Belle Park Project Presents “Unearthed”

Kingston, ON - Unearthed is a weeklong series of artistic installations, conversations, and experiments that seeks to reveal and imagine some of the stories of Belle Park.
 
Belle Park was built fifty years ago on a landfill that had previously been a wetland for thousands of years. From August 26-30, 2023, six artists will bring diverse perspectives to connect the history of the park with pressing contemporary social and environmental concerns. They will help us think about way-finding, home, identity, play, plants, and the land we stand on.
 
Unearthed is a walk in the park with a twist. 
 
Artists Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Vince Ha, Noah Scheinman, Elyse Longair and Evalyn Parry will activate spaces in the park on various days throughout the week through music, geocaching activities, and temporary art installations. Information will be available on site at the times indicated below.
 
An exhibition at the Art and Media Lab in the Isabel Bader Centre will be running concurrently showing work by Jung-Ah Kim, Elyse Longair, and Vince Ha. Together, the art in the gallery and in the park seeks to suggest ways of engaging with a rich space with an uncertain future.

Schedule (for more info and updates see https://belleparkproject.com/events/unearthed)
 
August 26
 Belle Park (731 Montreal St) 
3:00-6:00pm –
Exhibit opening with Dave Mowat (Alderville First Nation) and curators
Spoken Word performance by Billie the Kid
Artist introductions (Evalyn Parry, Vince Ha, Elyse Longair, and Noah Scheinman)
Guided tour to artistic sites including live music
 
August 27
Belle Park (731 Montreal St) 
3:00-6:00pm - Information available at parking lot tent, informal tours with artists, curators, volunteers
 
August 28
Isabel Centre for the Performing Arts (390 King St W) 
12:00-4:00pm - Art and Media Lab - Exhibition Open
3:00-5:00pm - Room 222 - Panel Discussion w/ all artists and curators featuring poetry reading by Laura Murray
5:00-6:30pm - Art and Media Lab - Reception
 
August 29
Isabel Centre for the Performing Arts (390 King St W) 
12:00-4:00pm - Art and Media Lab - Exhibition Open
 
Belle Park (731 Montreal St) 
3:00-6:00pm - Information available at parking lot tent; independent touring of artworks
 
August 30
Isabel Centre for the Performing Arts (390 King St W) 
12:00-4:00pm Art and Media Lab - Exhibition Open
 
Belle Park (731 Montreal St) 
3:00-6:00pm - Information available at parking lot tent; independent touring of artworks
7:00-8:30pm - Performance by Cheryl L’Hirondelle

About Belle Park Project
 
Unearthed is part of the ongoing Belle Park Project launched in 2021 and running through 2025.
 
For thousands of years, the space now known as Belle Park was a marsh, some 44 hectares in size, extending from the west shore of the Cataraqui River to Belle Island. From 1952 to 1974 the City of Kingston used the area as a landfill. By 1978, the landfill had been covered over to serve as a golf course. In 2019 the City released a new Master Plan for the park, which has yet to be implemented. The site is toxic, and yet full of life. Beavers, birds, and humans make homes here. 
 
Recognizing toxic histories and ongoing challenges, the Belle Park Project nonetheless seeks to see the space as a generator of questions, relationships, and life. We hope that our work with Belle Park is not only of significance for people in Kingston/Ka’tarohkwi, but also for those seeking to understand or inhabit similarly complex sites in other cities. We draw from many disciplinary and community knowledges, giving special place to multisensory experience and artistic or research creation modes of thinking and doing. We are committed to developing and sharing high quality research and art through the life of the project, and doing so with and for people who care for and about this place. 

This project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).