or snow), and then went directly to -30 degrees.

I labored all day on the above work, and by the time it was ready to photograph it was sunset (often the case) and my phone battery was dying. So, running back and forth trying to get enough juice to take some shots before the light faded, I slipped on the ice and bonked my head, and while taking the photos the temperature and wind chill gave me frostbite. “Suffer for my art” and all that.

All the works are quite large, usually over 30’. They never last more than a few hours post-completion.

Because ice crystals are discrete units, like pixels comprising a jpeg, the work is pseudodigital. It was only experienced by one person IRL. Because the work is ephemeral, the documentation is the art. The photos have a very interesting ambiguous depth to them, appearing as both flat abstract images but also, with closer viewing, a deep spatial perspective.

More land art works by K.I.A. HERE. Contact for details.

Earlier years — see fully at Weatherworks:

Psychedelic Zen Garden

One option planned for Chromamunity is to add bench on site to turn the work into a place for contemplation and reflection — much like how one would ponder a zen garden. But a full-spectrum one.

The bench would need a sponsor… so please inquire if you’re interested (we’d put a plaque on the bench). Help the work get made at the GoFundme page HERE

Art Heroes from Private Industry!

2 corporate donations just added to all the private citizens helping the enormous public art project “Chromamunity”, officially supported by the City of Toronto, get made. More businesses needed — contact for benefits of contributing. The fundraiser is HERE

Wow! Support from L.A., London, Toronto + !

Fantastic support so far for my public art project Chromamunity (10,000 sq ft of exuberant outside-the-lines color!)

The project is scaled to create a feeling of post-pandemic joy, as well as awe & wonder — like the an earthbound aurora borealis…

Contributions have been flowing in from Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, London, and all across Canada - Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, St. John’s, Fort Saskatchewan, Prince Edward County…

The artwork, officially approved by the City of Toronto, is to created with a mix of funding from everyday individuals — so far, teachers, health practictioners, students, doctors, architects, collectors etc — and larger donations from foundations, organizations, patron groups and corporations.

But the work on the art can’t start until the materials and equipment part of the project is covered - so please donate at the GoFundMe page HERE: https://gofund.me/efcb7faa

Much more detail about the work HERE

Chromamunity - a 10,000 sq ft painting

Chromamunity is an ambitious public art project by K.I.A. officially endorsed by the City of Toronto. The work is to be funded by a combination of private and public sources (corporations, individuals, crowdfunding). Click the Banner above or Widget right to Donate and help Chromamunity get made.

The budget includes equipment rental, materials, assistants and so on (A detailed budget can be sent upon request). MoreDetails and images below..

CHROMAMUNITY - a 10,000 sq. ft painting, supported by City of Toronto

A massive area of vibrant color will completely transform a dreary 10,000 sq. foot cement and dirt site covered in thousands of grey rocks. Giant overlapping drifts of reds, purples, pinks and yellows will create a gorgeous shifting landscape across the site’s undulating topography…

LETTER OF SUPPORT, CITY OF TORONTO

City Hall 
100 Queen Street West 
Toronto, Ontario M5H 2N2 

 I am writing in support of the project Chromamunity, which has affectionately become known amongst our team as Rainbow Rocks. 

 ArtworxTO will provide new opportunities for both Toronto and international artists to play a leading role in the development of public art projects within the city. The program will work closely with artists and Toronto’s key arts institutions to deliver major public art projects and commissions for 2021. 

Embodying the three pillars of ArtworxTO Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021, this project will infuse the underpass by Canoe Landing Park with colour. The project was selected for support by a Peer Review Panel comprised of external advisors including artists, sector advocates, and community cultural champions. We are enthusiastic about the project's broad accessibility, creativity, and celebratory scale. 

We are working in partnership with K.I.A.'s team, community and public partners to bring this opportunity to life. The City of Toronto ArtworxTO team will be helping with site permissions, technical assistance, permitting, and promotion through our extensive marketing campaign. We hope that you will likewise support this proposal to help make this project possible. 

