What to know
- The 519 is unveiling Prismatic Futurity, a permanent public art installation by Queer architectural designer and artist Simon Liao.
- The installation uses triangular prisms and pyramids to transform sunlight into shifting colours and rainbow-like reflections across The Village.
- Inspired by the complicated history of the pink triangle, the work looks beyond Queer history and toward a more hopeful future.
- For Liao, the project is also personal: he lived in Church-Wellesley Village and found community at The 519 when he first moved to Toronto.
A new work of art in Toronto’s Church-Wellesley Village is asking passersby to look up and imagine what comes next.
Prismatic Futurity, a new installation on the exterior of The 519, brings light, colour and thought-provoking symbolism to the community centre’s facade. The work will officially be unveiled Saturday, Oct. 3, as part of the city’s 20th edition of Nuit Blanche.
Created by Queer architectural designer and artist Simon Liao, the piece is composed of a series of triangular prisms and pyramids anchored to the facade of The 519. Liao explained that as light moves across the installation, its surfaces shift in colour, creating reflections and rainbow-like spills across the building, sidewalk and people passing by.
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He explained that the work is about more than making the Church-Wellesley Village a little more colourful.
The triangle carries a complicated history within 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Used by the Nazis to mark Gay men during World War II, the pink triangle was later reclaimed as a symbol of 2SLGBTQIA+ liberation, used throughout the AIDS Epidemic as a symbol of activism and resistance.
That history was on Liao’s mind throughout the design process
“The triangle carries a lot of memories,” he told Queer & Now. “It reminds us of the history of marginalization, resistance, activation, and activism.”
But rather than simply looking backward, Liao wanted the installation to point toward something else.
He explained that throughout the design process, he would ask himself how he could use the triangle as a symbol pointing us towards the future, while still being joyful, playful and hopeful.
That question ultimately became the inspiration for the work’s name: Prismatic Futurity.
The designer explained that the installation’s changing colours and reflections mean it won’t look exactly the same from every angle, at every time of day, or to every person who encounters it. For him, that shifting quality is part of the point.
“We remember our histories through the triangular shapes,” Liao said, “and through the rainbows and reflections casting around us, we can imagine a brighter future.”
Prismatic Futurity: A lasting expression of The 519’s history and future
Roxanne Duncan, The 519’s Project Director for its 50th anniversary, said the installation is intended to serve as a lasting expression of the organization’s history and future.
“Throughout our 50th anniversary year, we have invited people to reflect on our history, celebrate the present, and imagine bold and bright futures for 2SLGBTQ+ people,” Duncan said.
With Prismatic Futurity, she said, “light, scale, and public space” become a way of signalling The 519 as a place of belonging, hope and community.
For Liao, that invitation extends beyond the Queer community.
He imagines someone having a bad day while walking down Church St., noticing the colourful installation, stopping to look at it and being reminded of a joyful moment with friends or family.
“You smile and keep walking with a slightly better mood,” he said. “You don’t really need to be part of the Queer community to feel relatable to this artwork. You can just be anyone and still see something that reflects yourself.”
That accessibility is part of what Liao hopes the work will offer the neighbourhood: a small interruption in the everyday, and a reason to imagine something better.
A personal connection to The 519
The project also has a personal significance for Liao, who was born and raised in China and moved to Canada 14 years ago. When he first arrived in Toronto in 2019, he lived in The Village for two years, frequently visiting The 519 to access some of the centre’s programming.
“It already felt like a home, while I was rebuilding my life from scratch in Toronto,” he explained.
Coming from China, and having lived in Winnipeg after first arriving in Canada, Liao says The Village is extremely different to anywhere else he had called home, mainly due to its vibrant Queer community. He described discovering The 519 as “completely eye-opening.”
Liao participated in workshops and public consultations, took his first self-defence class at the centre and made community connections through the organization’s programs. Years later, now working as an architect, Liao found a call for proposals for The 519’s 50th anniversary public art project on social media. Although he is professionally trained as an architect rather than a visual artist, he decided to enter the competition.
After two rounds of interviews and reviews, his proposal was selected. He explained that returning to The 519 to create a permanent artwork for the building feels like giving the organization a gift for its 50th birthday.
See Prismatic Futurity
And while Prismatic Futurity will make its official debut during Nuit Blanche, it isn’t going anywhere when the night is over. The installation is permanent, with Liao saying he hopes it will remain on The 519’s facade for years to come as a colourful reminder of where the community has been, where it is now and where it might go next.
Prismatic Futurity will be unveiled at The 519 on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 7 p.m. as part of Nuit Blanche. The community is invited to gather outside for snacks, drinks and the installation, which will be covered with various lighting features to evoke the changing colours.
Meanwhile, during the overnight celebration of art in the city, The 519 will host Maison Pink, a ticketed dance party featuring DJs Thirdeye and Booty Cornfed and dancing, starting at 10 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available on The 519’s website, or at the door on Oct. 3.
