Coryn Kempster & Julia Jamrozik: Assembly

Proposal image for Assembly, Summer 2025 by artists Coryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik. Photo: Courtesy of the artists

Assembly
Coryn Kempster & Julia Jamrozik

Curated by Yuluo Wei

May 24 – November 16, 2025
Public Opening Reception: Saturday, May 24, 2025, 1 – 3pm
248 Steelcase Rd. E, Markham (Free onsite parking)

Industrial Arts is proud to present Assembly, the third iteration in our annual Sculpture Garden, by artists Coryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik, a duo known for transforming everyday materials into playful and provocative social spaces.

Curated by Yuluo Wei and presented by Steelcase Art Projects, Assembly offers a radically accessible, circular space for gathering, drawing inspiration from global models of parliamentary seating.

In a moment marked by political uncertainty both at home and abroad, the work imagines a space of inclusive participation, openness, and democratic possibility—without hierarchy, without barriers.

Responding to the context of the industrial park around it, Assembly is constructed entirely from familiar, off-the-shelf materials—rolling warehouse ladders and metal shop welding curtains—that will be reused after the sculpture’s six-month run. This ecological approach ensures a zero-waste installation that is as pragmatic as it is poetic.

Throughout the summer, SAP will engage local students through their volunteer program (see below), using Assembly as a platform to explore themes of democracy and social infrastructure.

Rain or shine, join us for the launch on Saturday, May 24 at 1pm, with artists in attendance.

The event is free and all are welcome.

Youth Program

​​In tandem with Assembly, Steelcase Art Projects will facilitate a youth program over the summer, for volunteers aged 14-18.

Our summer volunteer program started off with a bang last year as youth tended our garden sculpture, learning about native species from artist Ron Benner, decorated our picnic tables, toured visitors through our pop-up exhibition Face/Waste, and more!

Coming up for spring/summer 2025, volunteers will have the chance to participate by setting up a mobile garden, creating their own industrial sculptures and even brainstorming ways to set up small business right on site!

If you are, or you know someone interested in volunteering, please email steelcaseartprojects@gmail.com with ‘Volunteer’ in the subject line.

About the Artists

Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster are Toronto-based designers, artists and educators who have collaborated since 2003. Together they create spaces and objects that interrupt everyday situations in critically engaging and playful ways.

As a multi-disciplinary practice, they operate at a variety of scales, from temporary installations to permanent public artworks and architectural projects. Their artistic practice focuses on ‘social infrastructures’ which seek to build community by fostering playful interactions in physical space. Their academic research focuses on the role of play in the built environment and alternative methods of documentation as a form of historic preservation. They are the authors of Growing up Modern: Childhoods in Iconic Homes (Birkhäuser, 2021).

In 2018 the Architectural League of New York honored their work with the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers.

Julia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architectural Science at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Formerly, Coryn was an Architect at Herzog & de Meuron and a Project Director at Harry Gugger Studio in Basel, Switzerland. Julia was also an Architect at Herzog & de Meuron, taught design studios at the ETH in Zurich and was an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo SUNY.

Julia holds a BA(Hons) from the University of Toronto and a Master of Architecture from the University of British Columbia. Coryn has a BA(Hons) from the University of Toronto and earned his Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a concentration in Visual Arts where he was a teaching assistant to Joan Jonas, Ute Meta Bauer, Antoni Muntadas and Krzysztof Wodiczko.

Their work is in the public art collections of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly Albright-Knox), Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts (CEPA Gallery) and the Cleveland Public Library. They have exhibited in galleries, produced temporary installations and realized permanent public artworks in Canada, USA, Germany, France, Italy and South Korea, including solo shows at Vtape in Toronto, the Weissenhofwerkstatt in Stuttgart and Gallery Kolektiv 318 in Marseille.

Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of Markham Councillor Reid McAlpine on this project.

OHAM: The Ontario Handmade Art Market

Saturday, May 24 & Sunday, May 25, 1 – 7pm
Rain or shine
200 Steelcase Rd. E, unit 3, Markham (next to Sculpture Garden site)

On the same day, join us for an exciting art and music-filled weekend at Industrial Arts where creativity, craftsmanship and community will be celebrated! Steelcase Art Projects believes in the power of art to enable change. With OHAM, our 2-day pop-up market featuring locally made artworks, design objects, and hand-crafted items, we stand in solidarity with Ontario makers, providing a timely opportunity for their work to reach a wider audience.

Learn more and check out our vendors and musicians on our Instagram page.

Steelcase Art Projects
Instagram | Website
steelcaseartprojects@gmail.com

Industrial Arts
Markham, Ontario

Accessibility:
The public art space is accessible.

Industrial Arts is a site comprising multiple industrial units on a 5-acre site in Markham, hosting tenants involved in light manufacturing processes.

Steelcase Art Projects is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to transform Industrial Arts into a site for artistic experimentation through collaborations, commissions and projects. Working with our tenants and with the surrounding community, we are connecting business to the arts through unconventional collaborations in the industrial realm.