#thirdTHIRDSHIFT by Julie Whitenect

#third

THIRDSHIFT

#third

Designed and edited by Julie Whitenect

THIRDSHIFT

“Would a new society require a new art?

Or, could a new art summon a new society into existence?”

Niergarth, Kirk. “The dignity of every human being”. University of Toronto Press, 2015.

CONTENTS 00.

Prologue Julie Whitenect

01.

#thirdTHIRDSHIFT Preface by Julie Whitenect

02. Over, Under, Over, Under Essay by Marie-Hélène Morrel

03.

FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY Essay by Christiana Myers

04.

7 Hours That Changed A City Essay by Monica Adair

05.

A Conversation w/ BECK+COL Interview by Jericho Knopp

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L PROLOGUE

Julie Whitenect

hen THIRD SHIFT was established in 2015 by a rag-tag group of community members and supporters of Third Space Gallery (Saint John’s artist-run centre), its success took us all by surprise. Limited marketing and planning experience with this type of event meant that whatever happened the night of August 21, 2015, was going to be a mystery to everyone. Would only our family show up? Would the artworks be ready? Would someone shut us down? The event was not only an artistic success but also changed the cultural landscape of our city. Post-THIRD SHIFT, Saint John was buzzing with bewilderment, excitement, and conversation. THIRD SHIFT year three was a milestone and worthy of reflection. It has solidified itself as a weird and wonderful must-see event. Thousands of people have wandered in to enjoy and participate in performances and installations. The city of Saint John is forever changed. Thanks go to artsnb and Third Space Gallery for their support of my vision for this book. It is the aim of this publication to be a new place to discuss art-making as community building. It has been a great honour of mine to work with inspiring and talented artists and arts writers to put this publication together, chronicling and reflecting on the magic this event continues to create. I sought to collect intimate perspectives in the writing for this publication, beginning with

a reflection from former Third Space president and THIRD SHIFT organizer Christiana Myers. Myers, a writer, curator, and artist, considers the impact of this event in a city she has worked and practiced in for many years and the power of temporary art. Monica Adair of ACRE Architects exhibited site-specific and participatory installations all three years of this event, inviting consideration of our artistic and architectural surroundings. I found their most recent installation, Hotel Sardinia: The Next Progression, particularly effective as it became a multi-sensory way to engage an audience. I was very interested to have her perspective reflected in this project. Writer, artist, and entrepreneur Marie-Hélèn Morrell developed a wonderfully participatory installation, Tapestory, and has previously written about her experience exhibiting with THIRD SHIFT. A maverick in the NB arts scene, Morrell found a new audience for her own artwork at this event. She has provided a very thoughtful observation from the perspective of an emerging multidisciplinary artist seeking opportunities to experiment. Journalist Jericho Knopp has prepared an intriguing interview with Californian performance artist duo Beck+Col Stafford. Two-time exhibitors and Third Space cheerleaders, Beck+Col are an excellent example of the international reach of this event, allowing opportunities for both regional and international artists to interact, learn, and exhibit with an inviting and receptive audience. Their piece Monster Mass had a scheduled performance that revealed itself as mysteriously as it played out, touching on the ephemeral nature of a one-night-only event. It is my hope that this catalogue has captured the magic of this significant event. I am excited both for this book to be enjoyed and to continue exploring opportunities to work with and examine the power of art to shape community.

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Megan Meusseau

[RE]CLAIM: MENAGOESG Site-specific performance w/ story object

Bay of Islands, Newfoundland and Labrador

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01.

