401 Richmond is a century-old building in downtown Toronto whose history has allowed the building’s ownership to change hands several times before settling down as a “mixed-use building with a focus on the arts” almost 15 years ago. The building is home to artist studios, offices and galleries.
I’ll make it clear upfront that I love 401. It is architecturally beautiful, centrally located and has a diverse collection of galleries that have exhibited some of the strongest shows I’ve seen. But upon visiting the building during the Images Festival, I had to wonder: Is 401 really a good place for art-viewing?
I’m not really a strong advocate of the pristine and sophisticated expectation of the white cube gallery. The intimidation “inherent” in galleries is not something that should be maintained, and I’d actually argue that it’s a myth preserved by gallery staff and delivered without justification to visitors. Galleries aren’t the only spaces where art can be viewed in a meaningful way, and Toronto is seeing a proliferation of multi-use spaces, particularly in Kensington Market where restaurants and clothing retailers are saving wall space for visual art and floor space for musical performances. I might prefer art-viewing in this way–it’s informal and welcoming, can be incidental, and allows people who otherwise might not enter a gallery to experience art-viewing in unexpected ways.
Having said that, the white cube gallery does have a function, and presumably one of them is to provide a space where art-viewing is the primary action within it. A visitor enters a gallery to look at the art inside it. It is not an incidental experience–it doesn’t happen by accident. As such, does it not make sense to provide an environment wherein a visitor can consider the work thoughtfully?
For this reason, the physical make-up of 401 makes it an unfortunate location for art viewing, particularly for moving-image and sound work. Because the building is old, it is loud and creaky. It adds a nice charm while you’re browsing the corridors, but when you are actually trying to pay attention to a film with audio, it is so distracting and loud that it makes the work unviewable. Not only is noise from the same floor distracting, but the central location of the freight elevator and the noise from the upper floors is downright deafening. The irony is that the busier the spaces are (which should be a good thing,) the worse the viewing experience is.
Why are there so many galleries (WARC, YYZ, Prefix, Gallery 44, Wynick/Tuck, Open Studio, A Space, Red Head) on the main floor? I’m sure it’s a matter of logistics, history and construction, but it would be wise to consider putting them on the top floor. The building is only four storeys, and a passenger elevator is close to the main entrance, making the top floor completely accessible. And, as stated previously, since people arrive at 401 as a destination, the venture to the fourth floor would hardly be an inconvenience.
The show that sparked all of this was several galleries’ contributions to the Images Festival. It made me realize two things: one, that 401 galleries rarely exhibit video work and two, there’s a good reason they shouldn’t. Normally I love both galleries, but A Space and Gallery 44 were the worst of the bunch. They are both located in close proximity to the freight elevator, and a space across the hall is being renovated. On top of that, it appears that whoever leases the space above them operates a running track, where high heels are required.
A Space, during their Documentary Uncertainty show, was particularly interesting to me because they had two video installations–Hito Steyerl’s “Journal No. 1 - An Artist’s Impression” and John Greyson’s “14.3 Seconds”. The gallery was bisected and had each work on either side of a wall. Headphones were provided to receive the audio for Steyerl’s work, while the audio for Greyson’s work could be heard throughout the gallery. What was interesting to me is that the peripheral sound of the rest of the building (overhead, corridor and elevator noise) was far more jarring with headphones on, viewing Steyerl’s work, than without, viewing Greyson’s work. With headphones, external noise wasn’t just sound, but rumblings and vibrations throughout the whole space. It was extremely difficult to focus on the film when it felt like a subway train was passing over you. Without headphones, the experience is interrupted by other visitors to the gallery.
The best, most serene place in the entire 401 building is Prefix Photo’s sound room, where the outside world becomes a mere illusion. Unfortunately, they publish little information about the sound art within the space. Details weren’t readily available, and the contents of the sound room aren’t listed on their exhibition postcards or website.
All in all, I find it interesting that 401 has become such a revered space when nearly everything about it is counterintuitive to art-viewing. I still enjoy the space very much… but I’ll be weary of any future moving image shows.
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