Flying is like entering another dimension, where your body becomes flexible and gravity lets go. I once flew through a cloud thinking it would be warm and fluffy, but it was ice-cold. In the sky, there are always discoveries.

– June Callwood Interview, 2004 CBC Archives

In collaboration with Steve Bates.

Taking June Callwood’s observation of a cloud as its starting point, OKTA proposes an installation where multiple points of sound are distributed across the artwork site. As clouds pass over the park, sonic moments merge into clouds of sound – shifting, changing, ephemeral. A sensor aimed at the sky reads current cloud cover, which determines the sounds that are released across the installation. Just as a cloud appears, changes and disappears across the horizon, so too will sounds across the site.

OKTA was selected through an open competition process that began in February 2009. An independent panel expert in contemporary sound art, local community issues and June Callwood’s life selected both the short list of artists and winning concept.

June Callwood Park will be located between Fleet Street and Fort York Boulevard in the emerging Fort York Neighbourhood. In 2008, Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation completed a competition process for the park design, won by Toronto-based Landscape Architects gh3. The park and artwork are expected to be complete by spring 2011.

The artwork competition and commission are managed by the City of Toronto Cultural Services’ Public Art Office in partnership with Parks, Forestry and Recreation. For more information about public art in the City of Toronto, visit toronto.ca/publicart.

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