Summer at Arts Commons
Exhibitions explore Canadian heritage, multiculturalism, identity, and celebration
- Location: Arts Commons 205 8th Ave. SE
- Price: Free
If you find yourself near Arts Commons, trust us when we say a seasonal exploration is worthwhile. And with a new season of visual and media arts to check out, you’re sure to find a few surprises.
Nearly as Close as Oneself
June 1 – July 31, 2017
Stride Gallery’s +15 Window
A brief intersection of Megan Fen and Nicole Haywood’s parallel research into the aesthetics of a museological diorama, this exhibition straddles a line between incredibly close and impossibly distant. Nearly as Close as Oneself is curated by chloe frost—a Calgary based interdisciplinary artist, emerging writer, current intern at Stride Gallery, and student at Alberta College of Art + Design. This is her first experience in curating an exhibition.
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no-fluke/no-feed/no-swim/no-play/no-fun
June 5 – July 31, 2017
Untitled Art Society’s +15 Window
Referencing kinetic department store window displays, Anna Eyler and Nicolas Lapointe’s no-fluke/no-feed/no-swim/no-play/no-fun employs the materials and techniques of advertising to reflect on the role of technology in contemporary culture.
uascalgary.org
The Land Persists
June 5 – August 25, 2017
Lightbox Studio, Arts Commons (beside Martha Cohen Theatre)
During Jake Klein-Waller’s three-month project, he will recreate historical objects from European settlement in Canada while simultaneously representing himself as a romanticized fictional character from the era, the cowboy, building tools only to have them crumble.
artscommons.ca
Put the “Her” in Heritage
June 5 – August 28, 2017
Window Galleries, Arts Commons (beside Max Bell Theatre)
Celebrating the stories of women in this exhibition for Canada’s 150, exhibiting works includes Hannah Doerksen’s The Forgotten Years, Nicole Kelly Westman and Areum Kim’s maybe we’re drawn to water because of the rhythm or maybe because it’s what we’re made of, and sisters Brittney and Richelle Bear Hat’s conversation CAMP.
artscommons.ca
iitahwáákomímmotsiiyo’p: what makes us love each other
June 5 – August 28, 2017
The Ledge Gallery at Arts Commons (+15 level overlooking Centre Court)
This special installation and artist residency from prolific Canadian artist Terrance Houle explores indigenous love through family, story, connections, and history. Consisting of installation, performance actions, audio, video, and music to evoke the theme, the project is influenced by Houle’s father (Ojibway) and mother’s (Blackfoot) relationship and love, who are both third-generation residential school attendees and met in 1973 in Calgary.
artscommons.ca
Walking to Save On, Lucidity, and Rainbow Fisher
June 5 – August 28, 2017
On the Arts Commons three video monitors
Arts Commons Broadcast Lab (formerly Gallery of Alberta Media Arts) presents three new short films this season—Walking to Save On, Lucidity, and Rainbow Fisher by media artists Jean-Pierre Marchant, Michael Janke, and Susan Clarahan.
artscommons.ca
TWIST (Factory of Kisses and Doves)
June 6 – July 31, 2017
TRUCK Contemporary Art’s +15 Window
A series of exercises that explore the difference between a deductive structure and a non-deductive structure—Leigh Tennant’s TWIST is the first in a series of attempts to build a deductive structure in three-dimensional space.
truck.ca
Morose Code
July 3 – August 31, 2017
+15 Soundscape, Arts Commons
A journey through time and space, Kerry Maguire’s Morose Code allows passersby to experience multilayered radio waves as they move away from earth into the infinite vacuum of space. Presented through the +15 Soundscape—a unique multichannel sound system that provides sound art opportunities to local and national sound artists—swing by and have a listen to the collaged historical radio broadcasts, music, interference, and human presence.
+15 Window Galleries Closing Reception
July 20, 2017, 6:00 – 7:00pm
+15, Arts Commons
Celebrate each of the exhibits hosted in the +15 at this closing reception. Artists will be on hand to speak about their work and everyone is invited to head to the Palomino (109 7th Ave. SW) for drinks afterwards (save 15% off your bill by showing a card from one of the exhibitions). Admission is free and all are welcome.
song for the end of the world
July 31 — September 29, 2017
The New Gallery’s +15 Window
Calgary-based artists Mat Lindenberg and Jadda Tsui both usually make art that is purely digital, so this exhibition is a weird new thing for them. Their collaborative work investigates the functions and places of systems through simulation and narrative.
thenewgallery.org
Bad Moments – Forever
August 5 – September 29, 2017
Stride Gallery’s +15 Window
Catch the final instalment in a series of works under the moniker of bad moments created by Calgary-based artist Conrad Marion. Utilizing the same materials in different configurations, it looks at crumbling relationships, the loss and redefining of identity, and the romantic self-image examined through a heavily nostalgic slow dance at your high school prom.
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New Balance #1
August 5 – September 30, 2017
Untitled Art Society’s +15 Window
A backlit, macro image, Meghan Price’s New Balance #1 is a site-specific photographic work that depicts vibrant yet grimy layers of high tech textiles, foams and rubbers. Price’s multidisciplinary practice figures relationships between human time and geological time, human-made materials and the Earth’s.
uascalgary.org
Happenings #9
August 18, 2017, 6:00 – 9:00pm
Arts Commons, Mezzanine Level of Centre Court (above Ca’Puccini)
Celebrate all the great creations at the next Happenings—an art party that is free and open to all ages. Head to Arts Commons for a Friday night of hands-on activities, live performances, and so much more. The theme this go around is Canadian heritage, multiculturalism, identity, and celebration.
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Ongoing Exhibitions
Caverns of Sound
Until June 30, 2017
+15 Soundscape, Arts Commons
A unique soundscape by media artist Aidan Lytton, Caverns of Sound explores an otherworldly cave environment. Part meditation, part atmospheric journey, the piece is a mysterious and playful multi-layered soundscape that transports you deep underground.
artscommons.ca
