Contemporary Calgary is a public

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

gallery located in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. Located in the former Centennial Planetarium/ Telus World of Science in the city's

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with two integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buil ...

, the gallery offers contemporary art programming by local, national, and international artists. It launched its inaugural season in 2020.

History

WATCH THIS SPACE CONTEMPORARY CALGARY sign

In 2013, three arts groups in Calgary the Institute of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Art Gallery of Calgary joined to form Contemporary Calgary, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a permanent public contemporary art gallery in the city. The group put forward a proposal to the

City of Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

to repurpose the vacant Centennial Planetarium for this goal. In June 2018, Contemporary Calgary reached an agreement with the city to lease the property for 25 years. The City of Calgary contributed $25 million to upgrade the building; the Canadian government committed $30 million, contingent on matching funds from the provincial government. The rest of the project was funded by private donations. In June 2019, Contemporary Calgary opened to the public for two days per week while renovations continued. In December 2019, it announced that this stage of renovations had been completed and that it would launch its first exhibitions in 2020, with opening hours expanded to six days per week. On January 23, 2020, the organization held its official opening, with two exhibitions nodding to the building's history as a planetarium: Planetary, a group exhibition created by 35 local artists during workshops and residencies held on site, and British artist

Luke Jerram Luke Jerram (born 1974) is a British installation artist. He creates sculptures, large artwork installations, and live arts projects. Artwork Jerram's work has been featured in over 900 exhibitions and is in over 50 permanent collections, incl ...

's large-scale ''Museum of the Moon'' installation. More than 1,200 people attended on opening night. In March 2020, the organization temporarily closed its physical location due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and began offering programming online. It reopened its doors in September 2020, with new exhibitions of works by

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

and Omar Ba.

Architecture

The Centennial Planetarium was built in 1967, to mark the

Canadian Centennial The Canadian Centennial was a yearlong celebration held in 1967 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Celebrations in Canada occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1. Commemorative coins were m ...

. It was built in the

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

style and a section includes a

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The rigid triangular elements of the dome distribute stress throughout the structure, making geodesic domes able to withstand very heavy ...

roof. The building housed a science centre (now

Telus Spark TELUS Spark Science Centre is a science museum with interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational demonstrations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There are more than 430,000 visitors annually, including over 82,000 students. The sci ...

) from the 1980s until 2011, at which time it became vacant. The building is located in the west end of Calgary's downtown core. In January 2019, Contemporary Calgary announced that it had selected

Bruce Kuwabara Bruce Bunji Kuwabara, ( OC, B.Arch, OAA, FRAIC, AIA, RIBA) is a Canadian architect and a founding partner of the firm KPMB Architects (formed in 1987). He is an invested Officer of the Order of Canada and recipient of the RAIC Gold Medal. He i ...

KPMB Architects KPMB is a Canadian architecture firm founded by Bruce Kuwabara, Thomas Payne, Marianne McKenna, and Shirley Blumberg, in 1987. It is headquartered in Toronto, where the majority of their work is found. Aside from designing buildings, the firm ...

(Toronto) to lead the renovation of the building, along with Gibbs Gage Architects (Calgary). The first phase of the project, including the renovation of a 7,000-square foot gallery, opened to the public in January 2020. The second phase of the project includes the construction of a 10,000-square foot gallery, a 3,000-square foot gallery, a rooftop sculpture garden, and an event space. The project also includes plans for a new entrance pavilion and a restaurant.

References

{{Calgary landmarks Museums in Calgary Art museums and galleries in Alberta Museums established in 2019 2019 establishments in Alberta