Category: Uncategorized
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Play It By Ear
Play It By Ear is an interactive sound sculpture inviting a neighbourhood to talk to itself. 13 brightly coloured telephone pillars are placed throughout Butler Memorial Park in Edmonton/Treaty 6. Each pair of colour-coded telephones is connected by looping ‘landlines’ curling underfoot. Park visitors can pick up any telephone and a matching phone will ring…
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Home Phone Windows & Play for All Ages
Play It By Ear is a play structure for all ages. What does play look like to different ages? How do seniors play? What does it mean to participate indirectly in an interactive artwork? In this blog post, we’ll talk about the origins of the imagery for the round “Home Phone” windows, intergenerational play, and…
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Fabrication & Installation
When it came time to fabricate and install the artwork, almost every element had to be carefully considered, hand-crafted, and planned specifically for Play It By Ear. From aluminum fabrication, to electronics, to automotive painting, to underfoot details, this blog describes the fabrication and installation of Play It By Ear.
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Design Process
Developing a new artwork capable of surviving a long-term installation in an outdoor winter city is challenging at the best of times, but we just happened to begin designing Play It By Ear at the beginning of a global pandemic. While COVID delayed the project significantly, it also allowed more time for research and development.…
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The Artwork
Play It By Ear is an interactive sound sculpture inviting a neighbourhood to talk to itself. 13 short-distance telephones connect people across Butler Memorial Park in Edmonton/Amiskwaciwâskahikan. How do we connect with people far away? How do we “tune-in” to someone else’s world? How can we learn to hear and understand each other more clearly?…
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Why Telephones?
There is a huge cell tower next to the park beside a historic AGT building. My Grandmother was a Switchboard Operator in the 1950s in Edmonton, and I immediately thought of her experience talking over vast distances. We wanted to design an artwork that would encourage people in the park to get to know their…
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Observations
Our concept was inspired by visiting the park, observing how it’s used, considering its location and history, and thinking about what playful objects might offer to visitors of all ages. Our main observations about the park can be divided into four categories: between the between, play for all ages, object catalysts, and the deep domestic.
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Origins
In early 2020, we applied to the Edmonton Arts Council to make a new artwork for Butler Memorial Park in Edmonton/ Amiskwacîwâskahikan. “The vision for public art in this park is discoverable, playful, and even playable artwork. The artwork should engage people of diverse ages and backgrounds as they wait for transit or visit the…
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Artists
We’re Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett, and we join this project from Edmonton’s sister city in Calgary/Mohkinstsis. We’re no strangers to Edmonton – Wayne went to the University of Alberta for a few years, played in an Edmonton based band, and worked at a local bike shop. Caitlind’s sister lives in Edmonton with her…
Play It By Ear 