Wandering Weekend

Join us for a Sunday of wandering on Calgary’s own art island, including a choose-your-own-adventure walking tour, soundscapes in the landscape, and a bike-in film screening of mini-docs about The Wandering Island art projects.

SUNDAY // September 5, 2021

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Island Tour

Drop in from 10 AM – 12 PM // Free, family-friendly, rain or shine

Explore The Wandering Island at your own pace, choosing your own adventure through the landscape of Elbow Island Park. A series of “guides” will be stationed around the island, ready to share different aspects of the project, including artist-made benches, stepping stones, fish habitat, flood mitigation, and more. Visit works by artists Susan Clarahan & Joel Staples, Laura & Michael Hosaluk, Kablusiak, Jeremy Pavka & Sean Procyk, Lane Shordee, and Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett. Look for our volunteer island guides in fluorescent vests.  

Soundscapes in the Landscape

Drop in from 2 – 4 PM // Free, family-friendly, weather dependent

Join us on Elbow Island Park for a spatial sound experience of musical performance art, hidden throughout the pathways on The Wandering Island. Elder Pablo Russell will open the afternoon with a blessing, inviting visitors to wander through the landscape and listen to improvised music by local artists Jennifer Crighton, Sarah Houle & Shane Ghostkeeper, and Who Cares? (Laura Reid & Jiajia Li) created in collaboration with the island. A new take on active listening, as you hike across The Wandering Island, you are invited to open your ears – not just to the musicians, but to the ambient soundscapes of the landscape itself.

Bike-In Documentary Screening: The Wandering Island

Doors at 8:30 PM. Screening from 9 – 10 PM // Free, all-ages, weather dependent

Bring a blanket and some snacks, and join us for a bike-in screening of mini-docs about The Wandering Island, located at Roxboro Park (~500 metres from Elbow Island). Calgary/Montreal-based filmmaker Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi has been following The Wandering Island since 2017, capturing intimate moments with the artists as they design and install their works. Ramin’s series of documentaries will be screened back-to-back for the first time, featuring a Q&A with the filmmaker, and a slideshow of photos by project photographer Mike Tan.

The Wandering Island is located beneath Mission Bridge on Elbow Island Park in Calgary/Mohkínstsis, on the traditional territories of the people of Treaty 7 in Alberta. Please read our Land Acknowledgement.

The Wandering Island was commissioned through The City of Calgary public art program and funded through the Elbow Island Park fish habitat restoration and flood mitigation project.

For more information about location and accessibility, see here.

Musicians

Jennifer Crighton is an artist, curator, musician, cultural administrator and movie costume maker. She has a special interest in community, especially as this relates the spaces we call home, and the people we gather around ourselves for support and inspiration. For her, working in any creative field is a collective endeavour, where the magic is always in the story of who took part. Her collaborators can be people, but they can also be old houses or trees, online social networks, musical instruments, drawing implements or river footpaths….

Jiajia Li and Laura Reid have performed together on numerous occasions in the past several years, from improvised collaborations at Bug Incision experimental music series, jazz series at University of Calgary, to outreach concerts through Health Arts Society. Coming from similar classical backgrounds with a shared passion for exploring the infinite possibilities in music and sound creation and presentation, the 2 friends officially formed a duo project called “Who Cares?” during the COVID-19 pandemic.


The aim as a duo has been to provide personal and musical support for each other during the pandemic while searching for new ways to present classical and contemporary music, and to connect with fellow musicians and music lovers through public livestreams and videos. “Who Cares?” self-released the album Vol.1 in 2021 and is available on bandcamp.

The discordant but ultimately alluring sounds that Ghostkeeper produces are a testament to the band’s collective, unfettered creativity. With each album, Ghostkeeper has continued to explore new territory. At the heart of this Calgary band’s noisy warped, and compelling sound is the songwriting of Shane Ghostkeeper and Sarah Houle.

Filmmaker

Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi is a Calgary/Montreal based Filmmaker. He has directed and produced over 400 projects as the creative director of Nur Films, including everything from experimental art installations and documentary work, to broadcast commercial and music videos, as well as a slew of short films. Inspired by all that is visually stunning and stories not often told, Ramin’s interests vary but his mindset is always tainted with an indie sensibility that favours storytelling.

Ramin has been following The Wandering Island since 2017, producing 6 short documentaries to date, with more to come.