#thirdTHIRDSHIFT Written by Julie Whitenect

rt Holds Power. Art Builds Community. Art is Mandatory. These sentiments are essential for building and maintaining a strong, vibrant city and allowing space to discuss possibilities and realize ideas. THIRD SHIFT 2017 and the artists exhibiting were successful in engaging participants and the surroundings. The work navigated the city and permeated life in Saint John, drawing attention to concerns, ideas, and hopes that could translate to any municipality or community. Art Holds Power. Saint John is almost unrecognizable now compared to what it was in the summer of the first THIRD SHIFT in 2015; empty storefronts and empty streets are no longer the norm. There has been an increase in diverse and inventive arts events, and there are more engaged citizens in this palpably vibrant community. THIRD SHIFT was the first of many large-scale events in Saint John to venture out into public spaces and create the opportunity for emerging and professional artists to claim space for their work and have their concepts experienced by new audiences. This

eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

educational

component

provides an opportunity for NB artists to work alongside national and international artists while presenting their work locally in a format not normally available in our regional isolation, allowing them to make professional connections and initiate friendships to grow their own practices. The artwork featured at THIRD SHIFT has been exploratory and challenging while confronting social and political agendas. Over the past three years, this event has provided alternative space for 61 artists to exhibit 42 temporary installations and interventions and paid $35,000 in artist fees. Art Builds Community. A community should feel magic around every corner of their city. THIRD SHIFT is an event that sneaks in and appears to an unsuspecting public granted the opportunity to experience contemporary art in their own time and their own space. The attendees arrive both by intention and by chance, so what they will absorb from the event is not up to the artists or organizers. Some may see the commercial success for local businesses, some the excitement of feeling

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like a big city for one night, but for the artists, it is exciting to reach a new and receptive audience, to network with like-minded peers, and to have the chance to present an idea in a professional environment. What started as a crazy idea has grown to take a prominent place in the artistic landscape of NB, giving us much-needed national reach and recognition for our regional perspectives. The support received by the community is evident in the attendance, the conversations, and the amazing volunteers. THIRD SHIFT is designed as a noncommercial event, meaning the funding received from public grants and private donations all go towards paying artist fees, allowing artists to travel and stay in Saint John and afford the materials they need to actualize their visions. This event is also free to the public; everyone is welcome, and anyone can experience the night. Art is Mandatory. Artists are experts at creating something from/with nothing. I often wonder what could happen if we took away financial and bureaucratic barriers. So much time is spent trying to fund the activity rather than implementing it. Help your artists, and you will be encouraging vibrancy, health, and education. Let your artists dream, and you will support their schemes. Whether the support be logistical or financial, providing space in your community for weird and wonderful ideas encourages creative action.

Pay Appropriate Artist Fees. Respect Copyright. Hire Professional Artists. The third THIRD SHIFT was very successful at showcasing works that engaged the arts and architecture of Saint John as well as addressing social issues pertaining not only to our community but also to most small cities and towns. Works like [Re]Claim: Menagoesg, Challenger and Set Design for Unrealized Production (Nature) addressed and responded to their surroundings, Silent Figures and Hôtel De Ville, Sardinia: The Next Progression directly interact with the architecture and history of the city. Other works interacted with the viewers and community and exist only at that time and space. Works like You Make a Better Door Than a Window, Comment couper l’oignon sans pleurer / French Onion developed throughout the night in normally empty spaces and could have been independent of an audience, while Monster Mass, Charade Parade existed in the streets — you saw it, or you didn’t — and this mystery brought forth eerie energy. Homeless, Untitled, Activation, Tapestory, and Sucker all required interaction or participation, and the public delivered. These works existed because we were there to allow them and mirror elements of the event as a whole. THIRD SHIFT started independant of an audience but continues to exist because our community is welcoming, eager, and supportive.

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Melissa Wakefield + Alana Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Halloran

SILENT FIGURES

Site-Specific Installation Saint John, New Brunswick

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Philip Clark

ACTIVATION

Interactive multimedia installation Gaspereau Forks, New Brunswick

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02.

