VILLA TORONTO, presented by Raster in association with Art Metropole, brings local and international art galleries together in the Great Hall of Union Station. Accompanying this central exhibition, in cooperation with local art organizations, will be a series of special events throughout the city. The one-week program is free and open to the public.

 

Idea

Villa Toronto is the most recent in a series of international gallery meetings initiated by Raster. Previous editions took place in Warsaw (2006), Reykjavik (2010) and Tokyo (2011). The event is not an art fair. Rather, the villa project aims to use the curatorial experience of private galleries to create encounters with the general public and local art communities that are innovative, stimulating, and not merely market driven. The project recognizes the decisive role private galleries play in determining the field of contemporary art and the type of explorations that take place within it. Villa encourages the cross-cultural circulation of art, artists and cultural workers, and dedicates its resources and focus to facilitate such an exchange, throughout the project and in the years to come. In the central Toronto, this collaboration will come together in Union Station—a place with great potential to boost the artistic appreciation of Torontonians.