''Flight Stop'', also titled ''Flightstop'', is a 1979 site-specific art work by Canadian artist
Michael Snow
Michael James Aleck Snow (December 10, 1928 – January 5, 2023) was a Canadian artist who worked in a range of media including film, installation, sculpture, photography, and music. His best-known films are ''Wavelength'' (1967) and '' La Rég ...
downtown core
The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with two integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buil ...
of
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada, the work hangs from the ceiling and appears to depict sixty
Canada geese
The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North ...
in flight. Each individual goose is made of Styrofoam covered in
fibreglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...
and covered in a sheath made from photographs taken from a single goose. The flock is frozen in mid-flight, "flight stop" being a pun on the nature of still photography. When conceived in 1977, the work was titled ''Flight Stop'' but has frequently also been titled ''Flightstop''. The work remains an iconic public art piece in Toronto and in many ways stands as a visual identity for the mall.
Background
Michael Snow has exhibited his work internationally since 1957. He uses a wide range of media and he is noted for his innovative use of a variety of technologies. Snow is an experimental filmmaker and a key figure of the
structural film
Structural film was an avant-garde experimental film movement prominent in the United States in the 1960s. A related movement developed in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
Overview
The term was coined by P. Adams Sitney who noted that film artist ...
movement of the 1960s. His 1967 film ''
Wavelength
In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.
In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same ''phase (waves ...
'' has been designated and preserved as a masterwork by the
Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada The Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada (or the AV Trust). originally the Alliance for the Preservation of Canada's Audio-Visual Heritage,Village Voice'' critics' list of the 100 Best Films of the 20th Century.
Development and creation
Snow was commissioned by the Eaton Centre's developers, Cadillac Fairview, and architect Eberhard Zeidler to provide a permanent art work to hang in a skylit galleria, which would be visible from several levels and balconies as well as from ground-level corridors spanning Dundas and Queen Streets, given that the mall is built on a slope. Snow's original intent was to depict a flight of geese breaking formation as if to land in the mall. ''Flight Stop'' appears to be a straightforward representation of sixty geese, but the work is a combination of fibreglass forms and photographs of a single goose, "one of two culled from a flock living on Toronto Island."
Photographing the dead bird, Snow adjusted "the neck, wing, and tail positions and the cylindrical parts of the body". Three different body sizes were then carved in Styrofoam and, "using pattern-making techniques, two-dimensional photographic goose costumes were printed and assembled". The Styrofoam bodies were cast in fibreglass, covered in the photographic sheathes, and varnished in a tinted brown that has yellowed somewhat over time.
In Snow's original preparation for the work, the title was given as ''Flight Stop'' (and indicated as the "''Flight Stop'' project" in the archival materials). However, in a number of monographs and catalogues, the work is called ''Flightstop''. Now a tourist destination, ''Flight Stop'' is one of Snow's most famous and highly visible works, and the work has become iconic for the Toronto Eaton Centre and a part of the visual identity of the mall.
Legal issues
During the Christmas season of 1981, the Eaton Centre placed red ribbons around the necks of the geese. Snow brought an action against the Centre to get an
injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
to have the ribbons removed. In the landmark case '' Snow v Eaton Centre Ltd'', the Ontario High Court of Justice affirmed the artist's right to the integrity of their work. The operator of the Toronto Eaton Centre was found liable for violating Snow's moral rights.(1982), 70 CPR (2d) 105. The judgement in Snow's favour held that the sculpture's integrity was "distorted, mutilated or otherwise modified" which was "to the prejudice of the honour or reputation of the author" contrary to section 28.2 of the Copyright Act. The opinion was based both on the opinion of Snow as well as the testimony of experts in the art community.
Legacy
Snow's position as a Canadian artist with an international profile was established well before 1979. ''Flight Stop'' established Snow as a highly visible artist in Canada, a rare feat in that country. As a work of public art, ''Flight Stop'' is not only highly visible but has become iconic for the Eaton Centre and Toronto as a whole.
* Greenhill, Pauline. "Natalka Husar and Diana Thorneycroft versus the Law: A Critical Feminist Consideration of Intellectual Property and Artistic Practice." ''Canadian Journal of Women and the Law'' 18 (2006): 439–478 Project MUSE link
* Marchessault, Janine. "Site specificity in the age of intermediality (with thanks to Michael Snow)." ''The Moving Image Review & Art Journal'' (MIRAJ) 2, no. 2 (2013): 150–159. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/miraj.2.2.150_1
* Pray, Michael O. "Interview: In Synch." ''Art Monthly'' (Archive: 1976–2005) 256 (2002): 9 Proquest link
* Rushton, Michael. "The Moral Rights of Artists: Droit moral ou droit pécuniaire?." ''Journal of Cultural Economics'' 22, no. 1 (1998): 15–32. DOI http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007454719802
* Warkentin, John. ''Creating memory: A Guide to Outdoor Public Sculpture in Toronto.'' Toronto: Becker Associates, 2010.