Over, Under, Over, Under Written by Marie-Hélèn Morell

Marie-Hélène Morell

TAPESTORY

(Participatory Weaving) Saint John, New Brunswick

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HIRD SHIFT is one of the most anticipated cultural events in Saint John, one that truly transforms the uptown core into an open and interactive art gallery. After experiencing THIRD SHIFT in 2016, I just had to be a part of this magical, ephemeral event. When putting together a proposal for THIRD SHIFT, I knew I wanted something collaborative, something that would represent what happened that one night, made with the people who showed up. As a textile and fibre artist, it made sense to try weaving, one of the simplest stitches — just over, under, over, under. I had recently purchased a secondhand Leclerc Gobelin tapestry loom, which was seven feet long and six feet high, certainly big enough to command a space and allow for many hands to work on it. So, the idea for Tapestory was born — a collaborative weaving experience where every participant weaves in their piece to create a large, colourful wall hanging using upcycled fabric strips.

The night of the event was surreal, with one creative interaction after another. I set up my loom in the parking lot behind Thandi’s, where I laid down crocheted blankets from Value Village and a braided rug I made to create a cozy space. Throughout the evening, I invited people to weave pieces of fabric, coaching them along, most of them trying weaving for the first time. That’s it: over, under, over, under. I also brought my daughter’s kids’ loom as a practice idea, which ended up having almost as many weavers as the big loom. There was always a lineup for both. I meant to keep count of how many people participated, but it just got so crazy. I counted nearly 80 colours, which gives a good ballpark figure, since each colour was woven by a different person. My mantra for the night was “Be present.” I knew there would be lots going on and that I probably wouldn’t be able to see the exhibitions of the other 13 artists. The most important thing was to be right there at the loom with whomever was weaving with me at

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Marie-Hélène Morell

TAPESTORY

(Final Weaving) that moment. Teaching and creating together requires one’s full attention, and I wanted to personally connect with each person who participated. Over, under, over, under. You’re doing a great job. It was so exciting to see so many people, many of whom you would never guess would even be interested, demonstrate their enthusiasm for weaving. There were kids, adults, women, teens, and big burly men. Many people spoke French, which I particularly enjoyed. There were so many stories that came out as we wove: “I did this in elementary school,” “My grandmother used to weave.” Personal connections to the craft brought nostalgic memories to the surface. It’s truly amazing to see what happens when you’re making something side by side. There is something so simplistic, so childlike about weaving, an art that is almost as old as humanity. Anyone can do it (and did!) and feel like they’re a part of something bigger. Just over, under, over, under.

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In the end, the final product wasn’t as tall as I’d hoped, which is understandable, considering most participants were trying weaving for the first time. So I incorporated the smaller pieces made on the practice loom to make a larger wall hanging, not to waste a bit of what was created that night. The final piece was donated to the Brighten Group at the Saint John Regional Hospital to brighten the days of those who travel through its halls. Tapestory embodies my experience at THIRD SHIFT, an interweaving of each person’s colour choice, placement, and interaction one evening in uptown Saint John—a coming together of strangers to make something beautiful.

Over, under, over, under. *Note: One interesting conversation was with local designer Geof Ramsay, who stopped to ask about the rug I was sitting on, a blue braided one that I had made. He was curating a box of items from the area for an exhibition called Outside the Box, and he really liked my rug. Could I make him one? Of course! So out of my THIRD SHIFT came an opportunity to have one of my pieces go to design expos in Toronto and New York. I was able to travel to NYC to see the exhibition in person and meet other designers from around the world. It just goes to show that in life as in creativity, one thing always leads to another, if you’re ready for it!

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Sandi Hartling

SET DESIGN FOR UNREALIZED PRODUCTION (NATURE) Installation

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

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Brandon Vickerd

CHALLENGER Installation

Hamilton, Ontario

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03.

FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY: The Effects of Temporary Art Events on Urban Revitalization Written by Christiana Myers

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rior to art being defined and disseminated by galleries, it was everywhere. It was found in architecture, along streets and canals, through theatre and dance performance, in music, and in landscaping. It was not until the advent of the salon-style

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exhibition in Paris that the presentation of European art en masse became the new status quo for the western public’s consumption of fine art1. In only 250 years, this new exhibition format established a hierarchy among art viewers, determining that formal displays of contemporary work were reserved for society’s elite and not the general public. This institutional system accompanied colonizers to Canada2 and governed how the new art world was run throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Over time, however, arts communities began to question the allocation of power in these structures and sought alternative methods and outlets for exhibitions, including public performance, street art, and eventually even the Internet. There was a demand for art to be truly public again, not only in terms of access but also in agency. Contemporary art events like THIRD SHIFT have been gaining traction since the late 90s, and for good reason. By disrupting traditional art viewing formats and the elitism associated with them, they return art to the public sphere, inviting communities to access, activate, and expand their own spaces. The structure of the European art world encouraged the exhibition of chosen artists within museums and the erection of public monuments signifying events deemed worthy of commemoration by political leaders. This assignment of value has proven to be dangerous, obscuring or even erasing many cultural histories, namely those of Canada’s Indigenous population. Public art from, and influenced by, this era often has a sense of completion that favours a singlesided, one-dimensional story. These looming,

static narratives of a dominant culture within public spaces actively silence the histories of many people around them. Fortunately, with the voices of citizens invested in truth and diversity finally being heard, the problematic nature of this type of public art is beginning to be addressed globally, sometimes by removing a piece altogether. Alternatively, artists and other creatives are dismantling these oppressive narratives by offering solutions in the form of ephemeral and sitespecific art installations.2 Temporary works leave room for nuance and consideration. With the ability to integrate and interrupt simultaneously, they can effectively enter the urban consciousness rather than become part of the furniture. This effort to diversify public art is integral to the move toward short-term contemporary art events as an exhibition format. Whether they have the size and scope of documenta or Nuit Blanche, last one night or six months, these events activate and respond to the cities they inhabit. THIRD SHIFT is Saint John’s response to a worldwide call to bring contemporary art out of the gallery and into the public, flatten hierarchies associated with institutions and access, and create a buzz that will last long after the works have gone. Artists, curators, and exhibitions are inherently nomadic. They often physically and mentally travel across borders, bridging the local to the global. In expanding the discourse of public art, short-term art events put forward a new action for cities to respond to. They demand a flexibility within the urban environment where public or vacant spaces can be occupied, utilized,

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and recomposed. Physical structures may remain fixed, but the functions of the spaces and the economies surrounding them must be prepared to evolve. Society-minded ventures by residents to improve their own cities in the name of creativity and culture are part of a larger concept referred to as soft power4. Soft power, like the arts, builds cultural infrastructure without focusing on the quantifiable outcomes measured by the hard power of industry and politics. In the 21st century, with vulnerability to economic crises, many western cities have had to develop new strategies when their hard power begins to wane. The cities that succeed are often the ones that identify their population as an invaluable and renewable resource and grant it agency to invigorate the city. When done effectively, quality of life and pride of place can be improved without the need for large surges of public funding, making a city worth supporting for those who live there and more desirable for newcomers. The city of Saint John is no stranger to economic downturn. With the evolution of industry, the city has experienced its fair share of booms and declines. Now, with a palpable spirit of revitalization in the air, the city and its residents are looking for ways to awaken spaces left dormant by faded prosperity. Filling vacant properties and activating under-utilized areas, even temporarily, can be a valuable investigative tool in recognizing a cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential, and this is precisely what THIRD SHIFT has done in Saint John. Born of Third Spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mandate to bring meaningful projects unbound by size,

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materiality, or commercial viability to fruition within the community, THIRD SHIFT invites new audiences to contribute and respond to contemporary art in the comfort of their own environment. By bringing art out of institutionalized spaces and into public areas of the city, THIRD SHIFT is able to provide audiences with a wider variety of access points for the exhibited artworks and their themes. Viewers can choose to interpret the pieces as engaging a historical standpoint, as architecture, as entertainment, or as an intervention. Regardless of how viewers come to experience the artwork, the immersive nature of THIRD SHIFT brings a vibrant consciousness to the urban experience that allows citizens of Saint John to see themselves as part of the diverse, active, and ongoing history of the city. Any possibility of enlightenment comes from embracing chance, but in a city with a fierce commitment to heritage conservation, change is often feared and subsequently discouraged. THIRD SHIFT has contributed to an energetic movement of Saint Johners and New Brunswickers striving to accelerate cultural growth in a region previously held back by economic strain and steadfast tradition. While contributing to an international movement of temporary public art events, THIRD SHIFT celebrates the unique nature of the Saint John region by bringing in new voices and amplifying those who are systemically silenced. In using the urban fabric of Uptown Saint John as a canvas, THIRD SHIFT and Third Space alike have endeavored to dissolve institutional traditions associated with the exhibition of

