Looking for something to listen to on your next walk through the city? Plug into one of our favourite public art podcasts for placemakers, artists, and lovers of public space
We put together a list of podcast episodes from across Canada that will change the way you think about public art. Dive into the lost history of a plaza in Toronto, join a bike tour through Winnipeg’s growing Indigenous public art collection, or tune into a question-and-answer period to get behind-the-scenes in a professional public art installation process. Hear from artists, thought leaders, and public art experts in these specially selected podcasts to spark your creativity.
This feature is part of Fieldnotes, a public art blog series by STEPS that promotes inclusive and innovative public art through interviews, storytelling, case studies, and knowledge sharing.
Life of a Craphead (Amy Lam and Jon McCurley), King Edward the VII Equestrian Statue Floating Down the Don, 2017. Courtesy of the artists. Installation view from Nations by Artists, February 8–April 2, 2022, Art Museum at the University of Toronto. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid, courtesy of the Art Museum at the University of Toronto.
“Instead of asking what a monument is, what if we ask what a monument does?” wonders co-host Sarah Robayo Sheridan in episode 1 of the Nations by Artists podcast.
The podcast series, building on the Nations by Artists exhibit at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, is hosted by exhibition curators Sarah Robayo Sheridan and Mikinaak Migwans. In this episode, artists Amy Lam (formerly of Life of a Craphead), Will Kwan, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, and Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik of IRWIN share stories from behind-the-scenes in an interesting exploration of how artists can use monuments to reflect and subvert concepts of nationhood.
Nations by Artists is a four-part series inviting artists, activists, and scholars to deliver a state of the nation on nations, interrogating ideas of nationhood, borders, power, and dissent.
What does public art say about its city?
Monuments and public art can show a place’s history, but they can also indicate gaps where certain histories are not represented. In Winnipeg, increased Indigenous public artworks share stories and beliefs that were marginalized in public visual representation.
From monuments to murals, Rosanna Deerchild takes you on a tour through Winnipeg’s Indigenous public art scene and shares insights about each site on this episode of the Unreserved podcast. Joined by artists who speak to the different intentions and context of their work, the episode explores how Indigenous stories can be told through public artworks in Canada.
Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous voices — our cousins, our aunties, our elders, our heroes. Rosanna Deerchild guides us on the path to better understand our shared story. Together, we learn and unlearn, laugh and become gentler in all our relations.
Have you passed the Garden Court installation on Front St. West? It’s a plaza with granite seating, metal lamppost structures and a large circular planting leading up to Brookfield Place. The sienna tones and low, sprawling seating make it an inviting place to stop and sit, standing out from the surrounding buildings in Toronto’s busy financial district.
What you might not learn from taking your lunch break in the plaza is that Garden Court is actually one of the first percent-for-public art initiatives in Toronto, created by artist Scott Burton, who passed away of AIDS-related illness in 1989 before it was fully completed.
In this short podcast from ArtworxTO, Rui Mateus Amaral and Paul P. discuss the fascinating and little-known history and context behind the public artwork. Listen to the conversation to discover the artwork hidden in plain sight.
ArtworxTO On Demand is an open online resource of videos, poetry, publications, and more, as part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021–2022, a year-long celebration of Toronto’s exceptional public art collection and the creative community behind it.
Curious about placemaking in virtual reality?
In this episode of the Urban Limitrophe podcast, host Alexandra Lambropoulos is joined by Adwoa Afful of Black Futures Now Toronto to discuss Mapping Black Futures, an interactive project that highlights spaces in the Greater Toronto Area with significance to self-identified Black nonbinary youth and young women. The digital map allows users to explore a community archive of Black histories through places, stories, and memories and enter a virtual community center with a playable avatar.
Stream the podcast to learn more about the project and discover how radical mapping can be used to build community on- and offline.
Urban Limitrophe is a Toronto-based podcast that explores how different initiatives happening across the African continent and diaspora can creatively solve problems, support their communities, create vibrant urban spaces, and build better cities overall.
One of the best ways to stay inspired and successful as a career artist is by networking, knowledge sharing, and asking questions. But for times when you have a low social battery, a podcast can also spark your creativity and grow your knowledge. In this episode of Art in the Open, Montreal-based artist Shelley Miller answers questions from her audience about the research, process, and inspiration behind her public art practice and her newest work in Montreal’s public transit system.
Tune in to hear Shelley’s perspective on everything from facing rejection to navigating public art commissions and technical installations in her career as an artist.
Art in the Open is a podcast series with Montreal-based artist Shelley Miller in discussion with creatives and professionals who work in and around the industries of art in public spaces.
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