Join discussion, film about famous ‘SHIFT’

June 10, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Virginia Atkins
Hearing the word SHIFT, do you immediately think of a job schedule, or maybe a tectonic plate upheaval?
To many folks in King, it’s a mysterious thing in a field. Actually SHIFT is an arrangement of six concrete planes or forms situated on four hectares of farmed countryside in the heart of an environmentally sensitive area not available for development. It’s a perfect place for an art park. Why a park? And why was it designated by the Township as cultural heritage?
SHIFT was installed in 1971-72, built on land owned by a family of Toronto art collectors, who liked the young sculptor Richard Serra’s simple minimal forms and gave him permission to experiment with what the eye captured and how the brain translated vision into an expressive form. In this case, it was a solid sculptural representation of his experience of movement. Rather than draw pen-on-paper zigzags, Serra used solid concrete planes imbedded in the earth to guide an observer to experience different views at each interval along a boundary. The view could shift over the rolling land from here to there, so he titled his experiment, SHIFT. The viewer is given free rein to interpret and embrace a unique new relationship between man and earth inspired by the vision of the person who is called “the world’s greatest living sculptor.”
Serra saw a wavering view from one end of a field to a quarter-mile north, past the last row of corn where the woods begin. He saw someone walking but as he moved sideways along the edge of the tilled ground, the perspective shifts and it looked more rolling than at first glance. He probably wanted to capture that odd sensation of seeing and perceiving a different landscape each time his eyes caught his companion pacing the far edge of the planting. Later the owners sold the land, excluding SHIFT from the deed, and now it belongs to Hickory Hills Investments Ltd.
Commissioned by the GTAA (Pearson Airport) to design another relationship between man and the sky, Serra created Tilted Spheres, installed before the new terminal building arose to surround the approach to international departures. It is a testament to Toronto’s enlightened attitude tuned into a 21st century mind set. You may have walked though it when departing to the outside world which has invested in and pays attention to Serra’s role in advancing the concepts of modern abstract sculpture.
Like it or not, SHIFT would draw hundreds of art students, critics and observers to King Township if access could be shared. Serra’s work is world renowned and King’s installation is unique. This is why an art park offers the community an opportunity for global attention and genuine appeal to its reputation as a cool place to live and work.
On June 27 the public is invited to the Kingbridge Centre for the screening of “A SHIFT in the LANDSCAPE” a new film by Simone Estrin, a reception and a panel of art specialists who will discuss Serra’s work and its importance to not just King, but to York Region and the province. Hosts are the King Township Public Library, the KT Historical Society, ASK and the King Township municipality. Admission is $20. For tickets call ASK at 905-939-9357. The event starts at 6 p.m.