A Tribute to Toronto by Judy Chicago

A Tribute to Toronto, 2022, Judy Chicago’s latest site-specific pyrotechnic display, will take place on June 4, 2022 at Sugar Beach on Toronto’s waterfront as the grand finale celebrating the conclusion of the second edition of the Toronto Biennial of Art (TBA). The renowned American artist will create her first Smoke Sculpture™ on Lake Ontario, releasing white, yellow, green, blue, and purple pigments from a structure on a barge. In the air, the pigments mix with the wind and sunset light to create a myriad of changing colourful effects until dissipating. In line with the artist’s long history of being a passionate advocate for the environment, Chicago and her collaborators — husband and photographer Donald Woodman, Chris Souza of Pyro Spectaculars and Maude Furtado of GFA PYRO — only use non-toxic materials that meet environmental safety standards to create temporary forms that, for several minutes, transform sites into an immersive experience for viewers. The electronic ignition that sets off the smoke emits little or no sound during the presentation.

A Tribute to Toronto (2022) is commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art and made possible with the generous support of the City of Toronto, ArtworxTO, the Delaney Family Foundation, Menkes Developments, Waterfront Toronto, the Waterfront BIA, and the Women Leading Initiative.