Tag Archives: demolition

Wreck City: I purchased a hot dog, dressed with mustard and relish, at 805.

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By donation…in house 805, I was served a hot dog.  Check out the menu!  I loved the atmosphere here…loved the menu. Thanks to artist, Jeremy Pavka. Somewhere around 2000 people attended opening night and I really treasured the positive and engaging conversations that I shared along the way.

Magic is created in house 805 by artists, Andrew Rodrigues, Janet Mader & Cimmeron Meyer, Jeremy Pavka, Kelsey Fraser, Mackenzie Boyle, Nate McLeod and Randy Niessen.

Biographical info on Artist-Curator, Matthew Mark Bourree  is directly from the Wreck City blog site.

“MATTHEW Mark Bourree  is a recent Graduate from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Alberta. While attending ACAD, Matthew participated in the exchange program with Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science in New York. Since graduating, Matthew has launched MMJT contemporary furniture with Jeremy Pavka, co-founded studio collective “The Bakery” and local art periodical “Fresh Bread” with Nate McLeod, and opened Haight Gallery, where he has curated over twenty shows and brokered art sales for emerging artists in Calgary. Matthew and his collaborative partner Sarah Malik were recently awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts for a kinetic public sculpture. In 2013, he finished a residency at the Banff Center on partial scholarship and was awarded a Calgary 2012 grant to continue his ongoing endeavors with Haight Gallery.”

and artists

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Ok…so I’ve been asked, “What is Wreck City?”

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An answer…

This, directly from the brochure that seems to be circulating around and a comprehensive website that’s been an ongoing site for updates, from the concept’s inception.

P1100652 P1100653 P1100654 P1100655Wreck City: An Epilogue for 809 is a community-based art experiment transforming 9 houses, 3 garages and a greenhouse scheduled for demolition into temporary art, installation and performance spaces.  The biggest project of its type in the history of Calgary (perhaps even all of Canada), eight artist-curators have invited 100 plus artists, musicians and performers to participate.  Artist participants will be free to radically alter the architecture of entire houses, re-shaping the homes using materials from the houses themselves, without need for repair at the end of the project.  This newly formed community of artists intends to produce a neighbourhood of magical and critically-engaging spaces, made possible only by the freedom of working inside houses soon to be destroyed.

Instigated as an epilogue for 809 Gallery, one of Calgary’s influential garage galleries (scheduled for demolition with the rest of the homes), Wreck City is a swan song for the history of the neighbourhood, a playful comment on Calgary’s demolition addiction and an opportunity to cultivate a new community of artists amidst the rubble of an entire block of houses.  Wreck City will be open to the public from April 19, 27, 2012.  It is located between 621 and 823 5th Ave. NW.

Excellent publicity has been coming out about the project…a well written piece by Julia Williams appeared in Avenue Magazine.