Calgary·Video

Sculpture made of tape a sticky, temporary attraction in downtown Calgary Plus-15

A sticky piece of public art is being unspooled in a Plus-15 space in downtown Calgary.

Hands-on art installation in Bankers Hall part of High Performance Rodeo

Artist Peter Trosztmer says his installation, #boxtape, is meant to provoke thinking about the how communities interact with their environments. (CBC)

A sticky piece of public art is being unspooled in a Plus-15 space in downtown Calgary.

The installation #boxtape is an intricate three-storey web made entirely of the clear, sticky tape. 

Artists with L'Equipe Boxtape put up the work in the walkway between Bankers Hall and the Core Shopping Centre as part of the High Performance Rodeo arts and theatre festival. It will stay up until Jan. 28.

Boxtape brings 3-storey giant web to Bankers Hall

8 years ago
Duration 0:44
A sticky piece of public art is being unspooled in a Plus-15 space in downtown Calgary. Boxtape is an intricate three-storey web made entirely of the clear, sticky tape.

Its creators say the project lies somewhere between performance art and sculpture, as the artists weave their way through the tangled spaces, making adjustments here and there to the reams of tape.

The sculpture is meant to explore ideas of community and how it relates to the environment, says artist Peter Trosztmer.

"We also love the idea that if you're sitting on top of this thing, you're inhabiting a space that no other human being has inhabited before," he said.

The sculpture installation at Bankers Hall is part of the High Performance Rodeo. (CBC)

"It's an exciting idea, an exciting topic."

Trosztmer says the installation gets people stopping, talking, and even getting inside to explore.

"Just being able to sit in it, and feel your body in a different place, in a different environment and having a different reaction to its place," he said.

The High Performance Rodeo runs until Feb. 2.