Our Community Story (OCS) was a community-engaged public art project produced by Media Undefined 2005-06. OCS engaged fourteen youth, thirty-five seniors and six artists in Vancouver’s Hastings/Sunrise neighbourhood in an oral history process that used artistic processes to recover and document some of the area’s living history: the history remembered by the community’s inhabitants.
OCS culminated in a month-long exhibition in neighbourhood shops and cafes, which opened with a weekend of screenings and events. Four long-established shops were transformed into cinemas in which films about the shop keepers and their patrons were screened. A street corner became an outdoor cinema where an animation about the waterfront was projected, and four cafes were installed with sculptural jukebox-style story-stations, inviting visitors to listen to excerpts of stories as told by long time community residents.
~ Clint Burnham, Old stories told with new technologies, Vancouver Sun Oct 20-26, 2005.
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FOUR ON HASTINGSa film and audio documentary project focusing on four unique businesses in the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood: Olympia Tailors, Sorrento Barbers, Polonia Sausage House, and Wung Wo Tong Herbs & Acupuncture. We created original installations consisting of 16mm film footage - shot and developed by the youth interns - combined with audio recordings of interviews with the shop keepers and their patrons. Along with accompanying photographic works, these film/audio installations were exhibited in the stores themselves as part of the opening events for Our Community Story.Mentoring Artists: Lea Moss, Pietro Sammarco |
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STORIES OF THE WATERFRONTcollage and hand drawn animation featuring stories about the history of the waterfront area of the Hasting Sunrise Neighbourhood. This team listened to stories told by longshoremen, seamen, and long time residents who have a significant connection to the water. We layered short audio excerpts of stories with archival and current photos as well as hand drawn animation. These pieces were shown as outdoor projections during the opening events. Mentoring Artists: Maya Ersan |
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SITES AND SOUNDS OF HASTINGS PARKa series of story stations featuring soundscapes and stories about Hastings Park. These stations were installed at four different cafes along East Hastings Street: Sweet Tooth Café, The Grind Gallery and Café, Laughing Bean Coffee and Slocan Family Restaurant. They were accompanied by a menu that offered a selection of soundscapes and stories to choose from. The table top at each station was collaged with archival imagery and text that illustrated some of the stories on the menu. Each story station focused on a different topic: Playland and the PNE, Hastings Racecourse, Stories of Internment at Hastings Park, and Stories of the Neighbourhood. Mentoring Artists: Jaimie Robson, Igor Santizo |
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STORY TILESCreating a lasting legacy in the community, ceramic tile markers (each three foot square) were created to embed a selection of stories and images that emerged through the project into the neighbouhood landscape. These markers are installed in the sidewalk at eleven locations along East Hastings Street. Mentoring Artists: Youth Interns: |
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Funders and Partners
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