Michael Snow sues over axed public art
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 | 4:22 PM ET
CBC News
Canadian visual artist Michael Snow has launched a breach of contract lawsuit against the developers of a condo project attached to Lightbox, the forthcoming new home of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Snow is seeking $950,000 in damages from filmmaker Ivan Reitman, condo developer Daniels Corp. and their venture, King John Festival Corp., over a public artwork the artist says he was hired to create, according to a report in the Toronto Star.
The 80-year-old multidisciplinary artist and experimental filmmaker is known for some of Toronto's major public art, including Flightstop, a collection of life-sized Canada geese displayed in flight inside the Eaton Centre mall, and The Audience, a massive sculpture affixed to the exterior of Rogers Centre that depicts fans in celebration.
Snow says he was commissioned to create a public work for the entrance of Festival Tower, the condo building rising above TIFF's new Lightbox headquarters, slated to open Sept. 12, in Toronto's downtown theatre district.
According to the artist, after working on the piece — titled Tower of Film — for years, and despite an enthusiastic reception from the developers two years ago when he presented his proposal, the company abruptly decided not to proceed.
The allegations in Snow's statement of claim have not been proven in court.
Firm denies contract
A Daniels Corp. executive told the newspaper the company never signed a contract with Snow, and the matter will proceed in court.
Snow has a long relationship with the Toronto International Film Festival, which has featured his cinematic creations.
This year's film festival, which begins Sept. 9, will include a newly struck print of Snow's landmark 1967 film Wavelength as well as an event with the artist in conversation with avant-garde film experts Annette Michelson and P. Adams Sitney. Snow's Slidelength will also be among the films shown as part of a free exhibit opening TIFF's Lightbox headquarters.
The Reitman family, which owned the site where Lightbox and Festival Tower are located, offered the land to TIFF for the new development in 2003 and teamed up with Daniels Corp. for the project.
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