The Opportunity
For Free First Thursday, Contemporary Calgary wanted to create an accessible connection between a local artist and the hundreds of visitors moving through the gallery that evening.
The experience needed to work within a busy public event, invite participation without creating a barrier to entry, and give visitors another way to encounter contemporary art outside the traditional gallery experience.
Alkali developed an activation that allowed visitors to leave not simply with a giveaway, but with a small piece of the creative experience.
The Creative Approach
Three original designs were created from Michelle Atkinson’s existing artistic practice, each connected to a value shared with Contemporary Calgary: curiosity, collaboration and connection.
The imagery originated in environmental and weather data that had been abstracted into graphic patterns and forms. Rather than presenting that information through charts or statistics, the activation offered another entry point: colour, pattern, story and conversation.
Visitors selected the artwork they connected with and watched it being heat-pressed onto a reusable black tote.
The process became part of the experience. While the heat press was running, conversations naturally emerged about where the imagery came from, how environmental information could become artwork, and the different ways people understand complex subjects.
Making It Real
The activation was designed around the realities of a high-volume public event.
Nearly 500 totes were prepared, with approximately 300 pre-pressed before the event so visitors could choose between watching their tote being created live or selecting a completed design.
This hybrid approach kept the experience moving while preserving the live making that attracted attention and encouraged conversation.
Signage introduced the three designs and their stories, while co-branding connected the objects back to Contemporary Calgary, Free First Thursday and the artist behind the work.
The Outcome
Approximately 750 people attended Free First Thursday, with roughly 450 art totes distributed during the evening.
Visitors gathered around the heat press to watch the process, compare designs and ask questions about the artwork. The most popular design, Collaboration, became an informal indicator of which story resonated most strongly with the audience.
More importantly, the activation created an approachable way to engage with ideas that can otherwise feel abstract.
As one visitor reflected:
“The work is beautiful and makes me pause… I tend to get overwhelmed with how much data is out there.”
That pause was the point.
Instead of asking visitors to absorb more information, the activation used creativity to create curiosity first—giving people something useful to carry home and an idea worth carrying with it.
Contemporary Calgary wanted to create a participatory experience that connected a local artist with the public during Free First Thursday. Alkali translated the gallery’s values into a series of wearable artworks, inviting visitors to choose a design and watch it heat-pressed live onto a tote they could take home.