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Lawsuit proceeds about public art at new TIFF headquarters
Thursday August 26th 2010Internationally famous Canadian artist Michael Snow is suing the developers responsible for the new headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival for almost $1-million, claiming breach of contract, among other violations, over an art installation he said he was commissioned to prepare for the developers.
Niall Haggart, executive vice-president of Toronto-based The Daniels Corporation, one of the companies cited in the suit filed last month in Ontario Superior Court, said on Wednesday “there is no contract” and that Mr. Snow was only “one of a host of artists we looked at.”
Mr. Snow’s agent, Ian McCallum, agrees there is no written contract – a situation he called “a huge mistake” on Wednesday.
“They had a draft contract; we had one going,” he said, adding that nothing ever got signed. “It just sort of got stalled.” Nevertheless, Mr. McCallum asserted that “when there’s an exchange of considerations, that’s all that’s necessary to create a [legally binding] contract.”
Mr. McCallum, who brought Mr. Snow’s name forward to the developers early in 2006, alleges his client began work that spring on art proposals for Festival Tower, the 40-plus storey condominium project that is being erected atop Bell Lightbox, TIFF’s five-storey headquarters, due to open Sept. 12.
The statement of claim said that Mr. Snow, who is now 81, did so on the understanding that it was a “direct commission,” valued at about $450,000, from the developers to meet a public-art obligation mandated by the city of Toronto.
“It started off largely as a hand-shake with [the developers] saying, ‘You’re our guy; we don’t want anyone else,'” Mr. McCallum said. To date, Mr. Snow – whose previous public-art commissions in Toronto include two exterior reliefs on the north side of Toronto’s Rogers Centre and Flight Stop, a sculpture of Canada geese installed in Toronto’s Eaton Centre in 1979 – has received only $20,000 for his Festival Tower work, according to the statement of claim.
Section 37 of the Planning Act says the “suggested” value of an on-site public-art installation should equal “one per cent of the gross construction costs of the project,” with a minimum value of $150,000.
None of the allegations has been proved in court.
The Daniels Corp. is one of the principals of King and John Festival Corp., formed more than three years ago to oversee construction of the Lightbox and the condominium tower. Another principal in KJFC is Hollywood producer-director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Animal House), who, with his two sisters, owned the land in downtown Toronto on which the condo/TIFF project is being built. The corporation, Mr. Reitman and two other companies named as defendants in the Snow suit filed notice this week of their intention to defend themselves against the action.
Relations between the disputants broke off in the summer of 2008. Both parties agreed to mediation earlier this year, but “it wasn’t a successful process,” Mr. Haggart said, adding that the developers are not reneging on a public art component to Festival Tower.
“I don’t want to get into difficult or negative discussions about Michael [Snow] because he’s an icon, a very talented artist … one of many we looked at that are very capable of satisfying the requirement [for public art.]”
Source: The Globe and Mail
Headline, Industry News
Lawsuit proceeds about public art at new TIFF headquarters
Thursday August 26th 2010Internationally famous Canadian artist Michael Snow is suing the developers responsible for the new headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival for almost $1-million, claiming breach of contract, among other violations, over an art installation he said he was commissioned to prepare for the developers.
Niall Haggart, executive vice-president of Toronto-based The Daniels Corporation, one of the companies cited in the suit filed last month in Ontario Superior Court, said on Wednesday “there is no contract” and that Mr. Snow was only “one of a host of artists we looked at.”
Mr. Snow’s agent, Ian McCallum, agrees there is no written contract – a situation he called “a huge mistake” on Wednesday.
“They had a draft contract; we had one going,” he said, adding that nothing ever got signed. “It just sort of got stalled.” Nevertheless, Mr. McCallum asserted that “when there’s an exchange of considerations, that’s all that’s necessary to create a [legally binding] contract.”
Mr. McCallum, who brought Mr. Snow’s name forward to the developers early in 2006, alleges his client began work that spring on art proposals for Festival Tower, the 40-plus storey condominium project that is being erected atop Bell Lightbox, TIFF’s five-storey headquarters, due to open Sept. 12.
The statement of claim said that Mr. Snow, who is now 81, did so on the understanding that it was a “direct commission,” valued at about $450,000, from the developers to meet a public-art obligation mandated by the city of Toronto.