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contemporary art, allowing it to filter in and out of daily life. The event has mobilized spaces worn by the ebb and flow of the city’s hard industrial power, illustrating how art, design, education, and tourism can join together to create meaningful change. Most importantly, it has shown how public space can be activated rather than simply occupied and what can happen when a city will accommodate, welcome, and encourage the creativity of its residents.

1 Qiu Zhijie, “The Prediction in the Age of Post-Exhibition,” in Exhibition: Documents of Contemporary Art, ed. Lucy Steeds (London: Whitechapel Gallery, 2001), 142–147. 2 For the purposes of this essay, “Canada” will refer to the region currently identified as Canada, acknowledging that prior to Confederation it was known to many people by many names. 3 Hans Ulrich Obrist, “Architecture, Urbanism, and Exhibitions,” in Ways of Curating. (London: Penguin Random House UK, 2014), 121-129. 4 Lourdes Fernandez, “Global and Local: Fairs and Biennials, Temporary Urbanism and Pop-Up Museums” in Cities, Museums, and Soft Power, ed. Gail Dexter Lord, Ngaire Blankenberg (Washington: AAM Press, 2015), 175-186.

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Nathalie Quagliotto

SUCKER

Participatory Performance Toronto, Ontario

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Jud Crandall

YOU MAKE A BETTER DOOR THAN A WINDOW Audio Installation

Saint John, New Brunswick

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04.

HÔTEL DE VILLE, SARDINIA: THE NEXT PROGRESSION Written by Monica Adair

f the future is fiction, then art can inspire its narrative. When you visit Saint John’s city hall, built in 1971, there is more than just its empty plaza or its lonely twin escalators at the entrance to connect you to this city. In fact, New Brunswick artist Claude Roussel’s red, orange, and yellow fibreglass public art sculpture Progression, which sits atop its canopy, is emblematic of city hall and has become a Saint John icon. Roussel once said, “Certain purists feel that the architectural form holds enough interest and mystery to suffice. This may hold true for certain rare genius architects, but in general the human warmth which emanates from the artist’s work can’t be replaced. In my opinion, this makes the visual arts both desirable and necessary to complete an expressive building.”1 As part of THIRD SHIFT 2017, Acre Architects collaborated with artist Janice Wright Cheney to create a temporary public art exhibit entitled Hôtel de Ville, Sardinia: The Next Progression, a fictitious recreation of a parallel time and place of abundance through

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an inspired animation of an underutilized existing civic space. Some will argue that city hall represents a controversial part of Saint John’s history, the pursuit in the 1970s of large urban renewal projects that came at the cost of losing heritage buildings and a historically rich urban fabric. For example, the Saint John throughway, built during this time, arguably fractured the city and impacted entire historic neighbourhoods, including its significant Main Street. Hôtel de Ville, Sardinia inspired people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces at the heart of their city. We cannot simply design a space — we have to create place. We should never feel burdened by any underutilized public space in our cities. By transforming underperforming developments into vibrant community-driven social spaces, this type of art-inspired placemaking demonstrates a path forward, one that leads us around obstacles and toward urban potential. Renowned artist Janice Wright Cheney created a video projection and installation entitled Sardinia that was first shown at North Church in Eastport, Maine, in June 2016. The sculptural components and visual and audio effects create a completely immersive experience for the viewer. The video and sound play in a continuous loop without a beginning or end. The small herring we call sardines take their name from Sardinia, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, where they were once plentiful. The art piece Sardinia evoked nostalgia for a time when fish were abundant and was inspired by the sardine fishery and canning industry that were once the lifeblood of towns along the Fundy coast. Viewers were encouraged to revel in Wright Cheney’s piece while also contemplating a city with an influx of inhabitants who could animate the public realm, drawing attention to the importance of civic architecture being visible, transparent, and accessible, and for the people to create the stories and build

