The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery

I went to the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery on its 2015 fall opening party night (Sept. 26), and was I blown away. The 2015 Season showcases three solo exhibitions by renowned artists Dora Garcia (Spain), Carlos Amorales (Mexico) and Mark Lewis (Canada)
5 reasons why you should abandon your plans for tonight and head over (warning: I am going to go all literature-​geek in the next paragraphs)
1. If you are a James-​Joyce-​aspiring-​aficionado or a literature buff who regards the day you understand Finnegan’s Wake as the pinnacle of your life, you need to SPRINT over to this exhibition. I was basically giggling like a kid in a candy shop the whole time I was in Dona Garcia’s exhibition. The theme of her exhibit is «exile» and «alienation” — the very conditions of the modern day man. There are 3 art pieces, each on one table, titled «Extrasensory Perception», «Exhaustion of Books» and «Exile?». A looping film featuring the Zurich Jaymes Joyce reading club is projected on the wall. Did you know that this reading club takes 11 YEARS to read through Finnegan’s Wake once? They stop and discuss every time they reach a sentence or word that is confusing (which for Joyce, is basically every other word). This really made me rethink how I personally regard literature. Am I reading for content, historical backdrop, thorough understanding, or for efficiency? Haven’t really resolved this paradox yet, but this exhibition really got me pondering.
2. It’s free, enough said.
3. Perfect venue for people watching. I haven’t seen such a well-​dressed group of people all concentrated in one building in so long. The demographics that were at the art gallery were around the 30 – 50 year old range. My 17 year old brother definitely felt out of place, but still had a good time.
4. Mark Lewis exhibit is fun if you know Toronto’s streets well. His filmography showcases a lot of Toronto’s most famous brutalistic buildings, think Robarts Library at the University of Toronto and the Toronto Dominion Bank Towers. Once again, his work touches upon the alienation paradox, where we live in world that is increasingly globalized and populated, yet we feel more ostracized from each other than ever. His work really reminded me of T.S. Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
5. The Harbourfront Centre does a good job of ensuring the exhibits are also complemented with community engagement programming. For instance, the centre is featuring a reading of Finnegan’s Wake in the style of the Zurich Jaymes Joyce Reading Club with Dona Garcia this week. Literature galore, I love it.

Walked into this museum while walking about Harbourfront Center. I didn’t know it was a museum until walking in and seeing the art installations. There’s around 4 – 5 art installations at this space. The museum is free, and definitely worth checking out. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful.

Some rude employee named Elyse works there. Worst experience ever. Me and all my friends will never return

I love this place. I stumbled on it when my boyfriend and I were taking a walk along Harbourfront. The best part about it is that it’s free! They just ask for donations.
The art included in the collection is unique and includes a variety of mediums. The collection is constantly changing, and I believe, a lot of it is local student artists. I stand to be corrected though.
They have a nice little gift shop and changing feature exhibits.
I would recommend coming here, over and over and over!

The Power Plant is a wonderful and culturally important contemporary visual art gallery located in Toronto’s Harbourfront. And it’s FREE. The current Mike Nelson exhibit runs till May 19, 2014, then it’s onto the next one. Your experience will largely depend on your response to the featured exhibition, but on the whole it’s a great venue with smart people running it. As with any art gallery, if you’re bringing visitors or children, you may want to scout out the content beforehand. But for the price and location, it’s definitely a gem to keep on your tour of the city.

The Power Plant showcases contemporary art from Canada and around the globe.
Sometimes a really great show will be presented, like Beat Nation this past year, but it’s hit and miss as other shows are too narrow and lack lustre.
I was pleased that they offered free admission this past year, as it gives a place to go and enjoy art with family and friends on a regular basis. The staff (mostly volunteers) are friendly and informative (I hope they are duly rewarded).

Odd, eccentric and different.
My kind of museum.
One super hot Toronto afternoon my friend and I sought shelter. Walking around the waterfront we passed The Power Plant and decided to check it out. I’m really glad we did.
Really eccentric art work which had strong meaning behind them. When I went a lot of the art reflected Eastern European work. It was something new.
No fee to come in either and we stayed for close to two hours. This wasn’t just something to kill time and stay cool (even though it was at first) it ended up being one of the highlights of our day.
Check it out, you’ll be glad you did.

This small gallery is a bit hard to get to at present, because of construction going on right outside of it on the street, but the walkway through is filled with people working in textiles, sculpture and glass blowing, so it’s pretty cool.
I took a school group there. FYI for only $ 1/​person you can book a tour and the gallery theatres will be yours exclusively. We were not so on top of things and just showed up with 35 kids. Luckily, they were really accommodating and we split the kids into two groups to watch The Clock. Worked out really well and the kids really liked it. I was so appreciative of how nice the gallery staff were. It’s a small gallery, but with interesting exhibits.

Free exhibit. Expensive parking.

