Public Artwork

Aurora Readiness Centre

Annie MacDonell, Aurora Readiness Centre, 2007
Annie MacDonell, Aurora Readiness Centre, 2007
Location:
Faculty of Architecture Building University of Toronto , 230 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R2, Canada
Artwork creator(s): 
MacDonell, Annie
Text author(s): 
MacDonell, Annie; The Public
Installation year: 
2007
Remarks on location: 

A10, room 066

Description: 

A precise recreation of Toronto’s official nuclear fallout shelter, built in 1962 at the height of Cold War tension, allowed Torontonians to explore the interior of the shelter as it was before it was dismantled in 1996. For one night, Cold War Toronto was brought back to life.

Text of the artwork: 

Text by Annie Macdonell (in the decoration)

shape of fear wall

shape of hope wall

METRO STATUS BOARD

 

Text (excerpt from a film)

PREPARE TO LIVE

 

Text (partial) written by the public

SAVE ME

Be proactive

FAT MAN

MAKE it stop

Never knew a love like this

Pinot angrigio

Bears

Why can’t we be friends?

WE CAN CHANGE

DBA

WASTE of TIME

Dropping the F-Bomb

NO

GIVE PEAS A CHANCE

Peace through Power

This is Witty

NO WAR

HUMAN RIGHTS

Peace

AHHHH

Stand up for your rights

Refuse to be afraid

WAR SUCKS

ALL WE ARE SAYING

THINK 4 YOURSELF

Logically we should be safe

Roots are flowers

ONE love

YOU

ANAL

Peace+love

PAUL Norrish

POISON

This is it?

THE END

NOT AGAIN

NOT COOL

E=MC²

SOS

Xeper

ART MATTERS

RAGE

WET PAINT

WAR CAN

YOU CAN’T HUG YOUR CHILDREN

PEACE STARTS WITH YOU

WISE-FOOLISH

DON’T DRONE & DRIVE

Leeroy Jenkins

NEVER AT HOME

BE BRAVE

LIVE-PEACE

THE END OH MY!

I believe LOVE is the ANSWER

LOVE WINS

LOVE MORE HATE LESS

ZOMBIE

be the change

BAD TIMES ARE ON!

DE TU ARTE A MI ARTE PREFIERO MI ARTE

Leslie is a FAG!

Why is this happening?

NO HATE

Refuse TO BE Afraid

LOVE CONQUERS ALL

SISTERS

YOU FORGET ABOUT ME

WAR IS GOOD

NO ETERNAL REWARD WILL FORGIVE

PEACE THROUGH TYRANNY

Remember UNGERN

PAX

EARLY TO BED EARLY TO RISE

WAR AND VIOLENCE KILL LOVE DOESN’T

U r all HUMAN

People kill people

Peace in the middle

Text theme: 
Fear, hope, threat, the Cold War
Artwork theme: 
Cold War
History: 

• In the midst of a classroom set, materials such as paper, ink and brushes were provided to visitors. The only instructions they were given were written on a wall: "THE SHAPE OF FEAR WALL" and "THE SHAPE OF HOPE WALL". With the materials provided, visitors produced text and images in response to that.

 

• The exhibition included a reading area ("reference area", A. MacDonell), which put several documents at the disposal of visitors: photocopies of information gathered by the artist during his personal research into the Cold War, governmental graphics (municipal, provincial and federal) of the era estimating the impact of a possible nuclear attack on Toronto and the country, as well as cartoons of the '50s and '60s. A section consisted of the formal message issued by the Government concerning the Cold War. A second section included the media of the time who responded to this message.

Event date(s): 
2007
Note(s): 

The artwork was dismantled by the public at the end of the night of the exhibition. There exists no comprehensive documentation about the presence of literature in this work. No order was established to read the text of the work. It is read in an autonomous and random manner. No hierarchy is established in the text incorporated into the set, neither that which was created by the artist nor that which was created by the public, nor those contained in the various documents displayed in the reading area.

Owner(s): 
Annie MacDonell
Document(s):