Liquid States

Toronto, ON

‘Liquid States’ is an artwork that connects us to our natural world and the particulars of the Humber River watershed. It’s an acknowledgement that we’re connected to the wider cycles of hydrology, the Great Lakes basin, and the rivers on which Toronto is situated, and has been the site of interchange and inhabitation for thousands of years.

Located on the pool terrace and visible from within the Aquatic Hall of the proposed Western North York Community Centre, ‘Liquid States’ is inspired by the prospective Net-Zero building. Beneath the building lies an aquifer that will be leveraged to provide thermal comfort to users.

The omni-presence of water – both seen and unseen, the land formations that it can create, and the remarkable Humber River itself were the starting points of ‘Liquid States.’ The sculptural forms themselves are a kind of three-dimensional sketch, a diagram, a reference point for these moments of convergence.

Icicle-shaped stalactites hang above the stalagmites below. The lightweight tubular forms of the stalactites express the movement of water and the pull of gravity. The solid stalagmites contrast this lightness, and connecting the two abstracted forms are gentle drips of water. The water then flows onto the ground plane, into an imprint of the Humber River, and then Lake Ontario.

‘Liquid States’ is an artwork intended to be experienced – outstretched hands touching the droplets of water, enveloped by a mist cascading over the body, contemplated while sitting slightly apart, and navigated, like the flow of water through the impression of the Humber River.

Conceptually the project engages with the states of water, from mist, vapour to liquid, liquid to solid ice in winter. It’s also a means of alluding to the action of the aquifer directly below the site, and to the Humber watershed as a living landscape within which the artwork and its visitors are participants.

Accessible through many different levels of passive participation and interaction, the artwork is an experience that shifts with the weather: a drifting, misting cloud slowly settling down, another cloud evaporating up into the sunny sky; all depending on the vagaries of atmospheric conditions.

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Location
Toronto, ON

Client
City of Toronto

Status
Completion 2027

Project Type
Landscape, Public Art

Role
Lead Artist

Collaborators
Dan Euser Waterarchitecture Inc. (Fountain consultant)
Punchclock Metalworks (Fabrication)
Blackwell (Structural engineer)

Visualization
Future Landscapes, LeuWebb Projects