Devlog Two: Collaboration and Brainstorming

Last updated on Sep 25, 2019 3 min read

The following post was written by Ayda Loewen-Clarke. Together, Ayda and I are collaborating on a digital public history project foccused on the streets of Ottawa. The exact form of the project is still under development, but through this series of devlogs we will outline our journey in creating whatever it is we are making right now! Follow along with the “excitement, chaos, delight, frustration, and messiness” of our creative journey through these devlogs.

Here is Ayda’s first devlog on our project:

What we want to do

a visual art GPS exhibit OR augmented reality place-based art exhibit

associate each street with a piece of artwork that visually tells the story of or offers an alternative to a street name. When someone submits a route for places in the city, the streets that are a part of that route & their associated artworks become a personalized curated visual art exhibit they can experience as they walk their chosen route.

(all cred to Marissa for this very cool jumping off point for our project)

AR option: the street sign itself triggers an artwork to pop up on a device’s screen

Goals

offer to people who are exploring the streets of Ottawa

this will involve: + a visual counter-narrative to Ottawa’s history as it’s presented in street names (often white, male, colonial) + a different way to experience the streets as you’re walking through them + an alternative way to identify and historicize the streets than the names

Potential geographic focus

ByWard Market - street names in the Byward Market include William, George, Cumberland, St. Partick, York, Daly, Stewart, Murray…

potential theme in the Bywayd Market: bringing feminine aesthetics to a historically (and presently) male-dominated space

fun fact: if you search “Byward Market” in the National Gallery’s online collection, ten results come up. All of the artworks are by men.

Components

  • artworks sourced from open collections? created by us? public call for artwork? a combination of all three?

  • map google maps code – GitHub (range queries, point A to point b)

  • geotagging

  • think Echoes but with visual images

  • QGIS plugin?

  • augmented reality?

  • capacity for participation/submissions by other people

Interface options

  • app/mobile-friendly site (designed to be used outside, on the streets, as you move through them)
  • website (designed to be used at home, in the ‘planning’ phase of a trip – hopefully sparking reflection later on when they are in the place in question
  • ebook or zine developed alongside the exhibit – think of it as an exhibition text

Concerns

  • what are the rights of use of images in, for example, the National Gallery of Canada?
  • ethics of appropriating another artist’s work to fit our own narrative?
  • if we make a call for submissions from local artists, how do we approach the issue of compensation? As we’re not in a position to offer financial payment for their labour, how do we approach this?

Banner created on Canva. Background Photo by Lala V on Unsplash. Icon created by Kantor Tegalsari from Noun Project.