Ry Van Der Hout Reassembles Memory In ‘In Broken Light’

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Ry Van Der Hout’s exhibition “In Broken Light” opened Aug. 26 at Spadina Museum in Toronto and is scheduled to run through Oct. 18. Five sculptural works combine mirrors, stained glass and photography across the historic mansion, drawing on its rooms and the stories of people connected to the house.

Ry Van Der Hout’s “In Broken Light”, a five-work exhibition using fractured and reassembled mirrors and glass to engage with memory and family history, opened Aug. 26 at Spadina Museum in Toronto. The site-specific installation is spread across the mansion’s four stories and is scheduled to remain on view through Oct. 18.

The exhibition combines photography, stained glass and mirrors in sculptures designed in response to rooms in the 1866 mansion. The works draw on research and conversations with spiritual leaders, descendants of former residents, historians, museum guides and conservators, according to the report by Design Milk. The source describes five interventions staged throughout the building.

Van Der Hout makes the sculptures by deliberately breaking glass and mirrors, then joining the pieces with Tiffany stained-glass techniques. Curator Adrien Sun Hall interprets the repaired surfaces as metaphors for queer identity and personal transformation, and says they bring overlooked histories into view. That interpretation is Hall’s; the exhibition’s materials and techniques are the reported details of the artist’s practice.

In the basement, a fractured disco ball turns to a NASA-produced audio track, scattering light across the preserved archaeological dig site. Another work uses photographs of Tiber, a historical interpreter at the museum, printed on stained glass. Van Der Hout said its antique dressing-table mirror holder was reclaimed after being found in a dumpster at the artist’s studio.

Memory Embedded in the Mansion

The exhibition places contemporary sculpture inside a historic house, bringing the building’s rooms and recorded histories into direct contact with Van Der Hout’s exploration of memory. Rather than presenting the artworks in a separate gallery, the installation uses the mansion’s architecture and preserved spaces as part of how visitors encounter them.

That approach also gives the project a specific human focus. The source says its research includes stories associated with former resident families, as well as conversations with people who interpret, study and care for the site. Hall describes the repaired fractures as openings through which forgotten or overlooked lives can be considered. The exhibition therefore connects material damage and repair with questions about which histories are remembered, while leaving visitors to encounter the works within the actual house.

A Five-Work Site-Specific Installation

Spadina Museum is an 1866 mansion in Toronto. The five interventions in “In Broken Light” are distributed across its four stories, with individual works responding to their settings. The project’s source material includes family histories that the report characterizes as ranging from forbidden love to fatal illness; specific details about those stories are not supplied in the article.

The exhibition’s largest work, “Open Wing Death,” is a 12-foot-high ovoid geodesic dome installed on the unrestored third floor. The room was added in 1913 as a sunlit sanctuary for a resident with tuberculosis and later used by the household’s domestic staff. The report says the sculpture is dedicated to those staff members. Other named works include “Tiber” and “Orpheus Twice.”

“At the heart of In Broken Light is the understanding that shattering isn’t the end of a story—it’s the beginning of a new narrative.”

— Curator Adrien Sun Hall

Details Beyond the Opening Report

The supplied report does not establish whether the exhibition’s Oct. 18 closing date has changed, or provide information about admission, opening hours, accessibility or public programming. It also does not identify all five sculptures by name or give detailed accounts of each family history informing the project.

Hall’s descriptions of the works’ meaning are attributed curatorial interpretations, not independently verified claims about how every visitor will experience the exhibition. The available material also does not state whether the installation will travel to another venue or what will happen to the works after the Spadina Museum presentation.

Exhibition Runs Through October

“In Broken Light” is scheduled to remain at Spadina Museum through Oct. 18. The source material provides no announced follow-up exhibition, tour or additional programming, so the next confirmed milestone is the end of the stated run. Visitors seeking current hours or access information would need to check the museum’s latest listings.

Key Questions

Where is “In Broken Light” on view?

The exhibition is at Spadina Museum in Toronto, an 1866 mansion.

When did the exhibition open, and how long is it scheduled to run?

It opened on Aug. 26 and is scheduled to run through Oct. 18, according to the source report.

What materials does Ry Van Der Hout use?

The works combine mirrors, stained glass and photography. Van Der Hout breaks glass and mirrors and joins the pieces using Tiffany stained-glass techniques.

How many works are in the exhibition?

The report describes five sculptural interventions staged across four stories of the mansion.

What is “Open Wing Death”?

It is the exhibition’s largest work: a 12-foot-high ovoid geodesic dome installed on the mansion’s unrestored third floor and dedicated to the domestic staff who later used the room, according to the report.

Source: rss