PublicART: Eagles in the City

(Photo by LK Cavers)

When visiting Vancouver a few months back, it was hard not to notice the 7½ foot bald eagles taking over public spaces every several intersections (and in places you would least expect).

Modelled after other similar city art projects, 'Eagles In The City' intends:

• To create an event that provides maximum exposure to sponsoring organizations, artists and the recipient charity
• To invite tourists from around the world to visit our province and share in our culture
• To produce an event that encourages the 'Arts', local businesses and individuals to come together in a spirit of community fundraising, benefiting the important work of the BC Lions Society's Easter Seal Services.
• To generate artistic creativity and showcase BC artists
• To celebrate the cultural diversity of our province and promote civic pride
• To capture the imagination of children, adults, and tourists alike
• To raise much needed funds to provide Easter Seal Services to children with disabilities

There seems to be a lot more done about showcasing homegrown artists and their projects in B.C. than there is here in Toronto. Correct me if I'm wrong... Perhaps I should ask the Buttercup girls.

More about this public art project can be found here. For more about Vancouver's Public Art Program proceed this way.

PublicART: Watertable

Saw this in the Globe and Mail yesterday but didn't get around to posting it.

Photo: Ryan Enn Hughes for The Globe and Mail

Watertable is a new media sculpture that uses the architecture of the Gardiner Expressway to echo the natural condition of the site when it marked the water’s edge in the early days of the city’s history.

Winners of the 2005 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak developed Watertable as part of an International open competition held in 2007.

Watertable is a lighting and audio installation that will create the look and sound of moving water: undulating LED lights accompanied by the sound of lake waves will respond to current wind conditions at the site. This will be the first new media artwork in the City of Toronto’s permanent Public Art Collection.

Watertable was unvieled on October 21st, 2009 and not only creates a landmark underneath the cold ruins of the Gardiner, but also connects the city with the waterfront. It isn't in a very human-scale (see above photo) but for a space like this, if it wasn't larger than life, then the space would lose its atmospheric essence for even those in cars passing by.

For a site which has had the reputation to be relatively grey and dominated by the automobile, this is a step in the right direction for all the underutilized public space found beneath the Gardiner. Let's hope this trend continues.