The Sonic Runway art exhibition helped draw community to waterfront

The temporary art event held at Pier 8 over the month of Novemeber, immersed community in a unique sound and light show in an effort to draw them to the waterfront

From Nov. 1 to 26 between the hours of 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., the city of Hamilton held a temporary art exhibition at the Pier 8 waterfront called Sonic Runway. The event immersed citizens in a light installation, which sent sound signals to create patterns of light down a walkway. The exhibition was free for everyone to attend.

Peter Fortune, placemaking, public art and projects manager for the city of Hamilton, explained that from, the beginning, the exhibition hoped to create awareness for the waterfront, showcase the potential of Pier 8 and encourage community members to visit.

Fortune's role in the city is to come up with placemaking and public art initiatives to transform spaces and make them appealing places to visit. Placemaking refers to developing a part of a city so that people would want to live and establish themselves there.

Community members can approach Fortune and share with him what they are hoping to see and he can then work with them to bring creativity to the city.

Fortune discussed how Sonic Runway was the first large-scale placemaking initiative the city has run.

"I don't think the site has experienced anything like that before. . . also this is one of the few times that we've brought in nationally recognized artists [for events like] Sonic Runway," said Fortune.

Feedback for the event was overwhelmingly positive. Over 20,000 people visited the exhibition while it was open.

Fortune hoped that, with this event and others like it, the collective creativity identity of the city will continue to develop as the community gains more insight and involvement with Hamilton's creative and artistic side while taking part in placemaking and meaningful experiences.

Fortune also highlighted how the principal part of the exhibition was to encourage students and others to dream, by showing how the things they learn in class can be translated into the real world and offering an opportunity to learn more about the chance to learn about the technical side of placemaking, such as user interface design and electrical engineering. Students could see how they might apply their own skills within this field and how choosing an arts-based career, while it might be difficult, does pay off.

Fortune also hoped the project helped to change student perspective of the city, highlighting how there is more to it than just campus and giving places like the waterfront a new image and identity, rather than being only seen for industrial purposes.

"Instead of just being on campus and cloistered there, go and explore the city and realize that [it] has the ability to surprise you. This is one of those examples of something that could definitely surprise you because I'm not sure if a lot of people [realize that]," said Fortune.

Fortune encouraged students to check out future events the city of Hamilton will host, especially for the winter and holiday season. With so much creativity in the city, there is sure to be something for everyone to enjoy. Events can be found here.