the tower
Euan Macdonald
May 5 – September 15, 2004
Euan Macdonald, the tower, 2004; 25' x 5' x 5'; plywood, steel, paint, light bulb
Artist Statement
the tower is a full-scale replica of the top 25 feet of the CN Tower. On a surface level, the tower can be seen as a model or a form of architectural displacement. The CN Tower stands 1815' 5" high. From the time of its construction, the top of the CN Tower has been visible usually from the ground below or from one of the surrounding buildings that make up the Toronto skyline. The building of this full-scale model at ground level provides an opportunity to closely consider the inaccessible top of the CN Tower, which is actually so far out of reach.
At a deeper level, the tower also appears to be sticking up through the ground as if the rest of the tower has been buried underneath. If viewed as a work of science fiction, it is as though billions of years of geological change has re-shaped the surface of The Earth and buried most of the CN Tower, along with the rest of our civilization. Just as public monuments are erected to signify or remember an event, some buildings also become monuments to the technological capabilities of the society and the time when they are built. Apart from technological accomplishment, design and engineering ingenuity, quite often architecture is commonly popularized and then remembered for how large and tall it stands, or for how physically novel or curvaceous it may appear to be.
Over vast periods of time, it is the largest buildings and monuments that remain and become the most prominent markers of civilizations. This idea was inspired by the final scene in the original film Planet of the Apes, where Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty broken and buried in the sand. Despite the fantastical nature of the film and Heston's melodramatic performance, the scene's potent message regarding the immanent life span of civilization is undeniable.
