OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary Project Summary OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary is an ongoing, net-based audio/visual,

community mapping project, to motivate and mobilize people to go out and capture the love of our City using participatory media art. Through crash courses, on-line social networking and an onsite residencies, OX is a platform for engaging Calgarians from various sectors and in numerous locations around the City. Simultaneously, it's a podcast walking tour of Calgary through the eyes and into the ears of Calgarians and visitors. The project was conceived and conducted while I was Artist-in-Residence at EMMEDIA 2009 and I am excited to spend the 2012 year connecting with more Calgarians. This is an opportunity to get out and SEE and HEAR about their neighbourhood and other neighbourhoods and parts of Calgary they may never have considered before. Participating in the OX project gave me a whole new way of looking at Calgary. I proudly placed the OX flag at the library and declaring that love was a thrilling moment for me. I learned I have stories to tell and want to share my pride and enthusiasm with other Calgarians. Sharon made it easy with the crash course and the help with recording and making my contribution succeed. Jane Kubke, Calgary OX Lover Objectives: - to initiate dialogue and participatory action with colleagues, artists, activists, citizens - to encourage and support performative actions on the streets of Calgary that evict rituals to show love of place, - to use a specially designed flag as a way to beautify and claim whats to love and be proud of, - to draw people into looking into their surroundings more deeply and stake a visual claim via an OX Flag - to go beyond the veil of online networking to entice people out on a walking tour OX Crash Courses A crash course is available and designed to outline the project and offer participants (up to 20) an opportunity to claim their love, document with a photo, and then record their story. The crash course includes a power point presentation and then the following days supporting participants to contribute. I provide assistance with technology, with props and with scripting support if they request it. This has become a wonderful experience for people to get to know each other as well as their neighbourhoods. Each new OX spot is then uploaded to the OX website and ready for a podcast walking tour! Included in Crash Course: OX flag OX button Project overview How to Audio/visual support Storytelling coaching Website uploading Exhibition including how-to video, listening stations and online station What inspires me? This project conceived in the year of the OX - 2009, whose motto is I persevere. The OX in Chinese Zodiac is dependable, calm, methodical, born leader, patient, hardworking, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, and tenacious. Can also be stubborn, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding all traits that could be assigned to Calgary. I wanted to work with this stubbornness and find a way to celebrate Calgary. I was tired and a little ground down by the constant complaining we do as Calgarians and wanted to find allies to help me learn to love again. Other similar projects were inspirations like the Ministry of Walking, Imaginary Ordinary, Tender Mountain Clan, Art and Identity, Janes Walk to name a few. Things I have learnt: Hearing people talk passionately about what they loved about Calgary from swimming pools, to the library, trees, hills, buildings and of course the people. Enticing and encouraging people into the participatory aspect of this project are a welcome challenge. The project encourages creativity as well as a general sense of positivity.

Artistic Statement Over my career in media-arts and performance arts, I have learned that a critical need for community engagement at a superficial fun level can result in deep engaged commentary. There is a convergence of artists who are developing and presenting community collaborations that reflect a connection to bonding with Calgary. There is a pride and connectivity with Calgary despite the obstacles facing artists. I want to use my history and background as an artist and activist in Calgary to incorporate art into a dialogue about what IS to love about Calgary. For the past year, Stevens has been rallying Calgarians to declare their love for the city or at least stake their claim to some small part. Her project OX invites us to look at our city through a lens of possibility and a lens of love. Julie Bevan Calgary artists you should know FFWD arts guide Fall 2010 Media artist and social activist Sharon Stevens OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary takes the concept of the everyday, those places we pass by in our daily lives, and elevates it to the level of love, asking us to stop and pay attention to the special parts of this city, why we respond to certain things in our environment and asking us to claim what we love about it. Stevens project involves a multi-media approach to civic engagement; collecting voices, images and videos to present a journey through the city and inviting people to contribute their own devotional way stations to a larger whole. Melody Jacobson arts writer Truck Gallery

OX: A Crash Course of Loving Calgary is a positive, participatory action to claim what we love about Calgary. A place, a feeling, a song, a building, a street corner, a memory, a recovery tell stories about loving Calgary. Hugs and kisses to those who love Calgary and want to show it!