Joe Sellors 
Manager, ArtworxTO: Toronto's Year of Public Art 2021 
Arts & Culture Services, Economic Development & Culture, City of Toronto 

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“Awe is often accompanied by feelings of increased connectedness with other people. Experiencing awe often puts people in a self-transcendent state where they focus less on themselves and feel more a part of a greater whole” - “The Science of Awe” (2018), Summer Allen, Ph.D.

A massive area of vibrant color will completely transform a dreary 10,000 sq. foot cement and dirt site covered in thousands of grey rocks. Giant overlapping drifts of reds, purples, pinks and yellows will create a gorgeous shifting landscape across the site’s undulating topography.

Done at a scale to inspire awe, this hybrid of installation, earthwork, and abstract painting will turn a lifeless urban space into something celebratory and transcendent. It will make a must-see destination of an inconspicuous location under the Gardiner expressway.

This artwork will be easily accessible to all, situated alongside a thoroughfare that connects a densely populated condo district to the Waterfront. The triangular site is bordered by a wide sidewalk and broad paved path on two sides which will enable visual exploration of the ‘volumetric painting, with different vantage points and perspectives revealing unique color details.

The site is also situated between two attractions, Canoe Landing Park and the Toronto Music Garden, and so will capture and engage casual passersby as well as motivated sightseers. 

How it supports the Year of Public Art pillars, vision and principles

Creativity

• The artwork is an ambitiously-scaled outdoor public installation/painting that embraces ephemerality, transformation, transcendence. The work:

• changes according to the viewer’s vantage point and movement

• will change over its duration, as new stones are added by public (more below)

• though analogue, is resonant with the digital era — the large work is made of discrete units (individual rocks) just as a jpeg is made of pixels; it uses crowdsourcing (co-creation); is open source (can be modified into the future); has a decentralized Option (can be expanded beyond site); it also has a virtual component that gives views of the work only available online (more below).

• is highly adaptable, with different iterative possibilities (size, duration, engagements etc) to accommodate budget, conditions, or situational changes if needed

Community

• The work is a metaphor: thousands of unique and colorful rocks as part of a larger artwork = individuals as part of greater communities. (See also “Awe” quotation, top.)

• is a public realm improvement for the local community (empty litter trap transformed to beautiful artwork)

• The public will be invited, on an ongoing basis, to participate physically in the making of work by painting their own stones to be added to the site

• Community talks and site tours about the work (from awe to zen gardens) will be done

• The public will be encouraged to add their own photos, selfies, hashtags to social media, with a “Best Photo” contest prize. (Social will be used to promote the work in progress, completed, and post completion — IG, Youtube, TikTok, FB, Vimeo etc).

Everywhere

• The site is a free public space, easily accessible to all via city sidewalks, near public transportation, roads, parking, accommodation and hotels, and:

• is accessible 24/7

• can be viewed even in inclement weather

• is near other attractions (Bentway, Fort York, Music Garden, Canoe Landing, Skydome)

• can be experienced or explored by everyone, from anywhere on the planet, via a Google Virtual Tour which will be created and posted online. Viewers will be able to virtually ‘walk in’ to specific points in the work and see it from perspectives not available physically onsite. To this same purpose, 360° videos will also be produced, and creative video (fly-throughs, bird’s eye view, slow tracking shots, bullet time, and so on) will be recorded by drone or extended stick and posted online for global and local audiences as another way to experience the work.

• Photo/video of the work over different views/times/conditions will be posted; twilight, night, full daylight, timelapse as rocks are added, etc. providing an evolving and durational experience

• Video and photographs will created as separate artworks to be exhibited in the future, extending the lifetime of the work (and event) reaching wider audiences post-event.

• there is the Option to execute the field as a distributed work (decentralized), expand it throughout the city to include other rock fields (ie. the one next to the Fort York library, or further ones— the Beaches, Markham, North York, underpasses near the airport…)

• could have an extended life; the work is easily maintained - dust or dirt can be cleaned off (spray wash, compressed air, manual broom). Rocks can be touched up, switched out, or even repainted, opening up the possibility of the work, at a low cost, possibly becoming ‘permanently temporary’.

