‘Theatre Palimpsest’, 2021
Virtual Realty- Photogrammetry

‘Theatre Palimpsest’ is a virtual reality streetscape portraying the layered history of a building at 285-287 Spadina St. at the corner of Dundas and Spadina in the heart of Toronto’s Chinatown. It was created through photogrammetry.

In this three-facade building, the highly political Standard Yiddish Theatre was opened in 1922, and became the Strand Theatre in 1935. After WWII, it became the Victory Burlesque. In the 1970s, it was converted into the Golden Harvest Theatre, which played Chinese action and cultural films. It ended its long, vibrant reign in 1989.

I discovered its multicultural past as I was scanning medallions embedded in the sidewalk – clues which became portals to its complex past.