This project brought art and quirky commentary to Calgary's parking lots

If you noticed art displays popping up around Calgary this weekend, you weren't the only one. 

On Saturday and Sunday, Calgary-based artists took over several parking lots with art projects built into and around a number of vehicles that travelled throughout the city. 

The exhibition, dubbed Idle Worship, is a mobile showcase of art and performance in trunks, back seats, box trucks, minivans, and automobiles, designed specifically for the context of parking lots across the greater Calgary area. 

"We dedicate a lot of our cities to roads and parking lots and these spaces, I think, could be more absurd," said Caitlind Brown, an organizer and part of the artist-driven project.

"[The spaces] could be weirder and come with more conversations."

The movement brought art to unsuspecting crowds near malls, big-box stores and grocery shops.

People were climbing into a U-Haul, peeking in car windows — and jumping into the mouth of an unidentified species. 

Abebe Kebede was just out to grab a coffee with a friend when he noticed something next to him.

While they were chatting in the car, one of the art pieces was set up right beside them. 

"When I saw that [being set up], I thought, 'what, I have to go see it,'" he said. "It looked like a weird animal's mouth opening, it's so amazing, I really like it."

The exhibit popped up in every one of Calgary's quadrants.

Idle Worship has a performance art component, too. One artist sat in his vehicle with dirt and flowers, giving the viewers a choice: water the plant or water the boy. 

And there was some tongue and cheek commentary.

Khalid Omokanye said his piece is about greenwashing— a popular marketing tactic that brands use to give the impression that their business practices are sustainable and fight climate change, without actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

His project is housed in the back of a pick-up truck.

"I made a little sculpture there, that drops seeds as I am driving, potentially planting a forest in my wake," he said. "So this vehicle becomes no longer an issue because it plants enough trees to fix its problems." 

Given the circumstances of the art show, Brown was surprised that there were no issues at all. 

"This has been a remarkably problem-free exhibition, considering we are literally just touching down in parking lots without asking for permission from the property owners, and then getting up and driving away," she said. 

"The great thing about this exhibition is that if there had been any problems, we could've just packed up and left."