Earlier works inspiring Chromamunity:

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PROJECT PROPOSAL

1. Description: 

Jubilant and outside-the-line swathes and clouds of purples, pinks, blues, reds and yellows will be painted directly onto thousands of dull grey rocks covering a large city lot under a highway downtown. The  landscape will transform from a dead space into an artwork inspiring awe, joy, and transcendence. (More detail in Letter of Interest above).

2. Cost:  

$26,000

3. Dates and Duration: 

Summer 2021-2022+  

• Creation - 2 weeks (flexible); site cleanup/prep (garbage, spray wash of stones, etc) 2 days, painting white, 2 days, color 8 days.

• Web Creation - 2 weeks (Virtual Tour, 360 videos, photos)

• Community Engagement - April-ongoing (rock painting at site, libraries, schools, community centers), rock placement, site walks and talks.

• Documentation - Ongoing, posting of light & seasonal changes, time-lapse, viewer’s photos, activities etc

• Maintenance - Ongoing, garbage, dirt cleaning/spray wash as needed (once a month?). Touch ups, repainting of areas, as needed, if needed. Until end of 2021 (at minimum).

• NOTE: The site could be then allowed to return its previous untended state, or a consideration could be to have the work become ‘permanently temporary’, with occasional light maintenance. A ‘Friends of the Park’ initiative could be created to continue some maintenance beyond the year if desired.The artist is open to touching up or repainting rocks/sections over a longer period (the rocks, painted in a durable exterior house paint, could last 5 years), the work evolving even further over time. Finally, the artist is also interested in others (individuals, or collectives) reinterpreting the color field in the future. (For example, one concept would be having the stones painted over by a dozen graffiti artists, and then the stones ‘remixed’.) A comparison could be the “Rainbow Tunnel” on the DVP, something ‘temporary’ that lasts over decades.

4. Audience
Everyone. Locals, tourists, and a worldwide audience attending virtually via the web.

5. Community Engagement

• Public participation - citizens, students, community groups, passersby (via outreach programs at site, schools, libraries, public centers, media messaging, calls, and so on), will be invited to paint rocks (found or provided) to be added to the site in and around the original painted stones. For example, at the nearby Fort York Library, Bentway, or Canoe Park, rocks could be painted and then walked over to the site. (Fun idea: international people could mail in a rock, could be ongoing story/blog posts.)

• Artist talks and walks, periodically, about the inspiration ideas, and philosophy behind the work (awe, Zen gardens, graffiti, prairie skies, coloring outside the lines, working en plein air, digitalism, Kirlian photography, ephemeral art, earthworks, crowdsourcing…), at site, schools, community centers, colleges, museums, podcasts, radio…

• Online engagements - hashtag posting of photos of the art or selfies at the work; a Best Photo of the work competition (with prize) run; see more under “Community” in Letter of Interest, above, and Communication, below.

6. Project Communication

• Dedicated website for the work, with information, Virtual Tour, videos, ongoing posts and documentation, comment engagement

• Social media posting: IG, FB, Youtube, TikTok, Vimeo for duration

• Traditional print, tv, radio media contacted locally, nationally, and internationally, targeting art, design, entertainment, To Do, tourist stories (artist has database)

• Online publications, blogs, podcasts, email lists (Akimbo, CARFAC, etc), artist’s own database of writers, patrons, curators, collectors, publications utilized

• Artist talks, on and offsite (details above)

• Competitions/Games with prize: 1) Best Photo of work 2) Spot & photo ‘the one green neon rock’ 3) small, hidden offsite colored rock placements, as Geocache hunt

• Liaison with all City of Toronto / Year of Public Art resources & promotional efforts

7. Location
A triangular space under the Gardiner Expressway, on the east side of Dan Leckie Way, and just south of Canoe Park Landing. A large sidewalk borders its west side, and a wide path on its north. Behind a barrier on the south edge of the lot is Lake Shore Blvd. The area is roughly 10,000 sq. feet (1000 sq m), and is entirely covered by thousands of melon-sized river rock or stones. The topography is an uneven surface, with shallow rises, slight valleys, and low mounds.

