SWMS
ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE
Artist Residency
City of Toronto, Solid Waste Management Services, 2018-19
Artists in the landfill
Taking inspiration from Philadelphia’s RAIR, San Francisco’s Recology, and Haliburton’s Reclaim Residency, Sean Martindale and I helped create and pilot an Artist-in-Residence program with the City of Toronto’s Solid Waste Management Services.
The outcome of this residency included a body of photographs, an exhibition at the Harbourfront Centre, a series of public presentations, and a toolkit of educational images and diagrams.
The Artists-in-Residence
Sean Martindale and JP King first collaborated on the SWMS sponsored, Toronto Nuit Blanche -2015 exhibit, There Is No Away. This major project received much public and media attention, and a SWANA Excellence Award in the Education Program category for 2016. Since then, they have continued to collaborate on public works that have been seen in cities such as: Bristol, UK; Lisbon, Portugal; Paris, France; Prishtina, Kososvo; New York City, USA; and back home in Toronto, Canada. For the pilot SWMS-AIR program, King and Martindale again worked as close collaborators bringing together their complementary skills, experience, and shared interests in waste material and culture.
Participant Bios
Sean Martindale
Sean Martindale is an internationally recognized, award winning interdisciplinary artist and designer. His interventions activate public spaces to encourage engagement, and often focus on ecological and social issues. His playful works suggest alternate possibilities for existing spaces, infrastructures, and materials found in urban environments. Frequently, he uses salvaged goods in unexpected ways that prompt conversation.
Martindale holds an MFA from OCAD University, and a BDes from Emily Carr University. He was the Decennial Hancock Lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Hart House, where his presentation was broadcast by TVO for their Big Ideas series. He is a recipient of the prestigious Artist Prize from Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts, numerous grants at municipal, provincial, and federal levels, and a Chalmers Arts Fellowship from the Ontario Arts Council. Martindale was profiled for the first episode of CBC’s Great Minds of Design, and his works have been featured digitally and published in traditional media around the world in multiple languages. His works have been exhibited publicly in many cities across the globe. In 2018, Martindale was also Harbourfront Centre’s inaugural Visual Artist-in-Residence.
JP King
JP King is an artist, designer, and educator with a research-based practice in design, microcinema, and public presentation. His poetic approach emphasizes documentary, visualizing knowledge, and metaphor, which he uses to investigate consumer culture, the world of material goods, and waste-making practices. In 2016, for his research into waste, JP was nominated for a Governor General's Innovation Award. His work has been supported by SSHRC and The Banff Centre, and he holds an MFA from OCAD U. He currently teaches at the University of Toronto, The Haliburton School of Art + Design, and Concordia's Center for Expanded Poetics. He is also a graphic designer, with a client list that includes Penguin, Fast Company, and Oxford University Press. He runs two small art publishing businesses, and lives with his wife and collaborator, Kirsten McCrea, in Toronto.