Happy Place (Toronto)
This weekend I ventured to Toronto to explore the pop up art exhibition Happy Place. Most of you have probably seen pictures floating around instagram, so if you’re wondering what all the hype is about, I’m here to give you the run down!
Happy Place is a bright bubbly building filled with different themed rooms and installations. Basically you are paying to use these backdrops for your own funky photoshoots. The tickets are a little on the high end at about 44$ CAD on weekends and 30$ during the week so I suggest going on a weekday. But is it worth the money…?
One of the main arguments against Happy Place is that it’s overpopulated with wanna-be instagram influencers and that the exhibitions hardly classify as ‘art’. It is also a strange experience in that it’s kind of like School Picture day on Crack. Everyone waits for an exhibit and watches you take your pictures. I mean we did wait 20 mins to take a picture in this tub… But I’m a firm believer that life is what you make it…
And I would argue you can make life pretty magical with a couple of key ingredients, firstly confetti…lots of confetti.
Second, Bring someone who makes you happy! I had so much fun with my gal pal from school. We both love film and taking photos so we had a blast fooling around with angles and making up poses. We spent down time catching up, and for place that gets a lot of hate for being geared towards the “social media” generation, we hardly checked out phones during our time there!
I would also argue against the notion “Everyone will have the same pictures”… If you are a remotely creative person there are endless possibilities to approach an exhibit with your own twist. If anything, it’s a great challenge in experimentation for creatives alike.
In conclusion, If you are looking for something fun and different to do, I would recommend an afternoon at the Happy Place. The site says it takes one hour but I would give yourself at least 2 hours should it be busy, like it was when we went. Check out Happy Place website to see when they come to a city near you!
What’s your Happy Place?
