Funeral parlours are places where people typically gather to remember lost loved ones so it was only fitting for Labspace Studio to rent a vacant one in Riverside for its latest exhibition about memories.
"I always peeked inside when I walked by," said Laura Mendes, co-director of the east end-based hybrid creative agency and art house, of the former Washington and Johnston Funeral Chapel at 717 Queen St. E. near Broadview Avenue.
"I called up the owner and he was open to the idea. When I went in I knew it was the perfect venue."
Mendes, who will present an installation with her partner John Loerchner during the exhibit, said the space is ideal because it has many different rooms, nooks and crannies, and closets perfect for unique installations.
Rumours of "strange business" at the old funeral parlour, which in an earlier incarnation was known as the Rising Sun Inn, add an extra "mystique" to the exhibition, she said.
Called In Memory (http://recollectionproject.com/past), the exhibition is the third part of The (Re)collection Project, a curated collection of creative projects and social experiments that investigates how we remember the past, experience the present and think about the future.
For six weeks, 30 artists have been creating 15 unique art installations all inspired by the instability of memory.
Those involved in the project were invited to collaborate with another artist on an installation that recalls, reinterprets and recreates a past memory.
They were also asked to consider the relationships between memory, documentation and truth, and to explore ways of re-imagining or reinterpreting the past when working on their installations.
Labspace's Mendes and Loerchner as well as Annie Onyi Cheung are the exhibit's curators.
In Memory opens Friday, Aug. 19 with an opening party from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at 717 Queen St. E. near Broadview Avenue. The space will be open for viewings Saturday, Aug. 20 and Sunday, Aug. 21 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.