the collective memory that form civic pride. This is to say, it is not enough to simply be called a civic building; buildings like city hall must be activated to engage and connect with the people they serve. Inspired by the Roussel sculpture, and aiming to create an immersive experience, Acre Architects and Wright Cheney transformed the terraced landscape at the foot of city hall, with its generous plaza, in order to actively integrate the entrance of city hall and the public sphere. This was achieved by converting the plaza into an informal, sea-like floating stadium with airfilled seating that played to animate, and physically occupy, Roussel’s red, orange, and yellow sculptures, inviting people to see an old space again for the first time. Invoking our yearning for a time of abundance, of a bustling city with a thriving population, Wright Cheney’s piece converted city hall’s footsteps into a parallel future that was promised to us by urban renewal four decades ago. Drawn into the exhibition space with its evocative soundscape, animated light show, and allure of colour, hundreds of visitors encountered schools of sardines swimming across the city hall plaza’s ceiling and walls. At times, the fish became distorted and abstract before they coalesced again into recognizable shapes, accompanied by an original score by Charlie Harding and David Cheney. The installation sardines were life-size, and hand assembled, made from recycled plastic and glassine paper. Acre Architects believe that “We are what we create,” and this project was intended to shed light on the importance of cultural institutions within the city fabric and to acknowledge the importance of everchanging urban growth; elements that, with an open mind and with new approaches, can create a vibrant city with new outcomes. Echoing the sentiments of Roussel, Acre Architects believes that any great building

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should be alongside great art. The Acre writes, “Being a practice of storied architecture where people are inspired to live great stories, we want to inspire a rethinking of public urban spaces and the mutual accommodation of historic and contemporary buildings. It is not enough to simply be a city hall, but it must be activated to engage the create the means to connect with the people it is serving in the community.”

Acre Architects + Janice Wright Cheney

HOTEL SARDINIA: THE NEXT PROGRESSION (Site-Specific Installation)

Saint John + Fredericton, New Brunswick

Over the course of a few hours under the banner of the third THIRD SHIFT — a night of art after dark — in a normally deserted plaza, we lived in a fictitious time and place, a manifestation of our collective memory, an otherworldly experience, a place of abundance, an alternate future. New memories for old places.

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Photography by Scott Munn 1 (2008) Building New Brunswick, An Architectural History - John Leroux.

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Cyril Sacobie

UNTITLED

Performative painting Kingsclear First Nation, New Brunswick

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Industrial Parks w/ Rozalind MacPhail

HOMELESS

Screening + Performance Saint John, New Brunswick

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05.

Beck+Col Stafford

A Conversation w/ BECK+COL Written by Jericho Knopp

ecky and Collin Stafford, better known as Beck+Col, have been together for 13 years, and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been making art together professionally for at least five. But their pieces arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t your average portrait or sculpture.

The Southern California artist duo creates performance installations in an alternate monster universe. They dress up in strange geometric monster costumes to make statements about modern society.

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MONSTER MASS Performance

Los Angeles, California

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They exhibited at THIRD SHIFT both 2016 and 2017, and we caught up with them to talk about their experience in the festival and why they do what they do. Tell me a little about what you guys do. Collin: We do costume-based performance installations, and there’s usually some video component. We use monsters to kind of create a neutral, unbiased vehicle that the viewer can’t project any preconceived notions on to, because we deal with a lot of political or controversial subject matter. Right now, we are focusing a lot on violence and its relationship with entertainment and how we use entertainment to trivialize and distract from the everyday violence in our world. How do you go about designing the costumes? Becky: We get inspiration from all over. There’s cartoons, nature, the fashion world. Dune is a big inspiration for us. C: The Frank Herbert novel. B: So yeah, we’ll just draw from all over to create these grotesque creatures. C: We try to create something that isn’t immediately relatable to the audience, and that way you’re forcing them to engage in some sort of critical analysis by presenting something new or foreign. The two pieces you exhibited in THIRD SHIFT were Monster Mass and Rainbow Face Live. Can you tell me about those pieces? B:

