Shift, Concrete sculpture in King City, Canada
Shift is a concrete sculpture made of six zigzagging sections, each 20 centimetres thick and 1.5 metres high, laid across the rolling northwest part of a 4.03-hectare former potato farm. The sections are divided into two groups of three, with lengths varying from about 27 to 73 metres, following a land survey commissioned by Richard Serra.
This concrete installation was created between 1970 and 1972 on a potato farm belonging to art collector Roger Davidson. The work was later recognized by Ontario as cultural property and placed under provincial protection.
Locals long mistook the six concrete runs for leftover foundations, and the work stayed obscure until talk of developing the land in the 1990s drew attention to it. The name Shift refers to the way a walker must turn and change direction to follow the zigzagging forms across the field.
The sculpture sits in rural countryside north of Toronto and is freely accessible during daylight hours. It helps to check road conditions beforehand since access can vary depending on weather and seasonal changes.
This work is noteworthy because its creator typically favors steel for large-scale outdoor projects, yet realized this one entirely in concrete. This exception reveals a different artistic approach that is rarely seen in the broader body of work.
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