Calgary Arts Development invites Calgarians to reconnect to the Bow River
MEDIA RELEASE
August 12, 2024
For immediate release
(Calgary AB) – Calgary Arts Development is excited to remount a popular public art project that was originally launched 10 years ago. Reconnecting to the Bow is a response to an earlier artwork in the City of Calgary Public Art Collection created by Broken City Lab in July 2014 during the collective’s residency in the City of Calgary’s Watershed+ public art program. Now, a decade later, Broken City Lab is responding to this work and considering the many changes that have taken place over the last decade regarding the significance of the river in our community.
“This has been an interesting summer when it comes to water,” says Calgary Arts Development President & CEO Patti Pon. “Although we’ve been dealing with water main breaks and restrictions, Calgarians have still been able to enjoy the Bow with record numbers of people swimming, splashing and floating down the river. Now, a simple phone call allows Calgarians to experience the sounds the Bow River has been making for thousands of years as it flows through the city—a powerful reminder of the role it plays as a central character in our past, present and future. Anyone can call the number while relaxing at home, while waiting for the bus, or from out of town when they’re missing Calgary.“
From August 12th until the end of December, the public is invited to phone 1.855.BOW.LSTN (1.855.269.5786) to hear the Bow’s rushing, gurgling and babbling voice on the other end of the line.
Reconnecting to the Bow brings playful, provocative and meaningful art experiences to the daily lives of Calgarians. Eight playful artworks will be displayed on posters, billboards, transit station digital screens and on social media platforms inviting Calgarians to call the Bow and listen to recordings of its various sounds. The recordings will change throughout the project so people may hear different sounds at different times.
By revisiting a temporary time-based public artwork, this project serves as an opportunity to activate Calgary’s public art collection and weaves this artwork into the fabric of the city and the daily lives of Calgarians. Ten years after this unique Public Art project gave us a chance to call and listen to the Bow River, Calgarians can dial a new phone number for a new opportunity to reflect on their relationship with the river and its significance. This new artwork, Reconnecting to the Bow, will also be part of the Public Art Collection.
About the Artists
Hiba Abdallah, Joshua Babcock and Justin Langlois are the artists from Broken City Lab that participated in Watershed+ in 2014 and created the Varying Proximities artwork. They were invited to revisit the project for its 10th anniversary. More information about Broken City Lab and these artists can be found here.
Artist Statement
“Hello. One moment as I connect you to the Bow River.”
In 2014, we created an artwork that aimed to connect Calgarians to the Bow River. With a simple greeting, callers were transported to the river’s edge and experienced the Bow’s rushing, gurgling, and babbling voice on the other end of the line. Anyone could call and connect to the Bow, experiencing its wisdom, its secrets, its songs, creating a unique opportunity to explore proximity and access as fundamental components of our relationship to the Bow River.
We want to capture this relationship once more, with added nuance and complexity in how we think about our relationship with the Bow a decade later. The Bow is not static, it is constantly in motion and shifting its flow, strength and sound depending on where you meet it. We highlight this characteristic with a multi-site re-recording of the Bow River by James Clemens-Seely, who is a sound specialist. These are long field recordings of the river that capture the variation of the Bow, changing throughout the run of the project.
Another update will be to the phone number. The original number highlighted a proprietary and commercial relationship with the river (‘our’). In this version of the work, we shift the context of the phone number to give the authority back to the Bow. For example, choosing a local number that centers the Bow River as a beacon of knowledge and understanding.
With eight newly designed advertisements that act as the relaunch frame for the artwork, we will use billboard space, and street level ads throughout the city as well as online platforms such as Facebook and Instagram as targeted ads for Calgarians to call in and re-connect to the Bow. equitable free expression, and promoting Canadian poets and poetry.
About Calgary Arts Development
As the city’s designated arts development authority, Calgary Arts Development supports and strengthens the arts to benefit all Calgarians. We invest and allocate municipal funding for the arts provided by The City of Calgary and leverage these funds to provide additional resources to the arts sector. Our programs support hundreds of arts organizations, individual artists, artist collectives, and ad hoc groups in Calgary.
calgaryartsdevelopment.com
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Further Information
Helen Moore-Parkhouse
Director, Communications, Calgary Arts Development
Phone: (office) 403.264.5330 ext. 102; (mobile) 587.227.0150
Email: helen.moore-parkhouse@calgaryartsdevelopment.com