Rainbow Face

monster

that’s

accompanied by monochromatic variations of itself, and each colour represents a fracture of that character. So they end up being expressions of the internal conflicts within Rainbow Face. They’re kind of multiple personalities. And for THIRD SHIFT, we had blue fighting against yellow. C: And then for Monster Mass, we have these very angular black figures that are worshipping this large white tower in the centre. We were really interested in ritual and power and exposing the power of illusion, so we kind of borrowed from the Wizard of Oz. While these characters are worshipping this tower, it’s revealed throughout the performance that it’s actually the same monster as the ones outside. So you go through the collapse of a ritual and worship into chaos. B: Monster Mass is kind of a reaction to the Rainbow Face in terms of the aesthetics. We had such a colourful piece before that; we just went very basic black and white. What was your experience your first year? B: When we showed up, everybody was so nice, it was so easy to settle in and get oriented with the town, where we were going to be, and what we were going to do, and how things were going to work. Everything ran so smoothly, it was pretty amazing to us to have everybody be so nice and super professional at the same time. C: Yeah, you usually only get one of those things. They made sure where we were staying, we were very close to the festival, so we got to meet people in our day-today while we were there. We flew all the way across the country, and we weren’t 100-percent sure what we were getting into,

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Beck & Col Stafford

RAINBOW FACE LIVE Video stills

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and then we go to perform, and I’m pretty sure the whole town was out that night. I mean, there were well over 1,000 people in the streets all night, and the town was really open and receptive to strange and experimental works. The community was just very nice to us, and it was a great show.

fight, wrestling routine, there were these two kids, like 5 and 7. We were in blue and yellow costumes, and they were wearing blue and yellow, and they were cheering, like, “Blue, blue!” So that was a lot of fun. Crowd interaction makes the show better and it’s a good town for that.

B: The turnout was so amazing. We thought it was one of our best performances because we just had such great energy and so many people there that we were really able to play off of. C: Yeah, while we were doing our little street

What about year two? C: The second year, it was just bigger. All the projects had grown in scale, and I noticed that they were starting to get some of the artists from farther away, so they’re really

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branching out. B: And again, the turnout was so great. It was even raining, and there were still people out. Out here, if it rains, everybody goes home.

Beck & Col Stafford

MONSTER MASS Performance

C: Yeah, they practically shut down the roads when it rains in California. So it was great seeing hundreds of people out in the cold rain hanging out to watch art. B: I hope we get to come back! I was going to ask if you’re coming back. B: Not this year. I’m in school right now. C: Yeah, it’s not the Beck+Col festival yet, but we’ll get there.

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Open Arts

CHARADE PARADE Performance

Saint John, New Brunswick

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Maryse Arsenault

COMMENT COUPER Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;OIGNON SANS PLEURER / FRENCH ONION Performance

Moncton, New Brunswick

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Poster design by Jud Crandall

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“THIRD SHIFT is a festival of public contemporary artworks presented by Third Space Gallery in Saint John. THIRD SHIFT has offered artists and citizens a unique opportunity to re-imagine their city through the lens of contemporary art.” www.thirdshift.ca Geographically, THIRD SHIFT takes place within unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq, and Passamaquoddy First Nations and in Canada’s first incorporated city. THIRD SHIFT 2017 took place Aug. 18, 2017 in Saint John, NB.

Photos by Dan Culberson Designed and edited by Julie Whitenect Copyediting by Joshua Graham Published 2018 ISBN: 978-1-9994054-0-3

www.juliewhitenect.com

#thirdTHIRDSHIFT has been made possible with the generous supported of artsnb.