Royal Ontario Museum: 2008

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ROM Racks Reflect Museum.  City Centre Mirror, June 12, 2008

Artist Phil Sarazen, left, Toronto councillor and chair of the city's cycling advisory committee Adrian Heaps, artist Jack Gibney and ROM CEO William Thorsell.  
The Royal Ontario Museum's latest artifacts may not be as ancient as the rest of their exhibits, but they're considerably more functional.
The ROM unveiled 11 new artistic bicycle racks along Queen's Park Crescent, each of which represents an exhibit or specimen found inside the museum. The various designs include a Grecian urn, a trilobite, a sea monster and a rust-coloured zebra head.
The pieces were designed by Toronto artists Jack Gibney and Phil Sarazen, whose steel bicycle stand sculptures were previously installed in Parkdale and North Toronto.
ROM CEO William Thorsell said he first spotted the unique street art while in Parkdale and knew instantly that the project would be ideal for the ROM.
"We were planning to put bike stands here anyway because we want to offer bicycle parking for people who want to bike to the museum," he said. "When I saw the ones they had in Parkdale, I said 'we've got to try that.'"
Gibney and Sarazen examined the ROM's galleries, vaults and gift shop for inspiration and wound up coming up with more than 30 designs. The first 11 have been installed, with a 12th expected later this month. Thorsell said the ROM may still use some of the other designs. "We're going to study how much these get used, but it's definitely possible that we might install more along the street," he said. Gibney and Sarazen built the bike stands out of a small space on Dufferin Street, using photographs of their subject matter as models. Each stand is unique, making their construction a time-consuming task.
"It's a long process, but we want to find that combination of reality and creating something that's emotional and artistic," Jack Gibney said.
He added that he and Sarazen enjoy the challenge of creating individual bike stands that offer the same functionality as the traditional racks while making them more in tune with a specific community. "People want to have something that reflects where they are in the city," he said. "Having our work at the ROM will definitely make what we do more visible."
Toronto Councillor Adrian Heaps, chair of the city's cycling committee, said the city was happy to see some creativity being exercised when it comes to street furniture. He added that the city would be looking at similar projects when it comes time to replace some of Toronto's existing bike racks.
"It makes an area more pleasing esthetically when you have something that's not just functional," he said. "When you do something specific like this for a community, it gives the people in that community more ownership of the space."
Heaps said that if local community organizations were willing to partner with the city, as many as 1,000 unique bike stands could be installed across the city over the next few years.
This article is for personal use only courtesy of City Centre Mirror a division of Metroland Media Group Ltd.