You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed. People may not notice at the time, but that doesn’t matter. The world has been changed nonetheless.”
― Julian Barnes, Levels of Life
― Julian Barnes, Levels of Life
Goal
Representations of cities often emerge from a perspective of permanence and power; they are produced by experts. Street grids, subway maps, famous buildings, alleys, infrastructure, and even tree-lined avenues seem to offer each city its unique signature-identity. The imprint of the physical world that we see around us sets up an illusion of permanence and truth. However, cities are constantly reimagined and creatively reproduced by ordinary people. We are interested in mapping “another city”—the one that is experienced from the ground. How do we create a People’s Archive of Calgary that visualizes the city in an alternative, bottom-up way? What will such an archive look like and sound like?
A group of students and scholars from the University of Calgary worked with community guides in order propose new ideas on how to create a People’s Archive of Calgary. |
This project was completed in 5 days as part of the Winter 2021 Gillmor Theory Seminar at the University of Calgary. Within this short period of time students interviewed community members, listened carefully, analyzed and indexed the oral histories, and produced a website, a story map, and a physical exhibit.
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