An Te Liu: Board Games
An Te Liu Title Deed 2009 / photo A. Sulikowska
One of the highlights of Toronto’s fall art season so far involved an invitation to the north end of the city where the Public Access Collective, in collaboration with LOT: Experiments in Urban Research, opened the “Leona Drive Project”. The project featured 18 artist interventions in a series of bungalows waiting to be demolished for a new townhouse development. Built in the late 1940s as affordable suburban housing for returning war vets, the houses are of a type to be found across Canada and represent one of the first forays into suburban development. The most commanding project of the group was done by Toronto artist An Te Liu, who took one of the rundown houses, cleaned it up and painted it a pristine Monopoly-house green. In one fell swoop, Liu’s Title Deed spoke beyond the immediate locale to make a wide-ranging statement about housing as a funnel for broader financial concerns and lessons learned in last year’s subprime mortgage meltdown. In this audio interview, Liu speaks to Canadian Art editor Richard Rhodes about the development of his project. (Running time 6 minutes 16 seconds)
An Te Liu on Leona Drive / photo Richard Rhodes
Aerial view of Leona Drive, Toronto / photo A. Sulikowska
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