OPTION: the work could be expanded to other sites as a ‘decentralized’ work. For example the pre-existing rock field next to Fort York Library, stone fields at the Toronto Airport, or smaller ‘placed’ fields at other sites around the city could be executed. each with small didactic informing of other locations to see.

8. Accessiblity standards
Easily accessed and viewed from existing wide city sidewalk and paths. Interactive virtual tour 360 degree video online.

NOTE: a simple cleared path into the central area rocks is a consideration. However, as the work can be experienced from the sidewalk, the path or clearing is not integral to the concept. If a path or pier ’into the work’ is seen as highly desirable, the artist is not certain if the work would be considered equivalent to the Winter Stations at Woodbine — that is, visible to all but without constructed paths to each work — or if a wooden platform re: accessibility would need to be constructed, so this has not been included in the Budget.

OPTIONS for the work: 

• at chosen site, full-sized, or smaller painted surface (re: budgetary restrictions)

• shifted to alternate site, similar settings

• with a path allowing entrance into interior

• decentralized, with additional sites in the area or throughout the city (pre-existing stone sites or created by placing stone), of scale or small nodes

• duration expanded beyond 2021

Final Notes:

The artist will create the work with two assistants (artists). The stones will be painted as found in place, with soft-edged clouds of overlapping colors flowing across occasional linear forms. Some colors will only reveal from certain directions. The artist will use a spray gun with an extension to create the large swathes of color. (Artist has experience with spray gun equipment.) Local power from nearby outlets (already researched) will be used for the airless compressor, and 50’+ hoses for reach. Low VOC latex house paint will be used.

The artist has a history of doing ephemeral and permanent works, in Tokyo, LA, Calgary and Toronto. This has included 10 storey projections over the busiest intersection in the world (Shibuya), yearly 50’ earthwork ‘paintings’ on frozen lakebeds (Ontario), a 200 kg. artwork for a lobby (Calgary), a 40’ installation composed from 800 discrete painted units (Banff residency). He has also done various crowdsourced and distributed artworks (see website.)

The artist lives near the proposed site, and has considered this location for years for a large work of art that synthesizes his ephemeral outdoor art, ambitious-scale,  while combined with the works made from discrete units. He also has experience (through both art and music careers) with timelines, planning and problem-solving, negotiating prices and contracts, (over) delivering within a limited budget, promotion and getting press, shooting and editing videos, creating websites, email and social media campaigns, and so on.

Ash & Ice, Sun & Snow, Wind & Wood, Fail & Fun

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Successing the fail. The idea was to glitch some lace, use it as a stencil, with fireplace ash as spray paint, and white snow on the lake as the canvas. I limited my tools: sifter, fabric, bag of ash, a cardboard box. (Later allowed some broken branches into the mix). The cardboard was to add some linear elements and rectilinear knockouts -- my only condition was that it sorta had to have a digital look to it. 

Doing art outside solidly puts you back in your skin, and  attunes you to nature: you feel the wind (for the direction of the falling ash), observe incoming clouds (for how they’ll change the light), smell the humidity (snow coming?), embrace the cold (going gloveless for precision), hear the ice cracking (danger?), see the sun going down (too quickly).  Day one’s first attempts were too late; got dark. Second day was bright, no wind... but -25 degrees, too cold to place and pull lace. Day three, conditions were perfect in the morning. (Lucky; windy later).

Working outdoors with limiting conditions means you can’t overthink or overanalyze, which is great: art becomes more of a sport than a puzzle. It’s not too precious: if you fail, it’s only a day or two of prep & work and fine, bye-bye, the weather takes it;  but also you have to let the ‘success’ go as well (and in that way, they become the same thing.)