The Future of WRECK CITY

It’s been a while, but WRECK CITY is back! and we have some updates we’re finally ready to share:

1. Guess what? We’ve decided to become a collective! An iteration of the Curatorial Collective that planned and organized WRECK CITY: An Epilogue for 809 has officially decided to launch an ongoing exhibition series in abandoned, forgotten, alternative, and pre-demolition spaces. For our loose mandate, see here. (It’s rough, folks, but the intention is there!)

2. In case you didn’t notice, we haven’t been entirely dormant. Shortly after WRECK CITY proper, cSPACE invited us to take over the abandoned 1960s wing of a Calgary-school, which we agreed to do. That project became PHANTOM WING: a pre-demolition project at King Edward School (which we were too wary to claim as a WRECK CITY project at the time, but we’re delighted to acknowledge in retrospect).

Above Artists (left to right): Sarah Smalik, Sara Tilley, and Jamie Tea; Leslie + Chris Bell; Suzen Green and Yvonne Mullock; Alia Shahab, Ivan Ostapenko, Lane Shordee, and Antyx.

3. Recently, we’ve experimented with working as a collective of artists as well as curators – like, by building visually interesting things together and capitalizing on our significant shared skills. We designed a light + time device called CHRONOGRAPH for Luke’s General Store in Vancouver. There will eventually be more photographs of this on the internet, and a little bit about the sculpture’s relationship with gentrification and the swiftly changing scene in East Van (stay tuned!)

4.  In general, we’re working on a new FOR REAL website, but in the meantime…

5. We have a new project in the works! This time, in collaboration with Sled Island Music Festival. Which leads us to our Call for Spaces: essentially, we’re in the process of sleuthing an ideal venue (or venues) for a project somewhere between WRECK CITY and PHANTOM WING in scale. We’ve visited some fascinating back doors and underbellies of the city so far, but we haven’t been able to find quite the space for us – which really is the point of this post. We need public help – your help – because many pairs of eyes are better than 8-pairs (collectively). We’re asking for assistance in daydreaming a perfect, raw, accessible, and exciting venue – somewhere downtown or nearby. Interested in some detective work? Have any ideas? Keep reading, or download this PDF.

CALL FOR SPACES  | WRECK CITY 

ATTN: Land Owners, Developers, Architectural Firms, Property Managers, etc.

Local arts collective WRECK CITY seeks temporary access to vacant, abandoned, or pre-demolition inner city buildings for the purpose of instigating a public, contemporary art exhibition in an alternative context. WRECK CITY is an independent collective of eight Artist-Curators with ongoing experience organizing projects where artists, musicians, performers, and creative people are invited to build innovative, subversive and site-specific works in non-traditional spaces. Once finished, these projects are opened to the public at large, allowing viewers of all ages and diverse backgrounds to experience the transition. Previous projects have attracted over 13,000 viewers and include WRECK CITY: An Epilogue for 809 and PHANTOM WING: a pre-demolition project at King Edward School.

Ideal venues should be:

• One or more large buildings, or multiple smaller buildings (or houses) located within close proximity of downtown Calgary. Access to utilities like electricity, water, and heat is ideal, though not essential
• Occupiable by a community of Artists beginning in mid-April 2015 and ending in late June (timeline negotiable)
• Open to public viewership of the exhibition, scheduled to coincide with Sled Island Festival of Music & Art in mid-June 2015
• Flexible towards safe manipulations of the architecture by artist participants (ex. pulling up carpet, cutting holes in walls, etc.)
• Interested in an arms-reach relationship with WRECK CITY, Sled Island, and participants, allowing space for artworks that are sometimes challenging in nature

Limitations, guidelines, and other details will be discussed and established in collaboration with the space provider. The group that provides the selected venue will be publicly acknowledged as the Venue Sponsor of the project.

If you are interested in further information, or discussing the potential of a space, please e-mail the collective at wreckcitycalgary@gmail.com. References from previous Venue Sponsors (Bucci Developments and cSPACE) are available upon request.

DEADLINE FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: Friday, Feb. 27, 2015

To view related projects, see: www.wreckcityproject.wordpress.com www.phantomwing.wordpress.com

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