SIX SHORT FILMS ON A YEAR OF A RIVER
Millstone is a media project that documents the progressive transformation of the Millstone River over one year as it courses through Bowen Park. There are six signs located throughout Bowen Park that link to materials in this website.

Millstone, an interactive media project by artist, Curtis Grahauer is presented as part of the City of Nanaimo’s Temporary Public Art Program. The project consists of six films accessed using personal devices and QR codes found on signs located throughout Bowen Park (Nanaimo, BC). Filmed in a variety of dynamic locations over the course of a year, this project captures the life of the Millstone River as it ebbs and flows, ever-changing in resilient transformation. The artist’s long-term observations are compressed into shorter form, highlighting subtle changes in the surrounding environment that might otherwise be overlooked. Meaningful understanding requires that we slow down and reflect in quiet contemplation, observing the seasonal changes of the river, while absorbing the rhythms and beats of nature.

Millstone is an intimate, immersive experience wherein we consider our urban ‘wild’ spaces through a new lens. By doing so, the artist’s hope is that we gain heightened awareness of our environment, and how human interventions within these spaces frame our observations – something the artist refers to as the ‘super unnatural’. We might ask ourselves: What do we consider unnatural in nature? How does our interaction within our environment change our perception of it? In what ways does our presence preserve a natural balance? In what ways does it not?

Presented within the setting of a popular, local urban park, there is an unexpected and immediate quality to the film experience. One might ‘stumble’ upon the project in awed discovery, or one might seek it out, looking for new ways to understand our environment and appreciate the vibrancy of our City’s cultural scene. Engaging in this conversation means opening ourselves up to a narrative that challenges preconceived notions of public art. In broadening our understanding, we discover unexpected and dynamic platforms for cultural engagement, and re-examine what art can mean to our community. A poignant, insightful, and intimate reflection on our relationship with this place we call home, Millstone facilitates a dialogue wherein film exists unapologetically as an art form.

- Jaime-Brett Sine, Cultural Services Coordinator, Culture & Events, City of Nanaimo

CREDITS
Film + Editing - Curtis Grahauer
Sound - Pietro Sammarco
Music - Stephen Carl O'Shea
Design - Sarita Mielke, WILD/FREE Creative
Project Coordination (2021-2022) - Allison Collins, City of Nanaimo
Project Coordination (2023) - Jaime-Brett Sine, City of Nanaimo

*Created with support of the Temporary Public Art Program at the City of Nanaimo