public art & short film (project in progress)
This project is a public art commission with the City of Calgary. I have been commissioned to design a bike rack as a form of public art at the Saddletowne Train Station in NE Calgary. This project is part of the NE Public Art Project. To accompany the art, I am creating a short film that documents the process and delves into the concept of liminality in the immigrant experience.
More info on the NE public art project can be found here.
concept
My concept explores the idea of liminal space in the context of both the site and the cultural reality of the immigrant experience. liminal space is this transitionary space between two points. it’s this understanding about the ‘between’, the simultaneity of the here and there, of past/present/future all interwoven, of the space of passage from one realm into another. in a sense, we as humans exist as a liminal space between the spiritual and physical realms.
In terms of the physical space, train stations are by nature liminal. They are places of transition that exist between our starting point and destination.
Culturally, for me, this liminal space represents the evolution of being Indo-Canadian, of both places but not only one, of this continuous evolution. It also represents the Canadian experience: a society of superimposed realities all merging but different. This understanding of the land the and cultures that came before and what will exist in the future.
Additionally, in a more literal sense, a bike rack can also be seen as a liminal point. a place along your journey to pause and park your bike.
approach
Liminality is often described as feeling unfamiliar yet nostalgic. I wanted to abstract elements of my background as a Punjabi Canadian and use these elements in a more modern sense in an attempt to create something contemporary and new, yet nostalgic.
