Most Calgarians and tourists think of Arts Commons as a performance arts centre, which is understandable as it is home to five performance spaces with 3,200 seats, but it is also a funky public art gallery. I expect very few people know Arts Commons thanks to RBC has a robust emerging visual artists program that includes three exhibition spaces – Ledge Gallery, Lightbox Studio and Window Galleries, as well as the Broadcast lab, +15 Soundscape and a couple of murals.

Yes, hidden along the hallways and lobbies of the complex’s main and second floors are rotating exhibitions that are open to the public if you are adventurous enough to wander down hallways “where no man (person) has ever gone before.” Link: Arts Commons Current Exhibitions

Angie Reese’s mural that is a favourite for children participating in Arts Commons Education Program.

Urban exploration, also known as “urbexing” or ” UE “, is the exploration of abandoned and derelict buildings and structures, in an urban environment. While Arts Commons is not abandoned or derelict, it is pretty much vacant during the day with just a few staff wandering the maze of nooks and crannies. If you get lost in my tour that follows, that is appropriate as I expect anyone trying to find all the art spaces will end up getting lost at some point.

A big thanks to Sanja Lukac, Arts Commons Visual & Media Arts Curator for touring me around the building so I didn’t have to do any urbexing. Kudos to Lukac and her team for their ambitious visual arts program, too bad so few know about it.

FYI: Sanja promised me a surprise on my tour which I have saved to the end of the blog.

Sanja Lukac, Arts Commons Visual & Media Arts Curator standing on the small stage in the lobby of Arts Commons.

Arts Commons 101

Arts Common complex was created after a failed civic referendum in the ‘70s that would have seen the development of huge 5-block civic centre where Arts Commons, Olympic Plaza and the Municipal Building are today. Eventually the City went ahead with a different one-block plan to create a major performing arts centre which opened in 1985. The plan integrates two heritage buildings the Public Building on the northwest corner and the Burns Building on the northeast corner with new development resulting in a complex labyrinth of spaces linked by hallways and stairs that frankly are not very public friendly or welcoming. Plans are underway for a mega makeover and expansion of the complex which will hopefully make it more inviting inside and out.

Lobby Mural & Window Gallery

Perhaps the most welcoming public entrance is mid-block on Stephen Avenue at Olympic Plaza where the Ticket Office and Cravings Café are located. In the lobby you will be immediately struck by the large mural by Daniel J Kirk of strange, magnified faces staring at you from the stairwell. with a second mural on the wall behind the stairwell.

If you proceed around the back of the stairs you will find another Kirk mural and a large window into the ARTS Learning Centre a classroom for hands-on opportunities to learn about the arts. Proceed around the corner you will eventually find yourself in the lobby of the Max Bell Theatre where there are seven window galleries currently featuring the work of four emerging artists - Kenzie Housego (Online Intimacy, dating rituals), Kathryn Kozody (Monroe et al. famous people portraits) , FLOZ aka Trey Madsen (The Generation Who Did Nothing, drawings integrating “everyday material”) and Zachary Cardinal (Space Eggs, blown glass).

FYI: All of the exhibitions are curated by Sanja in association with various partnerships and rotate three times a year. Link: Annual call for submissions deadline is April 10th.

Stairway to +15

After viewing the Window Galleries, retrace your steps back to the lobby and venture up the stairs. Be sure to stop on the landing halfway up and look out to Olympic Plaza, then look down and you will experience what it is like to be standing on stage with the audience (aka Kirk’s people) looking at you. Go up to the top of the stairs and look down and you get the feeling you are sitting in the seats of a theatre/concert hall.

Also at the top of the stairs is a glass box studio aka Ledge Gallery where rotating resident visual artists create and display their work. If the artist is there, you are welcome to chat with them and learn more about their work and the ideas behind it. The current exhibition is “Survivance” by Dr. Karlee Fellner a mixed-media artist integrating materials and ideas from her Cree/Metis cultures.

You are now at the +15 or second floor level. Turn right and walk down the hall and soon you will begin to hear some soft sounds which is part of an ongoing experiential art program called +15 Soundscape. On the wall are two HUGE words “THIS” and “THAT” inviting you ponder their meaning. If you look closely the letters are a collage of images on a rough plastic. Sanja told me if you scratch the signage/artwork you can make your own soundscape (kinda like scraping a blackboard but not as irritating).

