Arcadia Earth Toronto has announced a partnership with Canadian artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong. Von Wong was chosen after a call for submissions from artists across the country to design and build one of Arcadia’s ten exhibition rooms.
Arcadia Earth is a project that intertwines visual art with the environment. Using an immersive approach and extended reality elements, the Arcadia will examine the current state of the planet by means of large scale art installations and virtual reality exhibits.
It will be a permanent exhibition in The Well, a multi-use building that’s currently under construction at Spadina and Front in downtown Toronto. You can read more about the 17,000 square foot facility in our Preview here.
Artist Benjamin Von Wong
Benjamin Von Wong began a fledgling career as a mining engineer before quitting to pursue art full-time. He and his team specialize in projects that amplify a message about the environment. The Toronto-born artist’s work often incorporates input from organizations and the citizens living in the areas where he works.
Previous projects include a Giant Plastic Trap assembled from trash that was collected in Kiberian slums to commemorate the signing of a global plastics resolution by 1,500 delegates at the United Nations. He and his team created sculptures out of 4,100 pounds of electronic waste for Dell to illustrate the issues at stake in a recycling programme.
Greenpeace commissioned Von Wong for a symbol of the environmental impacts of Bitcoin. The Von Wong team responded with the Skull of Satoshi, a mobile installation that measures 11-feet tall, made from more than 300 bits of electronic waste.
Arcadia Earth
Arcadia Earth Toronto is set to open in November. The Well will incorporate seven towers, situated at Front, Spadina and Wellington streets.
There will be 10 rooms of interactive adventures. Despite the negative, the focus is on what can be done, and on illustrating the issues in a dynamic way that will include an LED-screen tunnel and projection rooms along with the art installations.
Benjamin Von Wong’s installation will zero in on the issue of environmental waste.
His installation uses more than 3,000 pounds of electronic waste provided by Uni-Recycle. It includes circuit boards and keyboards, and covers a room at a height of 18-feet. Visitors will be able to walk up the steps of the installation and sit on a throne to contemplate the graveyard of electronic waste.
By using elements of visual surprise and curiosity, Von Wong’s goal is to connect to visitors, and help them learn about initiatives that directly address the problem, such as The Right to Repair.
For more information, and to sign up to Arcadia Earth Toronto’s waitlist, check it out [HERE].
#LUDWIGVAN
Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! — local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox HERE.
- PREVIEW | Upper Canada Choristers Celebrate 30th Anniversary With World Premieres, New Beginnings - May 3, 2024
- THE SCOOP | Could The Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Be On The Road To Renewal? - May 3, 2024
- PREVIEW | The Orpheus Choir Of Toronto Ends The Season With Jocelyn Hagen’s The Notebooks Of Leonardo Da Vinci - May 2, 2024
