General Store: Creative Realm

3D model of the proposed bicycle trailer design

The General Store’s third iteration, The Roaming General Store, celebrated the holistic economy that 17th avenue brings into the lives of Calgarians, created in collaboration with Nikki Martens. Due to ongoing road construction, activity in the area was declining. Our intention with this performative installation was to elongate the time visitors spent in the area, making it meaningful and memorable.

The General Store is the first store to trade in all forms of capital: Material, Cultural, Intellectual, Spiritual, Financial, Experiential, Living, and Social. We’ll barter a joke for a coffee, a temporary tattoo for coordinates to your favourite camp spot, or a language lesson for your best dance moves. To highlight the uniques offerings of 17th avenue, we stocked our mobile, pop-up store with items that from several small, local businesses, along with ephemera and bric-a-brac from our own collection. The legacy of The Roaming General Store culminated in a community created collection from our week of interactions, housed within a display cabinet, that now lives in front of Beano Cafe.