Public Art

Modern Erratics Public Art Project

Saskatoon’s newest public art installation, Modern Erratics by internationally recognized artist duo Sans façon, is now on display in three locations across the city:

• Forestry Farm Park (1903 Forestry Farm Park Drive) uses recycled black and white plastic grain bags commonly used on prairie farms.   

• Diefenbaker Park (St. Henry Avenue, near the Optimist Hill parking lot) features colourful recycled bottle caps provided by SARCAN, reflecting materials commonly discarded in City parks.    

• Material Recovery Centre (42 Valley Road), the largest erratic, is constructed from broken, shredded black, blue and green carts formerly used by households across the city. 

Together, they form a city-wide artwork that explores the relationship between environment, waste and community.

Modern Erratics was commissioned through Saskatoon’s public art program as part of the Material Recovery Centre project.

About the Art

For over two million years massive ice sheets covered much of North America, carving and shaping our prairie landscape. As they receded over thousands of years, they deposited enormous rocks across Saskatchewan. In geological terms, these rocks are called "erratic" because they were transported hundreds or thousands of kilometres from their original bedrock and are mineralogically different from the place that now surrounds them

For millennia the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island have looked upon these rocks with reverence, as places of gathering and cultural and spiritual significance.

People intuitively gravitate towards erratics as destinations on the horizon, for what they signify and for their otherness. They speak of time and stillness, of enormous environmental forces difficult to contemplate.

Plastics made from fossil fuels are just over a century old, yet half of all plastics have been produced in the past 15 years. In Canada, despite ongoing efforts, 87 percent of plastic waste ends up in landfills or the environment. Once there, plastic does not disappear, with estimates suggesting it could take at least 400 years for it to break down. 

Created for the Material Recovery Centre and installed for three sites across Saskatoon, Modern Erratics is a recreation of erratic rocks crafted from post-consumer plastics recovered from prairie region waste. Based on 3D scans of existing Saskatchewan erratics, these modern erratics are geometric versions of the originals. The sculptures are built from different plastic waste material related to their site: grain bags, bottles tops, and broken waste carts.

These mineralogically odd "rocks" in our Saskatoon landscape invite reflection on the history and character of our environment, the disposability and value of materials, recycling policies and processes, and the forces that shape how we live as a society.

Artist Biography

For over twenty-five years artist duo Sans façon (Charles Blanc & Tristan Surtees) have been fascinated by the relationship between people and place. Based in Calgary, their diverse international practice includes ephemeral performances, large-scale permanent artworks, collaborative infrastructure projects, and developing and implementing city-wide strategies involving artists in discourse with a city. Their work tempts interaction with the surroundings and is developed in close collaboration with communities, organizations, and individuals, which have included City Councils, scholars, perfumers, composers, architects, and engineers.

Their first work for Saskatoon, the temporary project Cacher pour mieux montrer,  was realized in 2013 through the City’s Placemaker Program and was the recipient of an Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Award. Their work has continued to be recognized in multiple disciplines including the 2021 Canadian Society of Landscape Architecture Award of Excellence for their project Dale Hodges Park. 

Three years in the making, Modern Erratics will be their first permanent project in Saskatchewan.