The Globe and Mail

These days, just a few steps east of the intersection of Bay and Adelaide streets in Toronto's business district, the remnants of a concrete column can be seen in a state of semi-dismantlement amid the rubble of demolition, a battered grey monolith flowering with mangled rebar and clumps of concrete. It turns out it's not so easy to tear down the footing of an office tower, in this case the ill-fated stump of the long-planned Bay Adelaide Centre, an eyesore since 1991. "It's like our monument to the recession," says Jane Perdue, public-art co-ordinator at Toronto City Hall, and one of those responsible for shepherding into existence the forthcoming project on that site by noted American artist James Turrell. His artwork -- a multifaceted, coloured-light installation -- will animate the new Bay Adelaide Centre, slated for completion in 2009. And it will be the biggest urban public-art project of his career.