loading...
Canwest News Service
A choreographed rumble, a world tea party and a procession of performing circles are among the public art works coming to downtown Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Part of the Olympic and Paralympic Public Art program, the art in Bright Light will be taking place outdoors and indoors in venues around the Carrall Street Greenway, the $5 million bikeway and pedestrian route meant to link north False Creek with Burrard Inlet and complete a loop around downtown and Stanley Park. The greenway is scheduled to open in mid-December.
The $300,000 Bright Light program of 14 events and exhibitions is funded by the city of Vancouver. Although it’ll be part of the many festive activities and events in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics, it isn’t part of the Cultural Olympiad, the official arts and cultural celebration organized and paid for by Vanoc.
The kickoff for Bright Light takes place Jan. 17 at Centre A, which is on the Carrall Greenway at Hastings. In the world of art, that’s a historically significant day because it marks Art’s Birthday.
On that day in 1963 the French artist Robert Filliou proposed that art was officially born a million years earlier when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water.
Whether the event actually occurred doesn’t matter. What is important, Filliou believed, is thinking of art as a permanent creation.
Filliou was part of the ’60s Fl uxus art movement, which believed in erasing the boundaries between life and art. Fluxus artists had a trickster-like attitude to art that included challenging all art conventions, including turning art into objects for the marketplace.
Filliou visited Vancouver several times and found a natural home among the avant-garde artists at the Western Front.
One memorable Fluxus-inspired performance occurred in 1974 when Mr. Peanut ran for mayor under the slogan: ‘Elect a nut for mayor.’ He lost but generated lots of headlines for his cheeky take on the political process. Since then, Art’s Birthday has been kept alive through the Eternal Network, a loose affiliation of international artist-run centres that includes the Western Front.
In keeping with the Fluxus spirit, all Bright Light events and performances are free. After the launch mid-January, Bright Light runs from Feb. 12 to March 21. All the highlights below take place during that period unless otherwise indicated. – Brawl will be a large-scale performance artwork by the Vancouver artist collective Norma. It’s being described as a choreographed, dramatically lit rumble in Andy Livingstone Park from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24. – Centre A will be the host of the latest incarnation of the World Tea Party curated by Bryan Mulvihill. Video projections of concurrent tea parties in other cities will be projected on the gallery’s exterior while, across the street in Pigeon Park, passersby can enjoy lively discussions and aromatic teas from a roving tea cart. – For anyone with the winter blahs, the artist collective Instant Coffee will be presenting Light Bar, a full-spectrum light bar installation and venue for light therapy, light lectures, light shows, light reading and light rock at 33 West Cordova St. /
Blood Alley. – The Procession of Performing Circles is designed as a ceremonial parade through the Downtown Eastside, on March 7 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Curated by Glenn Lewis, the event will include works from choreographers Margaret Dragu, Colleen Lanki and Karen Jamieson as well as performances by Jamieson’s Carnegie Centre troupe, Leaky Heaven Circus, Vancouver Carnival Band and Vancouver Morris Men. – After the annual Spring Equinox Smudge Ceremony at Main & Hastings, the focus shifts north to Crab Park for the Nighthawk Aboriginal Arts & Music Festival with the Git Hayetsk dancers & drummers, on March 21 from 2 to 9 p.m.
Bright Light details are at bright-light.ca
kevingriffin@vancouversun.com
