WILD NEW TERRITORIES' OUTDOOR INSTALLATIONS

Wild New Territories is a radical new exhibition co-curated by Ron den Daas and Kathy Kenny that explores the relationship between the urban and the wild in contemporary art. Along with group exhibitions taking place at the SFU Gallery in Burnaby and the Teck Gallery in Vancouver, an extensive outdoor component in Coal Harbour and Stanley Park brings these relationships into the interstitial urban/wild spaces that characterize them most.

Below, find a description of the outdoor works indicated on the map above.

A. SFU Teck Gallery: Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings.

B. Canada Place: Wild New Territories on the big screen (a program of selected media works and images from WNT artists), uncompressed AVI, 10 min.

C. Vancouver Convention Centre: Gordon Cheung, Beehive, 2012, digital print on panel, 24x36.”

Beehive depicts a bull skull inside a beehive installed in Camley Street Natural Park, part of Wild New Territories, London. This intervention evolved throughout the length of the exhibition as the bees built their honeycomb around the skull.

D. Harbour Green Square and Park: Julie Henry and Debbie Bragg, Blooming Britain, 2012, six digital prints on panel, 60x40” each.

This series of prints depict amateur gardeners in postindustrial regions around the UK. An inquiry into the dynamics between public display and the gardeners’ social standing, the gardens function as blank canvases for people’s stories and imagery.

E. Coal Harbour Shoreline (Walkway railing): Cornelia Wyngaarden, Philosophers Walk, 2012, twelve digital text prints on panel, 8x24” each.

This work is a sequence of philosophical and proverb based statements inspired by walking.

Dana Claxton, On to the Red Road, 2007.

F. Coal Harbour Community Centre (Upper story of the building): Dana Claxton, On to the Red Road, 2007, five digital prints on panel, 36x60.”

On to the Red Road represents indigenous spirituality, femininity, and transformation. The colour red is one of the sacred colours of the Sundance and the figure in this work is wearing a traditional Sundance dress.

G. Coal Harbour Community Centre (Lobby): Glenn Lewis, Blue Tape Around City Block, 1969, video.

Marking a city block, this work blurs the boundaries between media, viewer and artist to re-examine the urban measure in relation to human proportions.

Alma Tischler Wood, Bird Box, 2012.

H. Cardero Park: Alma Tischler Wood, Bird Box, 2012, fifteen bird houses, wood, mixed media, various sizes. Boy with Bird box, 2012, digital print on panel, 24x36.”

Bird Box is an installation of gilded and decorated luxury bird homes that offer an insight into the homes in the Coal Harbour development.

Edgar Heap of Birds, various works.

I. Devonian Park Walkway (North side): Edgar Heap of Birds, Ending Native Lives for Money, 2012, text based panels, 18x36” each.

This series of signs indicate how parts of the world are experiencing incremental population growth, while the
indigenous populations in North America, South America and throughout the Caribbean have been decimated by European contact.

J. Devonian Park (Pond): Ron den Daas, What’s it Worth, 2008–2012, consumer waste sculpture (plastic and metal) dimensions vary.

These installations support an open ended and skeptical dialogue contemplating the dynamic between the urbanized world and resulting monoculture of urban waste, the ‘natural’ world, and the diversity of species that supports it.

K. Devonian Park Beach: Bo Myers in collaboration with Warren Arcan, Excavate iv, 2012, event.

Consists of a figure shoveling sand on a beach below high tide at distinct intervals.

L. Devonian Park Plaza (North hemisphere, railing): Glenn Lewis, An Earthly Paradise Journey Through Nine Stages, 1970–present, nine weatherproof prints mounted on panel, 30x22” each.

There are nine categories or features in the garden that exemplify the paradise myth which are also the features that are captured in Lewis’ photographs.

M. Engineered stream viewing platform: Ron den Daas, Native Plant Species + Food Chain, 2008–2012, consumer waste sculpture (plastic), dimensions vary.

N. Along the engineered stream near the former polar bear enclosure: Jamie Griffiths in collaboration with Diego Samper and Rob Scharein, La Wefan Manigua, 2012, sound installation.

La Wefan Manigua is a textile sculpture, with sound and video projections being presented at SFU Gallery. In Stanley Park a related sound installation connects the work to an urban and wild interface that triggers thoughts about the history and the futures of the Amazon.

O. Former polar bear enclosure: WNT collaborative installation, 2012, various artists.

Mark Kalisewski, Organic, 2012.

P. Former polar bear enclosure: Mars Kaliszewski, Organic, 2012, weatherproof prints mounted on panel, 40x60.”

Organic depicts an image of catastrophic beauty.

Q. Stanley Park Ecology Society at the Stanley Park Pavilion: Workshops will be offered to schools and community groups throughout the exhibition period facilitated by Artist for Kids at SPES and The Coal Harbour Community Centre.

R. Vancouver Aquarium: This venue is facilitating access to the engineered stream and salmon hatchery that is part of the Wild New Territories interpretive walk, and is participating in a community art project that will develop an art installation around the construction fence currently surrounding the addition to the Vancouver Aquarium construction site.