Street Level Art

By / Food / May 8th, 2013 / 2

Calgary has many beautiful things to offer visitors and residents alike. One is the Esker Foundation. According to its website, Esker is “a cultural platform for innovative and exceptional temporary art exhibitions and educational events”. It is the largest, privately-funded non-commercial gallery in Calgary. It is also a prime showcase of contemporary art. This month, the Esker Foundation is launching a new street level Project Space.

The Project Space is a vital alternative exhibition venue of the Esker Foundation that aims to engage the community by increasing the presence and accessibility of contemporary art at street level. The Project Space invites emerging and established artists to develop new two- or three-dimensional work for display. Located on 9th Ave, in the windows just east of the main entrance of the Atlantic Avenue Art Block, the Project Space endeavours to present challenging, responsive projects that directly address the neighbourhood and explore important contemporary issues.

To celebrate the new street level Project Space, Esker Foundation has commissioned David Hoffos to produce a site-specific 2-channel video and mixed media installation called Follower. David Hoffos borrows inspiration from a range of cultural phenomena including stage magic, theme parks, genre movies, and self-help books. From a mixed bag of found and invented technologies, the artist conjures an eerie world of illusion while simultaneously exposing its artifice. Much of Hoffos’s installation work presents a blend of sculptural diorama and do-it-yourself cinema. Although his uncanny effects often provoke a sense of wonder – or even terror – in the viewer, his true subjects are the collective modern conditions of melancholy and anxiety.

Follower will be visible during the day, but optimized for after-dark viewing. Learn more about David Hoffos and his installation here: www.eskerfoundation.com.

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Looking at the small things that make life great and the people who create them.

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