FRINGE BENEFITS: COSMOPOLITAN DYNAMICS OF A MULTICULTURAL CITY RUNS TO SEP 23. MON-FRI 10AM-5PM; SAT-SUN NOON-5PM. DESIGN EXCHANGE, 234 BAY. 416-363-6121. WWW.DX.ORG.
“Fringe Benefits: Cosmopolitan Dynamics of a Multicultural City” is a lot like a corporate booth or a science fair project. The topic is the changing face of suburbs in the GTA, focusing on ways in which development both reflects and fosters new ethno-religious populations. With the exception of a video, Martha Eleen’s paintings of the Peace Village and Cécile Martin’s photographs, the exhibit consists entirely of text-heavy panels. You could easily spend an entire afternoon here reading.
And so “Fringe Benefits” can be a slog, the prose on the panels, rife with the passive voice, seeming creepily authoritative. (On Markham, whose Angus Glen Community Centre is pictured: “Although the quality of the architecture often lacks in innovation, the overall approach to urban design appears to be working. It is hoped that this type of community will evolve and improve upon itself as it is repeated throughout the GTA.”) Obviously, such a tone risks separating downtown and suburban typologies (a section on the Pacific Mall is entitled, “An Experience in Exotic Consumerism”). Yet there are salient connections as well, particularly when the exhibit veers into sustainability, noting that high-rise dwellings — of which the GTA has clusters everywhere — produce obscene amounts of greenhouse gasses. Indeed, when it comes to concepts of successful, livable communities, the show’s message is clear: the city and its suburbs must join hands.