FoSA

We propose that YYC/LRT, a public artwork created by Bryan Faubert, can act as a space for face-to-face communication and joint decision making to occur for the development of the Future Stephen Avenue project/s – through the arts.

Created for Faubert’s MFA thesis project, YYC/LRT is a community studio for learning and play through the arts. It is now the oldest surviving LRT car in existence in the city. Faubert acquired it in 2019 when the City of Calgary was deaccessioning old cars. He articulated its surface, window and conductor spaces using a combination of spray paint, torch cutting and welded steel rod that use his personal street art vocabulary to express themes of community and connection. Further, by installing high intensity lights inside the car, at night the space around it is “painted” by an elegant network of shadow play. The interior has been refurbished to provide a community studio space.

Located at the corner of 8^th Ave and 10^th St SW, YYC/LRT’s role within the Future of Stephen Avenue project is to activate the space, bringing interesting and meaningful activity to the Downtown West through arts workshops, lectures, performances and celebrations. Look at our calendar to find out what’s happening at YYC/LRT. Have an idea for a workshop? Want a space to perform? Celebrate? Fill in the project proposal form and we’ll contact you!

More about the Future of Stephen Avenue project:

Contemporary Calgary

Contemporary Calgary “believe[s] in the power of art to transform the places and lives we live” (Contemporary Calgary, n.d.). It seeks to support the Downtown West in establishing the vibrancy it desires (City of Calgary, n.d., Sadeghpour, 2021).

Building on the understanding of contemporary art as participatory practice, and conceiving contemporary artists as intrinsic to development work, is a novel concept. Contemporary art can contribute to the evolution of a community, can form a focus for community identity and voice. The goal of participatory practice is to bring art out of the white cube of the gallery space to engage in the lives of the people in the communities surrounding it.

Through this project, YYC/LRT will provide new knowledge about the contributions to urban planning and development that can be made by art museums when they engage with their communities through community-based art. It will explore how an art museum can play an active role in community planning and development.

More about Contemporary Calgary