Four diverse artists from around the globe came together Saturday night in 麻豆社国产to say good-bye and share their experiences after six weeks here. 聽聽
Vancouver Biennale had brought the four to Quest University as artists in residency.
The artists鈥� temporary interactive public installations and interventions, created during their stay, were meant to transform perceptions both of 麻豆社国产and of public art, according to Barrie Mowatt, founder of Vancouver Biennale.
Some of the artists鈥� works were set up Saturday along the banks of the 麻豆社国产River.聽
The displays included a cardboard 鈥減op-up鈥� installation by Rathin Barman from India and a photographic intervention by Jonathan Luckhurst from Alberta. A 20-foot high installation of community-donated suitcases by Tammam Azzam, who is in exile from Syria, has been placed near Quest. Kristin McIver of Australia created a natural sounds installation on the banks of the river and installed a neon sign that reads 鈥淭his Beautiful Day鈥� in downtown Squamish.聽
Barman鈥檚 piece, a cardboard teashop titled 鈥淧lease Don鈥檛 Tweet This!鈥� arose out of his observation that people in 麻豆社国产turn to Google to find the location of businesses.
鈥淧eople don鈥檛 interact with the space, physically,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is no sense of discovery or sense of unexpected things to discover so I wanted this to be placed in locations where you can鈥檛 expect a teashop or coffee shop.鈥�
On Saturday night, passersby did seem surprised. Several people approached the cardboard structure and tried to sit down, or poked at the table to see if it was real.聽
Luckhurst鈥檚 piece, 鈥淚llusory Constructs,鈥� a photograph of blocks against a wall mounted on metal tresses, aimed to get people thinking about the intersection of human made structures and nature. 鈥淚 want to inspire open dialogue between issues such as liquefied natural gas and maybe the [proposed] ski hill and maybe even the gondola. Construction is such a grey zone and we all take part in it; you can鈥檛 point your finger at one person or one form of industry,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he theme of Biennale is crossroads and for me, I think about that in terms of ecological crossroads, how do we move forward as a society, how do we balance our needs versus the needs of nature.鈥�
Beyond inspiration for creating his art installation, the time in 麻豆社国产has also inspired Luckhurst to want to move to the district. He has extended his stay and plans to return permanently, he said.
For Azzam, the night was bittersweet. He said he enjoyed his time in 麻豆社国产but wished he were going home to his native Syria, rather than to Dubai where he has been living in exile since 2011 due to the ongoing war in his homeland. His installation of suitcases, 鈥淐rossing Borders Ma A鈥橞ar,鈥� reflects the no-man鈥檚-land in which he and other exiled Syrians find themselves.
鈥淚t is a waiting area,鈥� he said, adding for people in Canada, a suitcase represents travel and holidays. 鈥淔or us, for the other side, we just see it as refugees and destroyed buildings and homelessness 鈥� so the same object has two different sides, totally.鈥澛�
Mowatt said all the pieces contributed to the theme of art as a catalyst for thought.
鈥淟ook at it. It is not what you think it is,鈥� he said.聽
