Cul-de-sac: Exhibition and Artist Talk by Douglas Cardinal
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Art Gallery of Alberta 2 Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 2C1
Art Gallery of Alberta, "Cul-de-sac," 2019
Douglas Cardinal: Life Stories on Wednesday, June 12 at 6pm.
Hear about Douglas Cardinal's work, design philosophies, world views, relationship to building, planning and the design of the urban form. In his planning, he focuses on connecting the design process to living in harmony with the environment.
"When we plan for the future generations to thrive on our lands, we must also plan for the future of all living beings that share the land with us. We must plan for the future of our life-givers for without them our future is in jeopardy" - Douglas Cardinal
About Douglas Cardinal: In addition to receiving 20 Honorary Doctorates and medals, his work was recognized by UNESCO for best sustainable village, he is an Officer of the Order of Canada and was declared a "World Master of Contemporary Architecture" by the International Association of Architects. Born in 1934 in Calgary, Douglas Cardinal is recognized as a forerunner of philosophies on sustainability, green building and ecologically designed community planning. His organic style of architecture is a result of his keen awareness and connection to nature. Douglas Cardinal's work is currently featured in our latest exhibition Cul-de-Sac until August 18, 2019. Douglas Cardinal will be speaking in Edmonton on June 12 and in Calgary on June 13.
A cul-de-sac is a road with one way out, or a dead end. The direct translation as “bottom of the sack” is a more nuanced cul-de-sac: the remnant shards, fractured from the shale in the sack, impart an opportunity. The particles at the bottom might be ground into another surface or combust into something completely new.
Human effects on the land, including rampant urban development and carbon emissions, lack the tooth of change, relegating any sense of abatement into a corner. Perhaps a cul-de-sac dead end of its own making, questions arise about how value is measured, what relationship price has with making future, and—future for whom?
The exhibition is a play between two cul-de-sacs: one as a dead end, the other revealing possibility. The works of Christoph Gielen and Isabelle Hayeur question our assumptions about growth, mounting a disconnect between urban habitat and our responsibility to the natural environment. What can be gleaned from the work of Douglas Cardinal is a way forward, a planning process based on Indigenous values of living in harmony with the environment and connected to a deeper universe. What future is created when design is obliged to consider seven generations forward? What opens up with models of matriarchal understanding? And, how might market-based and sustainable design practices learn from the tenants of natural law?
Organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta. Curated by Amery Cavelli. Presented by PCL Construction as a part of the Poole Centre of Design.