>>PREVIEW
PILGRIMAGE FOR CALGARY
Runs until November 11
The New Gallery
Does a place reflect the people who live in it? Angela Dorrer’s art installation at The New Gallery, Pilgrimage for Calgary, is not an answer that will sit comfortably with the "rah-rah, go-team-go" atmosphere of the New Calgary.
Gallery installations are typically problematic in how the casual observer approaches and tries to understand the purpose of most contemporary art installation pieces. They typically are incorporated within the space of the gallery, utilizing common artifacts in a way meant to convey subtle or not-so-subtle metaphors and observations. For most people, it is an intimidating experience that leaves them asking, "Well, that is a snow fence, and over there are some traffic pylons and hanging from the ceiling are some clothes. Does that mean it’s art?"
Sigrid Mahr, programming director at The New Gallery says, "Reaction to the installation has been mixed. People have been curious about how a visitor to Calgary would see the city. They are anxious, but also pleased to see what she sees."
Constructed to imitate a tourist bureau, Pilgrimage for Calgary involves many layers of meaning and interpretation while composed of many elements. There is a slide show of photos of the constant construction going on in the Calgary core interspersed with traffic and regulation signs. On one wall is a map of Calgary’s grid system of streets and avenues, on the opposing wall, a collection of survey questions filled in by participants about what Calgary means to them. In the centre of the installation, empty suits and hard helmets are littered behind a snow fence, traffic pylons and a surveyor’s desk, all the fetishes of our very busy corporate boomtown.
At first glance, Dorrer’s impression of Calgary is one of obsession with control, construction and order. "The city is planned very rigidly," says Mahr. "I think sometimes that we can get caught up in the speed of the city and forget to comment on how we feel about that. Calgary is still small, but going through a transition right now."
The most interesting parts of the Pilgrimage for Calgary involve the participation of the audience. On the wall featuring, in felt marker, the downtown Calgary street system, people are invited to fill in little post-it notes with something revealing or fun about themselves and the city they live in. There are notes that say things like, "I was born here," "I lived in a cool apartment here with my best friend," "I jumped off of my bike here and it really hurt." It is the human part of any city and it is in direct contradiction to the questionnaires that are written on the opposite wall of the installation.
A recurring theme is the question, "What does Calgary lack?" Almost universally, the answer was "a lack of community or cohesion or culture." "The reason why I think that is," says Mahr, "is that I believe Calgarians are obsessed with rules and order. It is reflected in the way the city was even designed. We are not integrating as a community, and that is why I believe art is so great – it is a way of bridging that distance between people, to share their thoughts and impressions of what community can mean in Calgary."
Pilgramage for Calgary, while being a stationary art installation, will also become an actual pilgrimage throughout Calgary on Sunday, October 29, starting at 5 p.m. The free walking tour starts at The New Gallery, will last for two hours, with pilgrim’s kits available to the participants. It is taking the installation outside to the inspiration for the piece, the city of Calgary itself, for people to look on their hometown with new eyes, just as they look at their home through Angela Dorrer’s art. |
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