Blue trees will be sprouting up in New Westminster as part of the Vancouver Biennale – but that’s just the beginning.
New Westminster city council has committed $90,000 from the city’s public art reserve fund toward the Vancouver Biennale, which proposes “open air museums” in participating communities. The event gets underway in the spring of 2014 and continues into 2015.
“Imagine the possibilities. Just imagine the possibilities,” Biennale Vancouver founder and president Barrie Mowatt told The Record, when asked about his message to residents. “Be ready to explore. The objective of the Biennale is to engage community, to engage community dialogue – to engage that via the arts.”
Greg Magirescu, the city’s manager of arts and cultural development, said a “very exciting” opportunity came from one of the Vancouver Biennale curators from Brazil, who suggested Jose Resende’s art would fit in well in New Westminster.
Mowatt said Resende’s artwork deals with transit, so it’s an ideal fit for New Westminster, which has long been a transportation hub in the region.
“We are pleased to be in New Westminster,” Mowatt said at a reception for Resende in New Westminster. “It’s very exciting because it is an expansion of the Biennale into our fifth city. Transit is a great linkage for us and we are very happy with that aspect.”
A report from the city’s public art advisory committee stated that Resende may create a public art exhibition featuring train cars in a tripod structure. His art has appeared in numerous solo and collective exhibitions.
During a recent visit from Sao Paulo, Resende toured sites in New Westminster including Westminster Pier Park, Queen’s Park and Queensbrough. While he had some ideas in mind before coming to the city, he told The Record he was rethinking his plans after seeing the city firsthand.
Vancouve Biennale, which has a theme of Open Borders Crossroads Vancouver, will feature artists from the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Canada, Northern Europe and South America.
“With our cities such as New Westminster, Richmond, Squamish, North Vancouver and Vancouver, it’s a really strong collaboration,” Mowatt said. “Each city is so distinctly different in terms of who they are and what they’re about. That makes it really kind of exciting for us.”
In addition to the open-air museums. Vancouver Biennale features A Big Ideas education program, an international artists residency program, a tour de Biennale charity bike ride, the Conversations lecture series, and Biennale CineFest, a documentary arts cinema initiative.
“Biennale is beyond the three-dimensional,” Mowatt said. “It’s about encompassing all the arts.”
The Blue Trees, which have appeared in England, New Zealand and the United States, will also find a home in New Westminster as part of the Vancouver Biennale. Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos created the environmental installation, The Blue Trees, which features trees coloured with a blue pigment that’s environmentally safe and washes away.
“The Blue Trees has a huge discussion about life, environment and ecology,” Mowatt explained.
Mowatt said his assignment will include involving the local community and schools in The Blue Trees.
Vancouver Biennale aims to provide great art where people live, work play and transit. In addition to presenting works by great contemporary artists, Vancouver Biennale also seeks to present works by breakthrough artists who are about to come on to the world stage.
