In Focus: Margins of the Functional
March 18, 2010
This series of photos was taken in and around Vancouver over the last two years. Filtered from over two hundred images, I selected these as the core of an exhibition I called “Development: A Pedestrian View”, my first solo showing of photographic works which was mounted at Britannia Art Gallery in January 2010.
Statement and Photos by aXo
The Miss Guides Part II
March 10, 2010
Since last summer, Vancouver has been home to three performance artists who call themselves The Miss Guides - Natalie, Katherine, and Sean, also known as Dorian, anna swede, and Kidskid – have been using the downtown streets of Vancouver as their canvas, with the city’s storeys and their stories as their inspiration. Not to be confused with other walking tours, architectural or otherwise, regularly put on by the likes of the Gastown Business Improvement Society and Architecture Institute of B.C., a walk with The Miss Guides is a strolling theatre, an insightful performance of wit and revelation, with surprises for both the tourist and local alike.
Review by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
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The Gallery in the City
January 13, 2010
AGO stair overlooking Grange Park
With the recent reopening of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, along with a newly renovated Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, re:place contributor Sean Ruthen ponders the role of the art gallery in the city, as well as the future of our own Vancouver Art Gallery here in the Lower Mainland.
Photos and text by Sean Ruthen
In Focus: Faces
December 24, 2009
I’ve had the idea of doing wide angle, unflattering portraits for a while now. It’s an interesting way to see a version of yourself.
Statement and Photos by David Denofreo
Release: Vectorial Elevation to light up Vancouver nights during 2010 Winter Games
November 25, 2009
A City of Vancouver and VANOC joint release
Vancouver, BC — Beams of light pointed towards the stars will illuminate English Bay and the night sky in downtown Vancouver this coming February as part of a Cultural Olympiad and City of Vancouver special event for the 2010 Winter Games.
Starting at dusk on February 4, 2010, 20 robotic searchlights will create a quiet canopy of light in the night sky above and on the sparkling surface of English Bay below with designs created by people around the world and delivered via the Internet. Called Vectorial Elevation, it is the first time the internationally celebrated work of art will be displayed in Canada and over a body of water.
The 10,000-watt lights will move and create patterns silently from locations in Vanier Park and Sunset Beach that cover an area of 100,000 square metres and be visible within 15 kilometres of the city’s downtown core, stretching to Richmond, the peaks of Cypress and Grouse mountains and freighters and boats on the water.
This large-scale temporary public art installation is co-commissioned by the City of Vancouver’s Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program and Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, presented by Bell, with support from the Province of Quebec. The installation — considered one of the world’s largest interactive artworks — is by Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and is part of CODE, the Cultural Olympiad’s Digital Edition.
“As Host City for the 2010 Winter Games, we’re happy to collaborate with the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad and the Province of Quebec to bring this amazing artwork to Vancouver,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “Vectorial Elevation is a unique, magical work that local residents, visitors and people from around the world can enjoy. The installation will not only brighten our night skies, but also bring the Games to the world in an unexpected, interactive way.”
More than two million people are expected to view the installation in person in Metro Vancouver, as well as internationally via www.vectorialvancouver.net or www.vancouver2010.com/code. The event runs regardless of the weather until February 28, 2010.
Visitors to www.vectorialvancouver.net can design how the lights will move, their angles and how they are clustered in timed sequences to create their own patterns for the world to see. A personalized webpage will be automatically created for each participant to document their design. Organizers estimate 130,000 different patterns will be created in the 24 days the project operates from dusk to dawn.
“Vectorial Elevation is world-renowned and we wanted to see its majestic choreography unfold over Canadian skies for the very first time as part of the 2010 Winter Games,” said Burke Taylor, vice president of culture and celebrations for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). “Lozano-Hemmer’s inspired work manifests the spirit of connectivity that we want to convey through the entire CODE project. It’s about using the power of digital technology to include the world in our celebrations.”
A real-time video stream of the work from four cameras placed around English Bay can be accessed on the Internet. Those who opt to create patterns can also send a personal dedication to friends or a sweetheart anywhere in the world at www.vectorialvancouver.net. The project was developed in consultation with the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.
“Vectorial Elevation is a quiet, contemplative display of light sculptures that will connect many countries around the world with Vancouver. When I saw English Bay I knew it would be the perfect spot to create our largest canopy of light to date and for the first time we are also able to use renewable energy,” said Montreal-based Lozano-Hemmer.
Previously, the installation was staged in Mexico, Spain, Ireland, and France where it received accolades such as Lyon’s prestigious Trophée des Lumières.
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About the City of Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program
The City of Vancouver’s Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program is an ambitious collection of newly commissioned temporary and permanent artworks for 2010. The program includes more than 20 public art projects, spanning large-scale legacy installations and artist-initiated works. For more information about the Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program, visit the Creative City section of the Host City website.
About the Cultural Olympiad
The Cultural Olympiad, presented by Bell, is a series of multidisciplinary festivals and digital programs showcasing the best in Canadian and international arts and popular culture. Launched in 2008, the program culminates in the 60-day Cultural Olympiad 2010 (January 22 to March 21, 2010), which begins before and continues throughout the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. CODE is the Cultural Olympiad’s digital edition, a series of programs developed to creatively engage national and global audiences through the use of digital technology.
In Focus: A note to let you know I got this far - Postcards, West End
September 30, 2009
A visual essay looking at the associations between the physical environment and memory within the West End.
Statement and Photos by Dave Semeniuk
In Focus: Photos of some of Vancouver’s fountains at night
August 6, 2009
Statement and Photos by the Fountainman
Many, if not most, of Vancouver’s fountains have their own lighting which can really change their appearance after the sun goes down, sometimes quite dramatically. Read more
The Miss Guides
July 8, 2009
Modern art or public nuisance?
Text and photos by Sean Ruthen, re:place magazine
“…the creative possibilities inherent in repetition, and particular environments and moments in time.” - from Dorian’s bio
Three innovative artists have arrived on the Vancouver scene, offering up a ‘happening’ in the full John Cage sense, and they are called the Miss Guides. Part walking tour and part performance art, guides Anna Swede, Dorian, and Kid Skid offer four profound vignettes of Vancouver’s current scenography in a one hour long walk (book here), proffering themselves up to the spectacle that pre-Olympic preparation has brought to our city. Read more
In Focus: Ivan Oyarzun/Selected Images
June 25, 2009
“…the sectors of the city are to some extent decipherable but the personal meaning they have had for us is incommunicable…we are seperated from the city by our own non-intervention.”
- Guy Debord
(Critique de la Seperation: Paris 1961)
You can approach the city as a Flaneur, capturing images and engaging with the city in a way that places the changes you see in a ‘romantic’ light. Navigating through spaces with some visual intention gathering ’scenes’ to define the city in your own image or you may feel that the city should be understood anonymously as a ‘passer-by’ creating a visual language that forms a narrative of urban life: As a ‘Usager de la Ville’ who acts similarly to the Flanuer. Read more
In Focus: Diversity
May 27, 2009
Statement and Photos by Philip Tong
In Vancouver, we are fortunate to be able to interact with so many diverse cultures and people. There is always something interesting going on in this city. Read more
