Hi everyone! I'm back on Canadian soil and excited to be posting my first column from Toronto. This will be a regular thing, and I'm looking forward to sharing some of the amazing art and design work that's created in this city.

Like many big cities, there's always something happening in Toronto. New stores opening, gallery exhibitions, design shows and conferences. This past weekend, in front of the Gladstone Hotel, four 18-wheeler trucks were transformed into a site-specific installation called Special Delivery. 







Special Delivery is a temporary exhibition which transforms truck interiors into immersive installations created by local designers and artists. As an offshoot of IIDEX (Canada's National Design and Architecture Exposition and Conference), each artist/designer has responded to the mobile space of the show truck. In an interesting inversion, the 18-wheeler, which, in the case of a large design show/conference is typically used to transport materials from show to show, now becomes part of the exhibition. Paired with a truck sponsor, each installation considers, inspires and/or incorporates the materials, processes or products of the vehicles they inhabit.

It's always interesting to see art/design move outside of its usual haunts, and it's this element that made Special Delivery both playful and successful. See all the great truck interiors below. 



Christina Zeidler played with simulated images to create the exhibition's most visually welcoming space, with plenty of seating, warm tones and earthy imagery.