Over the next two-and-a half years, the centre of Ottawa’s arts community will be undergoing an immense transformation and expansion. A new multi-media project featuring three local artists will be documenting and critically evaluating the revitalization of the Arts Court.
Centretown artists Jackson Couse, Meredith Snider, and Gatineau based Timothy I. Smith are the creative team behind the new Cultural Engineering project. Initiated and organized by SAW Video Media Arts Centre, the project is funded by the Canada Council for the arts.
Last year, city council approved a $100-million plan to redevelop the Arts Court building and expand the Ottawa Art Gallery. New theatre spaces will be added, as well as a multi-purpose tower featuring a hotel and condominiums. Construction on the project will be visible externally this summer, and anticipated to conclude early in 2017.
The name Cultural Engineering is a reference to a 1983 project that had the same name by Canadian media artist Tom Sherman, says SAW video director Penny McCann. It seemed natural to develop a way for local artists to react to construction occurring on their own facility, she says.
“It occurred to me that this was both a metaphor and a literal thing all at the same time,” says McCann “The city has a plan within culture and we’re part of it. We’re part of a whole literal physical engineering process and also guiding the cultural shape of the city.”
Local art curator Michael Davidge is co-ordinating the Cultural Engineering project. The venture is in its preliminary stages, says Davidge. The first issue was published online in February, with subsequent editions to be released quarterly.
Couse, a documentary photographer, has not yet participated in the venture, but will be focusing on integrating community members into the project this summer once construction is visible, he says.
He will put out an open call to the public to participate in a walking tour of the construction site as he collects photographs. Couse says he also hopes to set up a camera inside the site to broadcast the development online, and participate in a round table discussion with developers and city council members.
“I want to kind of bring understanding for people who don’t live there, who come into this part of the city to have another way of understanding the construction and what it means,” he says. “I think that’s up to people to make their own comments about what the construction means, but it’s that conversation that I really want to encourage.”
The opening issue featured a short time lapse of pedestrian flow outside of the Arts Court area, photographed by Smith. It also includes a video by Snider interviewing members of the community about their awareness of what the Arts Court is and their opinion on the slated redevelopment.
As both a spectator and an artist, Couse has been a member of the Arts Court community for over a decade. The building upgrade is an exciting venture to witness, he says.