Story
With funding from an Arts Partners in Creative Development grant of $57,000, the I.E. Artspeak Gallery Society commissioned Canadian visual artist Althea Thauberger to create a site-specific work in collaboration with community members in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. The result, Carrall Street, presented in September 2008, was a process-oriented project that culminated in a performance, forum and publication. Thauberger was able to probe vital questions and stories important to those living in the neighbourhood, and examined how creativity enhances or complicates the way a person or group finds their place in a community. Stories included personal histories gathered from, and enacted by, local residents. A cross-section of community members including artists, addicts, homeless people, social workers, politicians and developers took part in the process. With the street as a stage, the interweaving and spontaneous interactions between organized performers, audience and random people formed an integral part of the final performance. A publication resulting from the process will be released in 2009.
