Beth Warrian | Canada | 2021
5 min | Partial Subtitles
Co-presented by Hillside Festival

Bloordale Beach examines local Toronto artist Shari Kasman’s public art phenomenon of the same name as a springboard for larger issues of public space, community identity and the Toronto housing crisis. The “beach” existed in the neighbourhood of Bloordale from May - November 2020 as a piece of fenced-off demolition land Kasman rendered publicly accessible by removing the fence bolts. She erected signs dubbing the space “Bloordale Beach,” and even led guided “beach tours” throughout the summer.  The site invites a layered reading of the increasing social and economic untenability of life in downtown Toronto— and many major urban centres worldwide— as exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The video echoes this tone by wreathing earnest commentary in absurd humour. Just as the beach fostered joy and community engagement in a trying time, the video poses an alternative strategy to the exhausting cycle of “disaster porn” imagery for depicting social crises.

Update: The Beach returned for summer 2021 with community gardens, performance art, and more beach tours! But with construction set to begin on the site, its days are numbered. Follow the latest on Instagram @bloordalebeachofficial 

DIRECTORS BIO

Beth Warrian

Beth Warrian spent years as sous chef of one of Toronto's original vegan restaurants, receiving love both tough and tender and learning more than is respectable about astrology. She studies filmmaking at Ryerson University.