EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

WHAT IS BEND IN THE BOW? ART AT BEND IN THE BOW

Linked Open Space System

Bend in the Bow provides a long-term vision for The City of Calgary to develop 90 hectares of parks and public open space on the west bank of the Bow River in the community of Inglewood. These spaces include the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Inglewood Wildlands, Pearce Estate Park, and connecting green spaces between them known as The Corridor. The project will add environmental enhancements to incorporate this land into one continuous open space system with a primary purpose of balancing nature and culture and educating future stewards to inspire them to conserve the heritage of these parks for tomorrow’s generations.

Mawson Plan for Calgary, 1914, with Bend in the Bow on the right

In a process led by The City of Calgary Parks and including stakeholder and public engagement, Bend in the Bow has produced a Redevelopment Plan of which this Public Art Plan is an integral accompanying component. The Redevelopment Plan was crafted by a multidisciplinary team comprising consultants as well as staff from various City departments. Artists and Public Art staff have been an important part of the team who envisioned the plan and will continue to have roles in the development and programming of Bend in the Bow.

Bend in the Bow Vision

A series of parks that tell stories of the neighbourhood and the city — from Indigenous use and European settlement to the movement of the river and wildlife. These stories are revealed through nature, culture and education.

Vision for Art

Engaging and transformative art at Bend in the Bow operates on the land and its visitors to cultivate meaningful connections with the environment, support habitat-forming processes, and inspire and educate the public about the natural resilience and cultural significance of the place.

Public Art Plan Overview

The purpose of the Bend in the Bow Public Art Plan is to develop a framework which fosters the creation of innovative public art within the Bend in the Bow project and site. The plan will guide the development of new public artworks and experiences that speak to the vision, mission, and guiding principles of Bend in the Bow.

Bend in the Bow’s open spaces are abounding with fascinating systems and stories that can be translated into a meaningful visitor experience through the lens of public art. The Public Art Plan describes Art Opportunities as well as the values, goals, themes, systems, and stories that inspired them. More information about existing site conditions and plans for future development is available in the Context and Analysis section, documents referenced in the Bibliography, and the full Bend in the Bow Redevelopment Plan.

The site’s conditions have informed a framework for art to tell compelling stories about the site in various methods, media, scales and timelines. Art opportunities include integrated, functional, stand alone, and ephemeral works. Critical to the success of the art and Bend in the Bow as a whole is a philosophical position to support habitat-forming processes and be sensitive to the unique environment. Observing this, artworks will have a light touch structurally and use materials appropriate to their location.

Each art opportunity is described with details about its location, program, experience, stories, educational potential, conditions and constraints; as well as the collaborative process and artist qualifications envisioned for its development.

Art Concepts and Values

Different art projects will emphasize different aspects of Bend in the Bow’s core values of nature, culture and education, with most projects touching on all three. Together, the artworks will form a multi-faceted expression illuminating and illustrating how these values interact at Bend in the Bow. Other conceptual themes of the Public Art Plan include storytelling, exploration, experimentation, migration, wildness, wonder, augmented reality, and the sublime.

The values, stories, and systems identified in the plan should be considered as tools and inspiration, or philosophical touchstones, for the development of art, but not as limiting factors or prescriptive mandates. It is hoped that a range of artist approaches will expand the manifestation of each value, story, or system. As a whole, the artworks will create a layered experience that will gain even deeper nuance with the individual perceptive fields brought to them by viewers and participants as well as ongoing natural, cultural, and educational actions.

Mission of the Public Art Plan

Guide the programming, conceptualization and execution of artworks that enrich and diversify the public’s understanding and experience of Bend in the Bow’s core values of nature, culture, and education.

Create a legacy of art that is inspired by the site’s past heritage while acting to shape the future evolution of Bend in the Bow’s dynamic landscape.

Balancing art operating over long time frames to slowly restore ecological systems with art occurring over shorter time frames to raise awareness of the site’s transformational cycles.

Implementing the Art Plan

Artists will be commissioned to implement artworks either concurrently with other Bend in the Bow design and construction activities or on a different schedule, depending on the type of process necessary for creating the work. When appropriate, artists will be embedded on project teams and have collaborative and lead roles on the design of functional elements as outlined in this plan. To achieve the integrated, cross-disciplinary approach identified for many of the opportunities, it is recommended that the Public Art Program seek creative partnerships with other Bend in the Bow stakeholders to ensure the type of cross-pollination of ideas and opportunities that has characterized the planning process to date. Art opportunities for the Wildlands have been prioritized.