“It started off largely as a hand-shake with [the developers] saying, ‘You’re our guy; we don’t want anyone else,'” Mr. McCallum said. To date, Mr. Snow – whose previous public-art commissions in Toronto include two exterior reliefs on the north side of Toronto’s Rogers Centre and Flight Stop, a sculpture of Canada geese installed in Toronto’s Eaton Centre in 1979 – has received only $20,000 for his Festival Tower work, according to the statement of claim.
Section 37 of the Planning Act says the “suggested” value of an on-site public-art installation should equal “one per cent of the gross construction costs of the project,” with a minimum value of $150,000.
None of the allegations has been proved in court.
The Daniels Corp. is one of the principals of King and John Festival Corp., formed more than three years ago to oversee construction of the Lightbox and the condominium tower. Another principal in KJFC is Hollywood producer-director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Animal House), who, with his two sisters, owned the land in downtown Toronto on which the condo/TIFF project is being built. The corporation, Mr. Reitman and two other companies named as defendants in the Snow suit filed notice this week of their intention to defend themselves against the action.
Relations between the disputants broke off in the summer of 2008. Both parties agreed to mediation earlier this year, but “it wasn’t a successful process,” Mr. Haggart said, adding that the developers are not reneging on a public art component to Festival Tower.
“I don’t want to get into difficult or negative discussions about Michael [Snow] because he’s an icon, a very talented artist … one of many we looked at that are very capable of satisfying the requirement [for public art.]”
Source: The Globe and Mail
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Headline, Industry News
Lawsuit proceeds about public art at new TIFF headquarters
Thursday August 26th 2010Internationally famous Canadian artist Michael Snow is suing the developers responsible for the new headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival for almost $1-million, claiming breach of contract, among other violations, over an art installation he said he was commissioned to prepare for the developers.
Niall Haggart, executive vice-president of Toronto-based The Daniels Corporation, one of the companies cited in the suit filed last month in Ontario Superior Court, said on Wednesday “there is no contract” and that Mr. Snow was only “one of a host of artists we looked at.”
Mr. Snow’s agent, Ian McCallum, agrees there is no written contract – a situation he called “a huge mistake” on Wednesday.
“They had a draft contract; we had one going,” he said, adding that nothing ever got signed. “It just sort of got stalled.” Nevertheless, Mr. McCallum asserted that “when there’s an exchange of considerations, that’s all that’s necessary to create a [legally binding] contract.”
Mr. McCallum, who brought Mr. Snow’s name forward to the developers early in 2006, alleges his client began work that spring on art proposals for Festival Tower, the 40-plus storey condominium project that is being erected atop Bell Lightbox, TIFF’s five-storey headquarters, due to open Sept. 12.
The statement of claim said that Mr. Snow, who is now 81, did so on the understanding that it was a “direct commission,” valued at about $450,000, from the developers to meet a public-art obligation mandated by the city of Toronto.
“It started off largely as a hand-shake with [the developers] saying, ‘You’re our guy; we don’t want anyone else,'” Mr. McCallum said. To date, Mr. Snow – whose previous public-art commissions in Toronto include two exterior reliefs on the north side of Toronto’s Rogers Centre and Flight Stop, a sculpture of Canada geese installed in Toronto’s Eaton Centre in 1979 – has received only $20,000 for his Festival Tower work, according to the statement of claim.
Section 37 of the Planning Act says the “suggested” value of an on-site public-art installation should equal “one per cent of the gross construction costs of the project,” with a minimum value of $150,000.
None of the allegations has been proved in court.
The Daniels Corp. is one of the principals of King and John Festival Corp., formed more than three years ago to oversee construction of the Lightbox and the condominium tower. Another principal in KJFC is Hollywood producer-director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Animal House), who, with his two sisters, owned the land in downtown Toronto on which the condo/TIFF project is being built. The corporation, Mr. Reitman and two other companies named as defendants in the Snow suit filed notice this week of their intention to defend themselves against the action.
Relations between the disputants broke off in the summer of 2008. Both parties agreed to mediation earlier this year, but “it wasn’t a successful process,” Mr. Haggart said, adding that the developers are not reneging on a public art component to Festival Tower.
“I don’t want to get into difficult or negative discussions about Michael [Snow] because he’s an icon, a very talented artist … one of many we looked at that are very capable of satisfying the requirement [for public art.]”
Source: The Globe and Mail
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