Imaginary Ordinary by Eric Moschopedis and Laura Leif
A community centre meets pop-up performance space. For regular people, by regular people.
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Created by: Eric Moschopedis and Laura Leif (with Mia Rushton)
Participants: residents of Crescent Heights, Regal Terrace, and Renfrew, Calgary, AB. 8 May to 29 August 2009. Imaginary Ordinary is a social networking site where different groups or individuals of all ages can meet and connect with one another. Imaginary Ordinary is a community centre – a place where everybody in the neighbourhood can come to participate in activities, share information, or simply browse and hang out |
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The Project
Imaginary Ordinary opened its doors on May 8th, 2008. For the next four months, people sat on the chairs drinking tea, moved the chairs to the side and held tap dance classes, traded plants, yelled at cars through megaphones, cooked, cut cardboard, held shows, and talked together. On August 29th, there was a giant party at Imaginary Ordinary. The next morning the pictures were taken down, the table rolled out, and the tea cups packaged up forever. This website is a tribute to what happened during the four months of this project, the intentions as well as the result.
The Idea
Imaginary Ordinary is a social networking site where different groups or individuals of all ages can meet and connect with one another. Imaginary Ordinary is a community centre—a place where everybody in the neighbourhood can come to participate in activities, share information, or simply to browse and hang out.
Community centres can create a “map” of a community. They identify and connect the people who live, work, and play within a neighbourhood. Community centres are for everybody: the rich, the poor, and people of all different races, ages, and cultural backgrounds. They include people based on shared geography instead of shared demographics or ideals. They exist to support the claim that by virtue of living somehwere, you belong. You are a part of what constitutes and makes up that community. In this way, community centres are not so much about the physical building—the hardwood floors and the tar on the roof—but about the people who use the centre and the relationships that they have to each other and to their places.
In addition to being a nice place to hang out, Imaginary Ordinary will host a variety of one-time and ongoing events. These will include a question and answer series, a walking club, panel discussions with kids, music events (shows!), pot lucks, dance parties, and these curious yellow kits with activities in them that people can borrow to use within the community. Anyone can come to Imaginary Ordinary, but we will be focusing on the communities of Renfrew (Regal Terrace) and Crescent Heights.
Imaginary Ordinary opened its doors on May 8th, 2008. For the next four months, people sat on the chairs drinking tea, moved the chairs to the side and held tap dance classes, traded plants, yelled at cars through megaphones, cooked, cut cardboard, held shows, and talked together. On August 29th, there was a giant party at Imaginary Ordinary. The next morning the pictures were taken down, the table rolled out, and the tea cups packaged up forever. This website is a tribute to what happened during the four months of this project, the intentions as well as the result.
The Idea
Imaginary Ordinary is a social networking site where different groups or individuals of all ages can meet and connect with one another. Imaginary Ordinary is a community centre—a place where everybody in the neighbourhood can come to participate in activities, share information, or simply to browse and hang out.
Community centres can create a “map” of a community. They identify and connect the people who live, work, and play within a neighbourhood. Community centres are for everybody: the rich, the poor, and people of all different races, ages, and cultural backgrounds. They include people based on shared geography instead of shared demographics or ideals. They exist to support the claim that by virtue of living somehwere, you belong. You are a part of what constitutes and makes up that community. In this way, community centres are not so much about the physical building—the hardwood floors and the tar on the roof—but about the people who use the centre and the relationships that they have to each other and to their places.
In addition to being a nice place to hang out, Imaginary Ordinary will host a variety of one-time and ongoing events. These will include a question and answer series, a walking club, panel discussions with kids, music events (shows!), pot lucks, dance parties, and these curious yellow kits with activities in them that people can borrow to use within the community. Anyone can come to Imaginary Ordinary, but we will be focusing on the communities of Renfrew (Regal Terrace) and Crescent Heights.
