ARCHITECTURE:It’s All Happening So Fast

2016_11_15_MB_016On the occasion of the 150th anniversary in 2017, the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) presents the exhibition “It’s All Happening So Fast”, exploring 50 years of human intervention on the Canadian landscape a series of case studies, the show reflects on our relationship with the natural environment and the ways we have exploited it.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Canadian Center for Architecture Archive

The exhibition “It’s All Happening So Fast: A Counter-History of the Modern Canadian Environment” takes the year 1945 in Canada as its starting point from which to consider our impact as humans on the planet. Presenting case studies the exhibition also examines Canadian cultural myths, showcases the importance of Canada’s diverse Indigenous Peoples, and considers the impact of the environmentalist movement. Using case studies from the previous 50 years, the exhibition lays out the history of human influence on the Canadian landscape, from the extreme to the judicious and considers how to avert it. Among the materials included are selections from CCA, Library and Archives Canada, McCord Museum, Arkitektur- och Designcentrum Stockholm. Each of the exhibition’s narrative sequences includes environmental disasters representing six organizing themes: “The failure of the modern project”, “Resource exploitation in Canada’s northern territories”, “Development of energy infrastructures”, “Nuclear contamination”, “Water and air pollution” and “Industrial fishing and forestry operations”. Exemplifying and exploring this clash between environmental ideology and reality, the exhibition features a diverse selection of works by Canadian and international artists both past and present, including the large sculptures of Douglas Coupland, historical frontier photographs by William Notman and Alexander Henderson, remote Canadian photography by Richard Harrington and Robert Frank, contemporary photography of nuclear contamination sites by Blake Fitzpatrick, logging operations by Lorraine Gilbert, and Ian Wallace’s capturing of the 1993 Clayoquot protests. Also included is a series of architectural works, including a 1981 solar house by Pierlucio Pellissier and Giovanni De Paoli, the PEI Ark built for the New Alchemy Institute in 1976, proposals by Ralph Erskine and Van Ginkel Associates for settlements in northern Canada and designs by OMA and Bruce Mau Design for Downsview Park in Toronto. Photographer Robert Del Tredici has 9 large photographic prints in the nuclear section of the exhibition. Entitled “Glimpses of Nuclear Ontario”, his images show nuclear reactors, nuclear processing facilities, and nuclear waste sites throughout Ontario, with a special emphasis on the town of Port Hope, an hour’s drive from Toronto.

Info: Curator: Mirko Zardini, Canadian Centre for Architecture, 1920 rue Baile, Montréal, Duration: 16/11/16-9/4/17, Days & Hours: Wed-Fri 11:00-18:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-17:00, www.cca.qc.ca

It’s All Happening So Fast: A Counter-History of the Modern Canadian Environment, Exhibition View, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture
It’s All Happening So Fast, Exhibition View, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture

 

 

Margo Pfeiff, Contaminated soil bags at Lower Base, Cape Dyer, 2013, © Margo Pfeiff, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture
Margo Pfeiff, Contaminated soil bags at Lower Base, Cape Dyer, 2013, © Margo Pfeiff, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture

 

 

Northwest Passage, a promotional Arctic oil transportation board game distributed by Humble Oil, 1969, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture
Northwest Passage, a promotional Arctic oil transportation board game distributed by Humble Oil, 1969, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture

 

 

Randy Olson, Towing an iceberg away from a collision course with the Hibernia oil platform, Grand Banks, Newfoundland, 2005. Photo: Randy Olson / National Geographic Creative, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture
Randy Olson, Towing an iceberg away from a collision course with the Hibernia oil platform, Grand Banks, Newfoundland, 2005. Photo: Randy Olson / National Geographic Creative, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture

 

 

Peter von Tiesenhausen, Lifeline, a copyrighted artwork extended every year, which continues to proposals, ca. 1992, © Peter von Tiesenhausen, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture
Peter von Tiesenhausen, Lifeline, a copyrighted artwork extended every year, which continues to proposals, ca. 1992, © Peter von Tiesenhausen, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture

 

 

William Notman and Son, Bow River and Twin Peaks, Banff (Alberta), 1889, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture
William Notman and Son, Bow River and Twin Peaks, Banff (Alberta), 1889, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture

 

 

Nicky Young,Hazeltine Creek transformed by the Mount Polley tailings spill, 2015, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture
Nicky Young,Hazeltine Creek transformed by the Mount Polley tailings spill, 2015, Courtesy Canadian Centre for Architecture