FYI: I told her they need signage telling people it is OK to scratch the art with your fingernails (not real nails) if that is supposed to be part of the interactive experience. I also suggested some chairs to invite people to sit and listen given it is an experiential piece.

RBC Emerging Visual Arts Program

Continue down the hall and you will come to the +15 Galleries with eight large window spaces (the size of ‘50s retail store window) that have rotating art installations of more emerging artists. In this case Arts Commons has partnered with the Immigrant Council for Art Innovation (ICAI) to support their Immigrant Arts Mentorship Program to help new immigrant artists and arts and culture workers with exhibition and professional development opportunities.

The current exhibition titled “I Speak Art II” includes Yu Chen, Chinese artists, Kyung Eun Heo (Kay), South Korean writer, Hanieh Jalali (Honey) from Iran, Diane Din Ebongue, Cameroon-born, French raised, interdisciplinary artists and art manager and Lia Pereira, a storyteller, writer from Brazil. There is also a video component featuring the work of Hesam Ohadi, Margaita Rebetskaya, Mario Obeid and Zarifa Rajha.

FYI: There are QR codes everywhere that will provide you with more information on the art and artists.

Lightbox Studio

Good luck finding your way back to the ground floor. You could just retrace your steps or live dangerously and wander the abandon halls to find the stairs or an elevator to get down. Once back on the ground level, make your way back to the Martha Cohen Theatre lobby entrance but this time wander west (you might have to use your compass on your phone) to find the Lightbox Studio where artists are allowed to exhibit work in progress and the public is invited to come back again and again to see how the work is evolving and if the artist is there chat with her, him or they.

The current artist-in-residence is KC Bae, creates small (large postcards) edible portraits using cookie dough as the canvas. The title of their work is “Perishable” and the art revolves around the statement, “all art is perishable – Nothing last forever.”

KC is a very friendly, if you want to know more about the art and how “everything” is perishable, you should drop by. They will not only offer you a refreshment but engage you in a thought-provoking debate about our “perishable” lives.

Broadcast Lab

The most hidden Arts Commons visual art experience is a TV screen mounting almost at the ceiling just east of the Lightbox Studio (look right as you exit).

The TV is currently showing three short videos (I was told a few minutes each, but there is no way for the public to know that) – “Jam Space” by David Fyfe, “Disguise the Limit,” by manyeyescity and “Discipline de Maor,” by Wilmer Aburto.

There is audio but it is hard to hear as the hallway and lobby is very noisy.

Unfortunately to view the work most people stand in the middle of the hallway blocking everyone’s way or moving on when they realize they are in the way.

It would seem logical to have a few chairs off to the side of the hallway to invite people to sit and watch the videos or perhaps a better location.

Where’s The Map

Unfortunately, there is no map of the exhibition spaces and no signage inviting you to explore the building which means the art rarely get seen. It is almost as if they don’t want you to see the art.

During the day most people just walk by the Arts Commons complex perhaps stopping to admire the columns of the Public Building, the Famous Five sculpture and the ornamentation of the façade of the Burns Building, never realizing there is an art gallery inside.

What a shame to have this huge one-block complex sit idle all day. Surely there could be a sandwich board on Stephen Avenue Walk outside the entrance inviting people to come inside and enjoy the art. Perhaps even a brochure with a map of where the art galleries are and what you can see.

Last Word

Today, only those who are into urbexing will find the “ART” at ARTs Commons, which is very unfortunate. Perhaps that will change in the near future.

To my surprise, KC Bae had a portrait of me in his window exhibition which he gave to me to take home. But in the spirit of being “perishable” I had to promise to break it, eat it or in some way not treat it as precious. Ironically and organically the portrait broke just below my eyes in my backpack as I road home, so I didn’t have to do anything.

Learn more about downtown Calgary’s hidden gems:

Downtown Calgary: Public Art Hidden Gems

Calgary: Downtown living is cooler than you think!

Calgary Postcards: Sculptures & Statues

Calgary Hidden Gems: Urbexing ARTs Commons To Find The “ART”