ABSTRACT
In the spring of 2015 a fresh controversy came to dominate discussions among the beleaguered commuters of Toronto’s public transit system. This time, the problem was not congested vehicles, service breakdowns, ageing infrastructure, cuts to vital routes, transit deserts, funding shortfalls, rising fares, poor customer service, construction delays, stalled masterplans or undemocratic governance, but instead the content of a new art installation on the subway platform at Union Station, the city’s most historic and largest commuter hub. The piece in question – Zones of Immersion by artist Stuart Reid – defied the public expectation that art should be a whimsical and soothing distraction from the transit system’s problems. Instead, it depicted the subway as an alienating place and forced riders to confront the often bleak reality of urban travel. A Toronto Star article suggested that the installation was “depressing”, “creepy” and “gloomy”, and a reminder of the “miserable” experience of daily commuting (Spurr 2015); while one commentator on a local Reddit forum complained that the new art resembled “scribblings from a post-apocalyptic wasteland” (bipolar_sky_fairy 2015). These accusations were all the more notable given that the artwork was poised to be the centrepiece of campaigns to improve the brand association and journey experience of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), to modernize the rapid transit network, to revitalize Union Station and to develop the surrounding urban neighbourhood. Indeed, in stark contrast to the dystopian interpretation of many commuters, the TTC repeatedly celebrated the installation as a vital element in their utopian visions of urban mobility.
