Wellspring
Curated by Kari Cwynar for Disturbed Landscape,
Nuit Blanche, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto
2023

This work expands upon Marsh’s artistic practice on a monumental scale, creating an immersive environment using the existing architectural features of Nathan Phillips Square – Toronto’s civic centre. When Toronto’s City Hall was constructed in the early 1960s, the architects incorporated a massive modular plaza, composed of concrete pavers that could be removed to create a temporary park. This utopic vision failed to become reality, with the pavers remaining in place, except for their occasional removal to accommodate wiring and service water lines. For Nuit Blanche, hundreds of concrete pavers will be lifted, revealing the forgotten space beneath. The enclaves below the paving stones are strewn with remnants of public life that has fallen through the cracks: scraps of trash, lost jewelry, traces of parties and protests and the dust and grime of decades. Marsh's subtle sculptural additions, including provisional fountains, invite the audience to throw their own coins into the hollow infrastructure. Wellspring, both a construction site and a demolition, locates the utopic ideals of the modernist city within the monumental civic architecture and the residues of public life.

Nuit Blanche is an annual public art event in Toronto, which occurs overnight, for 12 hours - 7pm to 7am.


CBC Arts interview
CBC Metro Morning interview (audio)