Let's talk about the Alexandra Park Public Art project

The City of Brantford is inviting residents to provide input on three shortlisted proposals for a new public artwork, or a series of artworks, that will honour and celebrate the 150th anniversary of the invention of the telephone. The final commissioned sculpture(s) will be installed in Alexandra Park, located at 265 Dalhousie Street. Please review the three proposals below and provide your feedback through the survey before Monday, January 19, 2026, at 4:30 p.m.

Proposals

AHOY-HOY by Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster

Imagine the early days of the telephone and what it was like to hear a voice clearly, from an impossible distance, for the first time – it must have felt like magic! To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the invention of the telephone in Brantford, we want people to experience something approaching the wonder of those early phone calls. We are inspired by Alexander Graham Bell’s legacy of experimentation and testing, and believe that to honour this, the public artwork needs to not only depict and celebrate but also to directly engage its audience. AHOY-HOY is composed of two monumental bronze discs facing each other across Alexandra Park. Using the discs, people can whisper to each other 50 meters away to communicate and experience the wonder of distant speech. The discs are specially shaped parabolic reflectors that let them receive sound waves over large distances. Plaques at each sculpture will explain the connection to Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone and prompt visitors to position themselves in front of one disc so they may communicate across the park with persons at the opposite one.

Review the Artist Statement for AHOY-HOY

Journey to the Centre of the Dial Tone by Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett

Journey to the Centre of the Dial Tone is an interactive art installation inviting a multi-sensory exploration of the relationship between Brantford, Ontario, and long-distance telephone calling. Imagine that first phone call, almost 150 years ago, between Brantford and Paris, Ontario. Suddenly, you could cast your voice across kilometers at the speed of electricity! Every assumption about the way people could communicate over distance was upended. Conversations could transcend geography, space, and cultural differences. A vast distance was compressed into a single point of almost instantaneous sonic connection. We imagine the first long-distance phone call felt like falling into a Jules Verne novel – a fantastic voyage through science fiction, all inside a brand-new handheld device invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

From the perspective of now (a time when smartphones have far outpaced even the most imaginative predictions of yesteryear’s science fiction writers), it’s difficult to imagine how impossible that first telephone call must have seemed. But what if we could create a new public artwork to help capture some element of that long-ago wonder? What if an interactive installation could remind Brantfordians of the world-changing invention conceived in their own backyard? What if we could forge new connections between people, inviting conversation across the “long distance” that separates strangers from friends? Journey to the Centre of the Dial Tone invites the communal reconsideration of Telephone City through a creative shift in perspective.

Review the Artist Statement for Journey to the Centre of the Dial Tone

Hello by Kyle Thornley

Hello is a 28-foot-long sculptural visualization created to mark the 150th anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell’s breakthrough that made the telephone possible – the electrical transmission of the human voice. This discovery is the core achievement behind Bell’s invention and the foundation of modern communication technologies that followed, yet few of us could explain how it actually works. By giving physical form to this otherwise invisible process, Hello distills the story of the telephone into a single, enduring sculptural experience centered on the word hello – the most fundamental act of communication and the moment where every exchange begins. An ordinary word that carried extraordinary change.

The sculpture unfolds as a horizontal sound-wave visualizer tracing the telephone’s core process – spoken voice converted into an electrical pulse and reconstructed back into sound. Orange waveforms represent the human voice, blue forms express the electrical pulse, and vortex portals act as the microphone and receiver. Derived from recordings of hello spoken in multiple languages – including Haudenosaunee, in recognition of the original peoples of the Grand River territory – the waveforms reflect both the global reach of the telephone and its local origins. Beneath the suspended waves, a blue concrete river references the Grand River, where Bell spent time immersed in nature and where his inspiration first took shape, grounding the work within Brantford’s identity as the birthplace of the telephone.

Functioning as both a public artwork and an informal learning resource, Hello offers an intuitive and accessible interpretation of sound transmission, while inviting reflection on communication, connection, and innovation. Rooted in the landscape that inspired Bell 150 years ago, the sculpture transforms a world-changing idea into a shared public experience – affirming that while technologies evolve, the human impulse to reach outward and connect remains unchanged.

Review the Artist Statement for Hello

Share your thoughts

Residents are now invited to provide feedback on the three proposals using the form below. The final selected artist(s) will be determined through a combination of scoring criteria and deliberation by the Selection Panel.

Project Background

This new public art piece will honour and celebrate the life and legacy of Alexander Graham Bell, the invention of the telephone in Brantford, and the profound global impact of his invention. Unlike the existing monument dedicated to Bell, located in Bell Memorial Park, this new work will explore broader themes such as communication, the 150th anniversary, distance, interconnectedness, and more. Three shortlisted artists have been selected through an open, two-stage process facilitated by STEPS Public Art, a Canadian charity and social enterprise that fosters vibrant communities through public art, and have developed detailed proposals.