Brookfield Properties activates spaces in the city with art, fostering connections and memorable experiences through partnerships and innovative installations.

Brookfield Properties brings its indoor and outdoor spaces to life through culture with the aim of connecting people and creating memorable experiences. These experiences allow for reflection on contemporary life in an urban environment. We do this by building long term cultural partnerships and by working with emerging and contemporary artists that challenge conventional thinking and offer us a fresh perspective on life. We believe in the unique ability of art to transform those spaces from place we rush through to places we linger, places we gather, places we seek out and come together. We design public Summer artworks, which are activated spaces, for a wide range of visitors considering and advocating trust and confidence and always aiming to mitigate risk and consider public safety.

Our Summer installations provide an artistic space for play and awe, with practically creating more public seating in the City of London and Hackney; an outdoor space to take a work call, have a chat with a friend and a coffee, rest in the sun and eat something delicious from the weekly Citypoint Food Market.
Then, over Winter, we have highlighted some fabulous, illuminated artworks through our IlluminoCity Festival of the years.

Our Summer and Winter activation model is an assisted and elaborate ‘rental model’, where we pay artist fee and artwork creation; effectively borrowing the newly commissioned works, for a few months, before returning ownership of the ‘piece’ to the artists so that they may rent, sell and or share these works to others after our exhibition across the plaza. This allows for additional artist earning capacity and extends the lifespan of the materials used, from ephemeral installations to a longer term artwork offering.

Saff Williams, Curatorial Director, Brookfield Properties Europe, said:

"Our Summer and Winter installations at Citypoint, Moorgate Ropemaker Street and Principal Place on Shoreditch High Street have been a fixture of our annual program for at least 5 years. We have moved toward interactive public art installations, which allow the public and tenants to engage with the plaza spaces more fully, alongside our wider public programming efforts including our food markets, wellbeing programming and the practicalities of providing shade from the summer sun or winter darkness. Engaging our tenant base and the public across these plazas, enlivens the neighbourhoods they are situated in and championed emerging artistic talent across the city stage. Moving artists from smaller scale installations up to installs as large as 14m x 7m x 4meters, has proved at times challenging as we collectively explored materials that could withstand the challenges of environmental and public exposure over many months. Our artistic model has focused on artist ownership after the exhibitions, so that these installations could be shown again in other configurations or locations. Our commissions are a kind of elaborate art rental, so that these artworks hope to have a afterlife beyond their summer/winter showing, providing greater sustainability of materials and an option for further remuneration for the artists. Working closely with the artists, structural engineers, suppliers and the local councils has meant our projects develop and challenge the notion of space, usage and playfulness in the public eye."