Kim Dorland’s Portrait of Tom Thomson in Canadian Content at Skew Gallery. One of the many exhibitions going on as part of Artcity
Better watch out for creativity in Calgary’s public sphere as Artcity gets under way
The month of September is perennially packed with activity energy and new beginnings making it a little bit easier to kiss the summer goodbye. In fact Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier recently declared September to be Culture Month creating a kind of umbrella for a number of different arts events that contribute annually to the cultural landscape.
Now in its 18th season The Artcity Festival of Art Design and Architecture is geared up to present an interdisciplinary program under the banner “Festival Express” that features a mix of work from local national and international presenters. Designed to engage lovers and potential lovers of art architecture and design many of the festival’s offerings happen in public accessible spaces so that it’s not only people in the know who can feel comfortable taking it in. “The festival reaches people that wouldn’t normally go into a gallery space” says program co-ordinator Meredith Angus. She admits that even for students studying art like her the “white cube of the gallery still has an intimidating effect.”
If you’ve been waiting to hear about the 2009 lineup and noticed things appear to be a bit less organized with Artcity this year it’s because they’ve been in a process of transition.
Former programming co-ordinator Wednesday Lupypciw left Artcity to pursue other opportunities this summer and Meredith Angus joined in June. The organization is run by a volunteer board and its single paid staff member necessarily becomes a jack of all trades — writing grants looking after website updates booking venues travel accommodations co-ordinating marketing — it’s no small task.
Angus’s dance card is full. She’s just beginning her fourth year of studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design and has another job in addition to her gig with Artcity. She’s excited though about the prospect of connecting the festival to her network of young artist friends and associates who didn’t have Artcity on their radar before.
At Olympic Plaza artist Kyle Beal returns to Calgary to present a new work called Smokn n public a comms breakdwn so 2 spk . Beal is an ACAD graduate who has spent the last several years in Montreal. Interested in the complexities of communication and language he’s been experimenting with different forms including Morse code and text messaging. Beal’s latest project is a sculptural work that will perform Led Zeppelin’s 1969 hit “Communication Breakdown.” For those of you who aren’t fans of Zeppelin there’s no need to pack earplugs — the song will be communicated via timed puffs of smoke released from a machine. Beal transforms the song’s lyrics to text speak: the vernacular that abbreviates words and sentiments and relies on numbers and symbols to make typing messages on mobile devices as speedy as possible. From there Beal translates the text speak version to Morse code. It’s the Morse-code rendition of “Communication Breakdown” that will be (mis)communicated via timed puffs of smoke released from a machine.
Missed the Stampede Parade this year? Toronto-based artist Anitra Hamilton re-presents the sounds of Calgary’s big day in her work Audio Parade: Field Recording #3 . “When I was thinking about parades to record the Calgary Stampede parade immediately sprang to mind” says Hamilton “I was really interested in the sounds of horses’ hooves on pavement.”
Hamilton has also recorded the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Toronto and is travelling to Munich in September to capture the Oktoberfest parade. These audio installations are part of a larger parade-themed body of work which includes interventions into public space and a series of hard-edged stripped paintings based on war medals. While visiting Hamilton’s work at the loading dock of the Epcor Centre close your eyes and re-live the magic.
Rita McKeough is a senior Canadian artist who was recognized this year with a Governor General’s Award for visual and media arts. She’s pleased to be part of Artcity and says that it’s “always exciting and challenging to be out in the public.” McKeough will present a project called Alternator which was shown for the first time in Toronto last fall as part of Nuit Blanche and over the course of the summer at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery.
Here in Calgary where McKeough now lives and works full time the work will take on a new context and relevancy in the midst of discussions about the future of oil and gas and issues around sustainability and the environment. McKeough’s performance comes from “imagining a future where we’ve run out of oil” she says adding it involves a series of miniature oil pumps operated by a hand-cranked generator. She’ll endeavour to salvage oil from the small slicks and puddles leaked from cars in the Epcor Centre parkade.
From Berlin Artcity is bringing architect Florian Koehl and artist Anna von Gwinner as well as Winnipeg curator Neil Minuk to present talks on a joint project which has been the basis for the summer exhibition at ACAD’s Illingworth Kerr Gallery. American multi-disciplinary artist Elliot Earls whose work has been shown all over the world and who is currently the designer-in-residence at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan will deliver this year’s keynote lecture on design. Also part of Artcity’s 2009 lineup are projects by Lia Rogers Shara Rosko Scott Rogers Kathryn Pearce and Danielle Bouch.
Others around town are getting onboard with Artcity and timing their projects to coincide with the festival. Bird Dog Video will host their third annual silent auction on September 17. Video shop co-owner and artist Jolie Bird has distributed 37 shadowboxes to artists and creative types and charged them with the task of creating dioramas inspired by the work of filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Among the contributors this year are Mark Dicey Gary Burns Sarah Holtom and Marigold Santos. Bird Dog is expecting a big turnout for the event again this year and a competitive silent auction. All the money goes to charity.
