Re-imagining the Public Green: Social Practice in Parks

Alternative Presentation Proposal
Marie Lopes  

In 2011, The Vancouver Park Board began transforming former caretakers’ suites in parks across the city into free studio space for artists working with community-engaged and social practices. In exchange for 350 hours annually of creative work in and with the community – from dog walkers, children on jungle gyms, and picnickers, to runners and beachcombers – artists retain rent-free studio space in parks for 3 years. Their presence cracks open the daily life of art in places traditionally associated with access to nature and leisure. Their work - sound walks and mapping projects, impromptu film screenings, incongruous concerts, invasive species weaving, neighbourhood collaborative embroidery, curated cooking and eating - sits firmly at the juncture between art and daily life, replete with rupture and generosity. This presentation will begin with a short project overview and then we will head out on foot to visit the EartHand Gleaners in Trillium Park for an in situ discussion with artist Sharon Kallis.