Meaghan Baxter

Walking around the city in an artsy way. Walk Stop wants you to look at your city in a different light.

All too often, the unique beauty and quirks of a city are lost in the everyday hustle and bustle, but Truck Contemporary Art in Calgary is bringing these unseen qualities to the forefront through ArTours — three interactive exhibitions that run until May 20.

Walk Stop, by local artist Tomas Jonsson presents walking as an artistic practice, rather than a simple mode of transportation. It’s presented by the Department of Public Walks, which is a part of the Ministry of Public Walks — a collaborative group of artists who began the practice in Halifax. Jonsson is one of the original contributors.

“Being lost isn’t so bad” is the philosophy of the experience. The walks can be as long or as short as the participants decide, but they are encouraged to stray from the beaten path. This sense of freedom and discovery makes you feel like a tourist in your own city.

“I’d like to try and get lost somehow, but I don’t think it’s possible,” says Jonsson during the first tour.

Each participant was given two minutes to lead the tour, which began on a meandering path through downtown’s colourful urban playground before winding across the swirling Bow River and into Bridgeland. Near the end of the tour, the route strayed from the concrete sidewalks and onto the spontaneously crafted trails leading down the north riverbank, transforming the walk into an urban hike.

The free-flowing nature of the walk allows participants to observe the city and create new perspectives on unnoticed, everyday scenes.

Jonsson says that through routine, citizens create borders for themselves within their environment, as well as a feeling of subjective comfort for the familiar areas they frequent.

“It’s rare to go outside of those, so you may have a very particular view of your environment because of that,” says Jonsson. “I always try to question where I feel comfortable; why don’t I feel comfortable in a space?”

He feels that it is more often the conception about a particular area rather than the environment itself that keeps people away. Places such as this are different for everyone and need to be physically and socially visited to see how they hold up to preconceived notions.

John Grznich, a participant on the tour, is a sound artist on a week-long visit from Estonia. He found inspiration for his work on the tour and hopes to revisit the city.

“It’s quite healthy. It’s vibrant,” says Grznich. “(I enjoyed) seeing a part of the city I’d never seen before. You start to understand the geography of it.”

In addition to Walk Stop, photographer Cat Schick presents Photo Walk. Schick searches for contrast and moments of beauty in the mundane to fuel her shots of urban landscapes. In keeping with the interactive theme of ArTours, she has expanded her exhibition to include photographs submitted by the public.

“I’m really excited to see other people’s perspectives on city landscapes and I’m hoping to engage them in a dialogue about photography and about urban living,” says Schick.

As part of her exhibition, Schick’s tour will explore the landscape of downtown Calgary and is meant to be an open-ended source of information and perspective, rather than a photography tutorial. She also hopes to gain feedback and new ideas from participants, as the majority of her work is solitary.

“I want to work in collaboration with people and build an experience,” says Schick, who hopes participants will leave with a new appreciation for the slices of beauty in their environments.

Schick’s photos are often driven by the various ways people leave their mark on their surroundings. “The way they express themselves and their identity, that’s what I find really inspiring,” she says.

As with Walk Stop, Photo Walk’s direction is largely dependent on the group and its engagement in the process.

Rounding out the exhibition is Sharon Stevens’s OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary. This display encourages Calgarians to come forward and record what they love most about their city. This can be done at any time during the exhibition.

“We just encourage people to come down and participate,” says Shick. “It’s not a passive exhibition; it’s an active one.”