Even if just for a minute...

Exploring ideas like spontaneity, sensory rituals, and noticing simple pleasures, ‘Even if just for a minute…’ is a collection of life-sized models that bring-to-life the meaning and power hidden in everyday moments.

Consider the welcomed interruption of a breeze through your open window, leaning at the kitchen counter as the kettle nearly boils, or letting an open faucet pour water over your hands – Even if just for a minute… Passers-by are invited to pause and consider the ordinary and sometimes mundane scenes of daily life that act as the settings for brief breaks where we derive meaning, pleasure, fun, or purpose.

This exhibit is the culmination and public sharing of the Everyday Moments of Leisure research project led by Dr. Karen Gallant of Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Health and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Quotes from local participants in the Everyday Moments of Leisure research project are combined with scenes of ordinary life artistically brought-to-life and life-sized by visual artist Nicole Leroy. Even if just for a minute… links the ordinary with the emotional and sensorial, producing an exhibit that is dedicated to the value and importance of the momentary.

The project is a collaboration of:
Dr. Rien “R.” Alexander, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo
Brittany Bhatnagar, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University
Dr. Karen Gallant, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University
Dr. Susan Hutchinson, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University
Dr. Heidi Lauckner, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University
Nicole Leroy, lead artist
Dr. Stephanie Mason, Faculty of Educational Studies, Brock University
Ashlyn Stevens, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University