“Guerrilla art” will invade the Avenue of Champions this weekend, to prove the area’s stigma-stained canvas is evolving into a masterpiece.
“It’s the bringing together of shapes and colours, only seen in the presence of light,” said Kaleido Family Arts Festival producer Christy Morin.
The art-inspired festival will literally take over 118 Avenue from 91 Street to 94 Street starting Friday. The avenue will be entirely shut down to traffic until Monday.
The literary, visual, dance, theatre and film conglomerate has adopted an “artist and landscape” theme, Morin said. It’s appropriate, as over 350 artists occupy the historically dodgy area.
“It’s bringing back honour to the avenue and saying that we’re embracing it instead of hiding it,” she said. “We’re letting people see what a beautiful place it is and how it needs to be seen in that light.”
The area’s diverse cultural mosaic will be expressed through a variety of media, including a mobile presentation, which will let its audience sit back and enjoy the ride.
The “Carjack Project” caters to tiny audiences of up to three people, who will be strapped into the backseat of a car for 15 minutes, while the show goes on in front of them and around them.
Born of Clinton Carew’s cranial breeding ground, he says the project fits in with Kaleido as the show and the festival are both truly unique. “I wanted to come up with a fun reaction to the venue struggles that theatre people encounter all the time,” he said.
The festival’s stationary venues include alleys and playgrounds, Morin said, and all exhibits and shows are free.