Ah, I will always remember The Power Plant for installing a statue of Lenin with his immortal words «Let all things be temporary» spelled out in flowers at his feet. This was shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. Toronto people were up and arms and demanded the Lenin statue be torn down. (Someone eventually snapped off a foot.) The irony escaped them. People largely didn’t get the irony back in the early 1990s. Irony had yet to make the leap from art gallery to the faces and torsos of hipsters in the form of ironic mustaches and tshirts.
$ 6 buys you admission to roughly 3 or 4 gallerias with different installations of modern art. Always something fun and most of the art has boobies or men’s winkies. Or winkies being inserted between boobies. Sometimes the art moves. Sometimes there’s some interaction. I got to climb a ladder and touch a book.
Guide for seeming knowledgeable about modern art when you’re with your slinky date:
— Always note the work is a metaphor for the plight of one or more indigenous people.
— Use the term «hollowed out» when describing the emotional impact of the work.
— Point out some aspect of the piece is a sly wink at the art establishment and the gallery system.
— If the work of art uses a lot of empty gallery space (like just fills one corner with shredded newspaper or a sanitary napkin) or is largely an empty canvas, comment it’s very zen. It’s the artist’s answer to «what’s the sound of one hand clapping.» The artist is clearly suggesting if a tree falls in the forest, it may not make a sound but it surely makes art.
— If there’s a mirror or some reflective surface, comment how the mirror shatters the barrier between art and viewer and brings the viewer into the art, making him/​her an integral part of it.
— Note the artist mixes organic and non-​organic themes, creating a dissonance that subtly resonates with you. It’s a string plucked. It’s a note meant to be held until you absorb the next piece in the collection.
— Note, astutely, «cynics will look at this piece and say their five year old could have done it but they never say their five year olds HAVE done it.»
— If you can’t make sense of something, study the piece for a long time and then comment «I think the artist’s playful inconsistency is the message.»
— Of the whole experience, claim «It’s an antidote to Facebook. It’s artists seeking apotheosis, not a Like button.»
You will see her nipples that night. Guaranteed.

I’ve been to the Harbourfront Skating Rink before. Never have I known what the building next to it was used for or if it’s open to public. I finally found out when I TRAILED what seems like a Summer School group of Children. My thought was that if they can go in, then I’m sure I can too?
Sure enough, I was presented by an Art Gallery-​looking environment soon after.
A host was at the Front Desk where I asked for the admission-​fee. FREE all Summer you say? How kind of you!
Currently showing New Art from Central and Eastern Europe. FYI, some of the pieces are NOT for the faint of Heart.
A guide was provided to the School Group and she was very friendly and informative.
Various staff are around to assist you as well if you look «Lost in Translation» at times.
It’s yours to interpret/​explore. First piece that I encountered was shown on a Television mesmerized the giddy Child within me.
Ivan Moudov
14:13 Priority
I just stood there with a smile from one ear to another.
LMFAO would have been inappropriate in this setting.
Never could I have thought Art can be so damn hilarious.
My mental interpretation of Art has somewhat expanded.
Definitely worth more than the price of admission.

This is a great gallery and is the only one of two galleries in the city that showcases modern art, after the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA). The great thing about the Power Plant is that it takes in artists from around the globe and you are always guaranteed a new experience. The gallery is small but spacious and has a good assortment of rooms that are all used really well. There is an upper level with another large space that also holds a place to sit and relax between your combing through the place.
When you walk in, the staff is there to greet you right away and explain the history of the current artist or artists that currently have their work showing in the gallery. There are also free independent publications about the museum and the art world in Toronto so make sure you pick them up and check them out.
This is truly an artist’s museum. I call it that because the gallery almost gives itself over to the work of the artist that sets up shop and the gallery really falls into the possession of the artist. I was lucky enough to see a series of video instillations by Candice Breitz. This stuff was amazing and a real experience to walk into. Each room of the gallery was used for a different piece. As you walked into the sound tight rooms, the sound form the instillations would hit you was you were plunged into a dark space with nothing but the instillation to guide you in. They really transformed the Power Plant into an interesting space with this exhibit, as I’m sure they do for everything that comes through their doors. It’s worth checking out. There are also cool lectures going on at this place which are free with admission. Afterwards, go across the parking lot to the Queens Quay Terminal and check out the Museum of Inuit Art.

Installation art at a creative crossroad where art meets politics. Don’t miss the current work «The Other Night Sky» on display by Trevor Paglan. It blurs the boundaries of classified CIA projects photographed and plotted via astronomy. Attend on a Friday night and enjoy the docent led tours. Fantastic.

It’s the perfect place to get lost in for a couple of hours! With their cutting edge contemporary artists and the environment that the work is shown in, you get to experience art unlike any other gallery.
It’s a non-​collecting gallery with four different exhibitions a year, they bring in local and international artists that are big within the industry or up and coming. The works vary in media and it’s new and exciting every time!
It’s definitely a perfect Saturday afternoon activity.