Each Monday, Spacing will bring you some of the popular posts from our sister blog, Spacing Montréal. We’ll keep an eye open for topics and discussions that are pertinent to current public space issues in Toronto.
• Improv Everywhere‘s new blog, Urban Prankster, features “pranks, hacks, participatory art, flash mobs, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world.” Christopher DeWolf looks at two videos posted on Urban Prankster, of crosswalk pranks in France and Israel respectively, doubtfully that stunts like these could go down in Montréal.
• For years, restaurants, butchers, and vendors at the Jean Talon Market have been cooking outdoors in the Rosemont—Petite-Patrie borough. Now, after several of the nearby residents have complained about wafting BBQ smoke to the borough, the borough has told the vendors at the Jean Talon Market to stop cooking outdoors or risk a $ 200 fine.
• Roadsworth’s latest street-and-sidewalk stencil art, on Ste. Catherine St., is both clever and provocative. His pieces combine existing street elements and symbols with playful imagery and text to challenge how people perceive public space.
Photo by Christopher DeWolf