Canadian Chroma

Are the advantages of living in a big city worth the aggravations that sometimes happen? Last weekend we got to find out.

We took the subway to the Eaton Centre, the busiest shopping mall in all of Canada, with over 50 million visitors annually. Built in the 1970’s, it has been anchored by at least one major department store during most of its life. But that all changed when Nordstrom recently moved out.

The same thing has been happening to other malls across Canada and the US. Competition from Amazon and other online stores has drastically reduced in-person shopping. Sherway Gardens filled up vacated retail space with unique Christmas Markets. Another mall near us, Cloverdale, replaced a big Target store with – wait for it – pickleball courts! What would the Eaton Centre come up with to replace Nordstrom’s footprint? We read about it in the newspaper: Canadian Chroma.

Soon after we arrived at the Eaton Centre, the fire alarm began to beep at us. Shoppers stopped in their tracks, waiting patiently until we got the ‘all clear’ signal several minutes later. After lunch, Peter went to the washroom and came out reporting that a guy in one of the stalls was having a melt-down and the bathroom was full of security guards.

Finally we found our way safely to the new exhibit, a series of interactive displays highlighting the beautiful colours of our Canadian geography. The first stop shows dramatic photographs from coast to coast to coast: the majestic mountains of the north and west covered in sparkly snow, the golden wheat fields of Alberta and Saskatchewan ready for harvesting, the forests of Ontario dressed in autumn colours, the turqouise-blue waters of the maritime provinces. There are hundreds of photos in gorgeous hues; available by touching a colour and then a button.

Here’s one of the buttons between pink and coral:

The second stop in the display shows 4 photos of a log farmhouse from a nearby window, in all 4 seasons. The third stop depicts the Northern Lights in beautiful shades of green. The viewer stands on a set of footprints in front of the lights which respond to body movements with bubble columns and explosions.

Display number 4 promotes Indigenous art in a unique and fun way. There are 7 murals painted by 7 different artists, each divided into 7 panels. Viewers can mix and match the panels to create one entire mural by one artist or, if you have the patience, up to 49 different murals with 1 panel from each artist. It would be a good way to entertain grandchildren for quite a while.

(Here is your cheat sheet for the murals):

The final display is an interactive map showing where we Canadians originally came from. Virtual threads in different colours link places in Canada to other places around the world. For example, Peter found a fuscia thread connecting Toronto to Italy. He was so pleased to see his journey on display. All in all, Canadian Chroma was well worth a visit. And it was free!

Then we headed for home.

When we got to our subway station, the line was closed to sort out a security issue. We decided to walk south to Queen, and take a streetcar west to the University line. At Queen we discoveed that the streetcars were not running due to construction. So we had to walk to King, and then along King to the next streetcar stop. Finally we found a streetcar, and another subway, and then home.

Were the security issues, the costruction, and the subway delays stressful? Well they did slow us down. But heck, we are retired – we have the time. That seems a small price to pay for experiencing life in a big city.

Sue

PS Since our winter in Toronto seems to have passed with barely a dusting of snow so far, I thought you’d like to see this photo from the exhibit: