TORONTO – It’s fitting that a company so committed to technology has commissioned an electronic work of art. Rogers Communications has unveiled a piece of public art at its downtown Toronto building on Bloor near Jarvis.
Created by British artist Julian Opie, “People Walking 2006” is a huge flatscreen, measuring 10 feet by 6 feet, using tens of thousands of tiny LED lights that form life-sized electronic stick figure drawings that seem to walk. There are nine figures, male and female, based on the artist’s line drawings of actual people, whose patterns of movement are generated at random. It is the city’s first LED artwork.
“Opie was an obvious choice as his work relates directly to technology and communications on a very human level and as such is a natural fit with the businesses that Rogers is in," said Phil Lind, Vice Chairman, Rogers Communications.
The artwork was created partly in response to the City of Toronto’s policy requiring corporate support of public art. “The City’s support of this progressive installation will ensure that Toronto will have a lasting public art work in which we all can take pride,” Lind said.
