Last night I had a dream…

Yesterday I attended a presentation by Kendal Henry, the public art curator behind the transitory art exhibition entitled “Dirt City, Dream City” being created for The Quarters this summer. Based out of New York, but involved in projects all over the world, Henry has been working to facilitate public art projects for 22 years. His presentation was rich with some of the most successful public art projects he’s encountered - many were well known and have been featured on the website Colossal.com, while others were unfamiliar to me, but no less inspiring.

For those of you who don’t know, “The Quarters” is the new name that’s being given to the Boyle street area in downtown Edmonton. In particular, it runs from 97 street to 92 street and between 103A ave to the top of the river valley. By rebranding the area and injecting millions of dollars into the project, the city hopes to revitalize the neighbourhood by opening up walking paths and parks, increasing commercial spaces, high and medium density housing and access to amenities like a community garden. The whole revitalization is scheduled to be completed in 15 -20 years. According to the scant information available, the general consensus is that the city has been doing their due diligence by consulting with members from the Boyle street community about their own vision and aspiration for the neighbourhood as the planning progresses.

Henry’s approach is to work collaboratively with the communities initiatives he facilitates. In addition, he defines public art as something that is site specific, rather than a work that exists or is simply placed in a space without thinking about the relationship between the work and the site. Henry also sees public art as a conversation. When he enters into dialogue with a community, he often asks the question “what do you want the art to do?” First he tries to get participants in his projects to think about how art can bring a community itself together, and then envision how the work can connect with people beyond that community so that ultimately each are able to experience spaces in new ways.

In Henry’s experience, the projects or initiatives that have been the most successful are those that instill pride in the community and that transform the perception of how a space is encountered. He claims that about 80% of public art is mediocre (admitting that he too has participated in mediocre public art projects) because they lack leadership, consultation, and collaboration with the community.

There are 15 artists involved in the temporary public art projects being created for The Quarters this summer. Selected from a pool of artists who applied through an open and public call for submissions that circulated in January, this project is being funded and spear-headed by the Edmonton Arts Council. According to Kristy Trinier, the Public Art Director for the Edmonton Arts Council, most of the artists are local (a couple are said to be from outside the city) and some of the artists have lived in the area. The majority of these artist/participants were present at the talk and at one point were invited to stand up. I couldn’t help but notice that they all appeared to be caucasian.

Now it may just have been my vantage point, and appearances can be deceiving, but in a neighbourhood as ethnically diverse as Boyle street I was somewhat surprised to see this. If the goal is to engage in making public art that reflects the people who live and belong to a particular community, it seems somewhat problematic that there were no people of Asian, Aboriginal, or African origin (considering 18% of residents there are of “East, South and Southeast Asian” descent, 8% are of Aboriginal descent, and 6% are of African descent). I’d be very happy to be wrong about this and to hear that there is some cultural diversity in the project (aside from Henry himself who stated that he is from the West Indies).

Trinier promises that “soon” profile pictures and bios for all the artists will be made public on the Edmonton Arts Council page, and I look forward to reading more about each participant and what their transitory art project will be. I also look forward to hearing more about the conversations that the “Dirt City, Dream City” project hopes to initiate - its very difficult to find much information about The Quarters generally and even more so about this particular initiative anywhere online. I think it has a lot of potential, but based on the Q & A period after the talk yesterday, I’m not the only one who is curious to know more. This Saturday afternoon there will be a preview of the projects in their current state on at the Artery and a chance to continue the conversation.

Last night I had a dream about the project and about the future of the arts in Edmonton. I envisioned a place where communities connected, where art was embraced and encouraged and existed in harmony with commercial enterprises. I awoke refreshed, optimistic and rejuvenated about the progress being made.

Public Art: DIY Field & the Talus Dome

I was reading through the current issue of Border Crossings and came across a short piece about Vancouver-based artist Germaine Koh’s recent public art project for Central Park in downtown Winnipeg. Entitled DIY Field, the work is mediated by viewer participation.

The project consists of 38 steel posts with a 5” diameter which rise up from the ground in a grid pattern, each with an 8” frosted acrylic tube containing blue, red and green LEDs. In addition, each post has 3 buttons that correspond to each LED, thereby allowing people passing through the park to change and combine the colours and illuminate the “field” as they choose. 8 possible colours can be created from the blue, red and green LEDs. “Additively…red plus green makes yellow; green plus blue makes cyan; and blue plus red make magenta…all of them added together make white and, finally, all the lights can also be turned off.”

Because the work exists in a public space (and as stipulated by the Winnipeg Arts Council Public Arts Program guidlines) , it was important to Koh that the work be user-friendly and playful for children as well as adults. As Koh describes in the Border Crossings piece, “I like that it is as inutitive as I hoped it would be. Every time I come along it’s quite different… This is the most crowd-pleasing work I have done in a long time and I’m happy with how it turned out.” (You can find some wonderful images of the project here.)

Beyond public engagement, DIY Field changes with the seasons and the time of day. In the winter, the lit posts will rise out of the snow covered field like beacons, reflecting their colours; and though visible in the day, in the evening the posts will glow and light the dark in brilliantly coloured patterns.

In reading about Koh’s work, I couldn’t help think about our own Talus Dome, which stands beside the newly renovated Quesnell bridge. Both projects were completed in the same year (2011) with similar aims of reflecting and interacting with the specific environmental conditions of their placement. Needless to say, Talus Dome, has been a lightning rod for controversy and not quite as well received as DIY Field.

For me the biggest distinctions lie in how Koh’s project invites viewers to interact with the work in a really dynamic way, and in the placement. Being able to alter the appearance of the work gives viewers to power to shape and respond to the work. Furthermore, its location in an accessible public space facilitates this engagement. The location of the Talus Dome is not accessible in the same way. On their website, The Edmonton Arts Council states that, while “visible from the road, the best way to experience Talus Dome is from the adjacent trail.” While this may be true, I’m not sure that the trails adjacent to the onramp of the Quesnell are not the most conveniently located for most people, unless they’re headed to Fort Edmonton Park (in which case they may still only be driving past). The subject of placement was addressed on this blog, which also contains some really great responses, including one from the Edmonton Arts Council.

As an avid runner, I’m looking forward to being able to run past the work in the summer, instead of just witnessing it from a moving vehicle.

I like that Edmonton is working to create new forms of public art and that this project has sparked some much needed discussion around what exactly that means.

Emergency call for artist assistant

Our friends over at Edmonton Arts Council’s public art office are looking for some last-minute help:

Please help!

We are in a last minute bind for one of our public art projects! An artist has designed a pattern to be painted on the interior acoustic panels for the newly renovated Hardisty Pool (opening late February/March), and we need the help of a craftsman to do a bit of work for us. Someone with basic production skills and an eye for detail.

Part A will be one full day of work transcribing stencils from a digital file to paper, here at the EAC offices.
Part B will be the assistance in applying/marking/taping the stencils. Part B will take approximately 3 hours / day, same start time during the day each day, for approx. 8 days (or roughly the last two weeks of January). This operation will take place in a industrial facility near the mill creek area, steel toed boots are required. Other safety gear will be provided (as well as all materials, tools,etc).

This work will be paid with a flat daily rate. If you’re interested or know anyone who may be, please contact me as soon as possible.

Thank you!

Dara Humniski
Public Art Program Officer
edmonton arts council
dhumniski@edmontonarts.ca p: 780.424.2787 ext.236
f: 780-425-7620