In Guelph, Musagetes works in the built and natural environments of the city’s centre and the university’s campus. But the interface of urban and rural that defines the periphery gives some clues to what’s in transition.
 
 
O 193B Woolwich St, Guelph ON, Canada N1H 3V4
M PO Box 1326 Guelph ON, Canada N1H 6N8
P (519) 836-7300 F (519) 836-7320

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Guelph

Visit the Musagetes Guelph website.

In Guelph we have launched the program with 1mile2, a series that embeds artistic processes into the built and natural environments of Guelph’s downtown in the form of workshops, lectures and interventions. Among the artists working with us are Mary Mattingly (New York), Adrian Blackwell (Toronto), Dawn Matheson (Guelph), SYN- atelier d’exploration urbaine (Montreal), DodoLab, Lucia Babina (Rotterdam) and Marjetica Potrc (Ljubljana), Ehryn Torrell (London UK) and Annelore Schneider (Geneva), and Pedro Reyes (Mexico City).

We also have our ongoing Improviser-in-Residence program with the Improvisation, Community and Social Practice (ICASP) research consortium. In 2011 we have Jane Bunnett (Toronto) working with KidsAbility, the Homewood Hospital, and other organizations. In 2012, Mia Masaoka (New York) will be in residence for a couple of months.

The 1mile2 series is the foundation for a research program to begin in October 2011. Titled the “Guelph Urban-Rural Program,” the research will employ discipline-specific methodologies (policy analysis, statistical compilations, scientific studies) and artistic forms of exploration (projects by SYN-, DodoLab and others) which will be cross-referenced with public consultations, observations and direct engagement.

The research will be led by Miguel Robles-Duran and Gabriela Rendon, partners in a collective of researchers, artists, designers, political economists and architects called Cohabitation Strategies (New York and Rotterdam). The research will be conducted in collaboration with the School for Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) at the University of Guelph, with direct cooperation from other entities at the university, the City of Guelph, and numerous cultural, social and environmental organizations. The project will engage a high-level community facilitator (selected locally by Musagetes and a lead researcher (selected internationally by CohStra).

The Guelph Urban-Rural Program will address the spatial, sociological, environmental and economic conditions of Guelph in order to establish a direction for artistic and transdisciplinary interventions. The program will have the following objectives:

  • establish a cultural development agenda for Musagetes and the city generally;
  • create connections to cultural, educational and social organizations, institutions, artists, designers who can contribute to the work and mission of Musagetes;
  • create a dossier of knowledge and information about Guelph that will inform artists and other collaborators who work in Guelph;
  • involve local inhabitants from all parts of Guelph, especially at the direct interface between the rural and the urban;
  • identify policy areas that can be the subject of activist artistic interventions;
  • identify public and private subsidies and grants (from outside of arts and culture portfolios) that can be accessed by artists and artistic organizations; and
  • provide a model for public engagement through neighbourhood workshops.

The program will incorporate the work of artists in the 1mile2 initiative, especially that of SYN-, DodoLab and Babina/Potrc. These three collectives will return to Guelph in 2012 to conduct the second part of their projects. The research will be presented eventually in the form of a contained dossier (printed or electronic), but more importantly the outputs will be produced throughout the year as a method of continually engaging participants.