Site and Subject:
Research, investigation, and proposals for the Riversdale district of Saskatoon

Site and Subject is a response by AKA Gallery and PAVED Arts to the rapid redevelopment and real-estate boom that has paralleled these galleries' move to the Riversdale district of Saskatoon. By buying and renovating a building in an area that has historically had low property values, the two art galleries are contributing to the development of public space and cultural facilities in an underserved urban core neighbourhood. However, AKA and PAVED are also profoundly implicated in a dynamic of escalating property values that is dramatically affecting the affordability of housing and the tone and culture of the core area.

Neighbourhood redevelopment is not necessarily benign: it involves complex intersections of gentrification, cultural agendas and social space. AKA and PAVED saw a need to give artists a voice in examining the dynamics of this contested situation to promote public understanding and dialogue involving diverse and critical points of view.

We have commissioned three artists, Linda Duvall and Clark Ferguson from Saskatoon and Shane Clintberg from Calgary to develop original projects that reflect on the complexity of contemporary urban experience and the specific environment of Riversdale and the core neighbourhoods. To facilitate a public discussion around urban issues, we have also invited Toronto artist and researcher Adrian Blackwell to deliver a lecture about his critical work on urban space and culture, and to facilitate a public forum involving the artists and community organizers about the ways the redevelopment of the city is unfolding. We hope to engage communities and build bridges with groups that all have profound stakes in the nature of the city – neighbourhood residents, activists, artists, cultural planners and political actors – but whose frames of reference don't always coincide.

Art projects in public spaces:
Shane Clintberg (Calgary) Linda Duvall (Saskatoon) Clark Ferguson (Saskatoon)

Shane Clintberg is an emerging public artist from Calgary. His work is not medium-specific or otherwise preconceived; instead, he develops each new project "from the ground up" based on his initial, local site research. His last major piece, presented in downtown Calgary in 2006, juxtaposed the 1988 Winter Olympics and the 1997 Bre-X scandal to question and critique that city's unwavering boosterism.

Linda Duvall was born in a village of two hundred in Eastern Ontario, and began life in a home that housed three generations of extended family. Possibly as a result of this environment of close family and even closer neighbours, Duvall has been very engaged with people and community. Duvall has completed degrees in both Sociology and Visual Arts. These two disciplines have merged into projects that involve and give voice to her friends, neighbours, relatives, and interesting new acquaintances.

Clark Ferguson is a multi-disciplinary artist from Saskatoon who utilizes humour to explore issues of gender, the spectacle, desire and existential wanderings. He will be using his tools and interests as an interdisciplinary artist to collaborate with Saskatoon's core neighbourhood residents.

Site and Subject is curated and organized by Cindy Baker and Timothy Dallett for AKA Gallery and PAVED Arts.

*PAVED Arts and AKA Gallery gratefully acknowledge the support of their members and volunteers, and of our principal funders: the Canada Council for the Arts, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, SaskCulture, SaskLotteries, the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association and the City of Saskatoon.*

The AKA/PAVED 424 20th Street West renovation project is supported by, among others, the Department of Canadian Heritage Cultural Spaces Canada Program, The Province of Saskatchewan Building Communities program, and the Saskatoon Community Foundation.