NEWS: West Georgia Never Looked So Good

By Think City Staff

The faces of six Chinese toddlers mounted on billboard-sized display panels stare out at the traffic whistling past on West Georgia Street. A reflecting pond created by captured rainwater throws their awestruck images back at the sky.

Around the corner, shrouded by a dense stand of green bamboo, a set of aluminum stairs descends to meet the oncoming pedestrian traffic on Alberni Street just west of Thurlow.

The space owes much to the design of architect James Cheng, in that it integrates a venue of artistic expression into the rapid pace of urban street life. The monumental display panels on Georgia St. can be seen in a glance from across the street, but for those who choose to more thoroughly explore the space, there is the opportunity to develop a more complex and intimate understanding of the exhibits.

This is Offsite, an outdoor exhibition space that opened this summer and will present a series of public art exhibits that will change every six months. Exhibits at Offsite will be organized and curated by the Vancouver Art Gallery, with funding from the city's public art program.

The $350 million Living Shangri-La project was an example of creative planning and development. In exchange for additional density, Westbank Projects Inc., the developer of Living Shangri-La, worked with the city's cultural amenity bonusing program to create Offsite as a public amenity contribution.

"Offsite allows the Vancouver Art Gallery to expand its dynamic contemporary art program beyond the walls of the building to engage an even broader audience in new and exciting ways," said Kathleen Bartels, director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. "In this new dynamic space, we will present a wide range of inspiring and provocative work, from photography and sculpture to video and installation, allowing thousands of passersby to encounter the creations of internationally acclaimed artists on a daily basis."

The inaugural display at Offsite is Horizon (Sky), a photographic installation by Chinese artist O Zhang. According to the VAG, "the artist returned to the rural area of her youth in central China to photograph the young village girls who live there. Posing in front of a camera for the first time, the children stare into the lens, returning the gaze of the viewer...."

However, it is Vancouver's evolution from cultural backwater to emerging hotspot that is one of the most encouraging developments in a city that has traditionally prided itself for its anarchic frontier roots, its proximity to wilderness, and its corresponding lack of urbanity and exposure to the corrupting influences of culture.

Quietly Vancouver has built a reputation for public art that has now come into focus with the Olympic and Paralympic public art program. In recent years Vancouver's public art has become nuanced and challenging, and we are now attracting artists of international stature - many of whom now have their works on display for the Olympic Games.

Offsite is also an example of a more mature, sophisticated approach to the public amenity contributions the city requires of major developers. Often these mandatory contributions have been stingy, formulaic and contrived to achieve bare minimal compliance with city rules.

In contrast, Offsite is an inspiring example of what can happen when a developer works together with the city and a major cultural institution to do something innovative and just outside of everyone's comfort zone.