In the 2014-2016 Exhibition, residents and visitors of Squamish will be treated to incredible art displays at different public places thanks to the sponsors, who are local businesses and organizations. The District of Squamish is also a sponsor in this initiative.
Some of the artworks that are already up in Squamish include the Salish Sea Lab by Chris Landau and Miguel Horn that is located at the Squamish Adventure Centre, This Beautiful Day by Kirstin Mclver in Downtown Squamish and the Crossing Borders Maa’Bar by Tammam Azzam on Coast Mountain Academy at Quest University Canada.
Biennale is an Italian word meaning bi-annual, which goes a long way in telling us about the origin of the shows. The very first biennale was in Venice in 1895 and since then, there have been numerous other similar shows in many other cities all over the world. Some of the most notable ones include Berlin, Paris, New York and now, we have a biennale in Vancouver!
It is not uncommon to find top international artists in these shows, which explains why a good number of cultural tourists stop at nothing to ensure that they visit as many of the areas with these artworks as possible. The shows are something many people like to call an open-air museum, which is a perfect blend of art and nature. Needless to say, this is a unique kind of art that can’t just be made in any other way.
In Vancouver, the outdoor biennale is unique in that it includes a number of the neighbouring municipalities. Some of these municipalities include Surrey, New Westminster, Richmond and the City of North Vancouver. The best part? These pieces of art are 100% available and accessible by the public.
The Vancouver Biennale places a lot of emphasis on sculptures and even has a school program known as Big Ideas Educational Program for budding artists. The organization also plans tourism-oriented fun activities like the Bikennale, which is a non-profit fund raiser that gives participants the chance to ride bikes together as a group to the different locations where the artworks are found in Squamish.
The latest public activity by the Vancouver Biennale is the Rules for Vancouver poll, which allows residents and visitors to share their thoughts about a text based artwork. This artwork was created by Peter Liversidge, a British residency artist who explored the city of Vancouver for inspiration in a 2014 International Artist Residency. Rules for Vancouver was number 49 out of his list of 60 proposals for artworks in Vancouver.
In this proposal, Liversidge made 17 conceptual rules concerning art. The poll invites members of the community to vote for their favourite rule and also to go wild and add new rules that they think should be on the list. This poll has been open to the public since March 21 and will go on until May 1, 2016.
From outdoor fun activities like bikennales and walkennales to educational events in schools, Vancouver Biennale is making massive process in creating an open-air museum in various parts of Squamish. The organization also hosts residency artists from all over the world to ensure diversity in the art in Vancouver.
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