The Seafood Market provides valuable space to the arts community.
Unused building opens up doors for artists
In the midst of my tour through the erstwhile Seafood Market now a conclave of Calgary artists a bucket needs to be fetched to attend to a leaky roof. My guide building manager and artist Eric Moschopedis takes it in stride. He is clearly fond of the unique building.
“This is my favourite space in the whole city right now” he says echoingly into an airy runway-like corridor on the second floor fit for indoor skateboarding.
The Seafood Market is located in the East Village and is so named because well once upon a time it was exactly that. The building has been empty and slightly derelict for some time though and because of a partnership between Calgary Arts Development (CADA) and the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) this barren space has been turned into much-needed studio space.
Accepting tenants through an application process Seafood Market was up and running last October and is now populated by a potpourri of local artists. “There are artists from all disciplines but also from all generations: Some people have been working in Calgary for 30 years and others have just graduated from ACAD” explains Moschopedis.
Leaky roof aside the market’s benefits vastly outweigh its drawbacks. Artist space is hard to find in Calgary and this sort of opportunity provides some stability for creative work to flourish.
Matthew Mark Bourree is part of The Bakery a studio collective now working out of the Seafood Market after being booted (forgive the pun) from their previous home at Alberta Boot Factory.
“The facilities are great” says Bourree. “There’s access to running water good lighting common space couches a kitchenette refrigerator….”
In one way you can paint this as a bit of a fairy tale — arts organization teams with city to turn unused space into artistic sanctuary — artists from every part of the spectrum mingle and just do their thing.
Calgary is enriched by this artistic presence. But eventually a death knell will sound over the Seafood Market which is destined to be bulldozed to make way for condominiums.
But Moschopedis isn’t fazed.
“Everyone says ‘unfortunately’” says Moschopedis. “But I don’t particularly care. For me I’m interested in temporary spaces — that’s why we took this job.”
He believes it’s a good example of how the cultural community can work with the development community.
“My practise has always been open up spaces that are going to shut down. I think it’s a way of starting the fire. By opening a space you immediately set fire to it so that it can burn down and be nutrients for whatever happens next.” He pauses. “That’s a metaphor obviously I’m not suggesting that we burn stuff down.”
Bourree isn’t too concerned either pointing out that at least Seafood Market offers six-month leases whereas at the Alberta Boot Factory he was living month to month. And uncertainty can be a great motivator.
“You have to make art while you can — it’s a big incentive to be in your studio.”
This isn’t about pitting developers against artists. Quite the opposite.
Susan Veres CMLC marketing and communications manager is extremely positive about the project which she describes as “an incubator for artistic expression.”
The market is “critical to the story we are telling about the East Village” says Veres both in terms of its short-term artistic output and its enduring impact on the community.
Not only did more than 40 artists have a place to create art that Calgary may never have seen otherwise but the Seafood Market brings artists further into the conversation about future development. Veres says some developers are now posing questions to arts groups — what they like what they don’t like what will compel them to make a community their home base — and the answers could influence the design of future buildings and spaces. That means the future East Village could be one of the most artist-savvy places in Calgary.
“As a pilot project that’s what this was seeking to achieve: some stability for artists in terms of studio space” says Moschopedis. “There’s a real sense of community here which is what we’re looking for.”
