Reconnecting to the Bow

Text on a background of water reads Twisting, Shaping, Cooling, Foaming, Rumbling, Dripping, Guiding

Reconnecting to the Bow

Reconnecting to the Bow is a new public artwork by the artist collective Broken City Lab (Hiba Abdallah, Joshua Babcock and Justin Langlois) that invites Calgarians to connect to the Bow River. Running until the beginning of January 2025, 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.   

Several text-based artworks enticing people to listen to the Bow will appear throughout the city on billboards, at transit stations and on social media platforms. In addition to broadcasting the phone number, these artworks suggest different feelings or intentions the river may wish to share.   

This project 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. 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.

Learn more about the project here.

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