The 2014-2016 Vancouver Biennale (VB) is in full swing in downtown Squamish. In addition to open air artists Vik Muniz, Hugo Franca and 2015’s Konstantin Dimopoulos, the residency program is unrolling a second group of young international collaborators.
Last Thursday night, Aug. 3, the three current residency artists unveiled their projects via an impromptu multi-venue downtown Squamish culture crawl. In signature Squamish casual-cool style the three venues ranged from Gelato Carina to the back garden of a vintage purple house downtown to the Cattermole Slough dike. Each conceptual installation was heady, thought-provoking, and experimental.
It was fantastic to note how the crawl crowd swelled in number as the evening rolled on from venue to venue, local culture vulture and author, Graham Fuller said.
“It is exciting to see Squamish become a place for exhibiting experimental art. It puts our town on the map in yet one more interesting respect and the artists were enthusiastic about the creative vibes for their art they found here,” he said. “Not everyone will necessarily like all experimental art, but it forces us to think about reality in different ways and that is always good.”
The evening launched with a mini experimental sound art concert at Gelato Carina with residency artist Hasan Hujairi, a sound artist, composer and researcher from Bahrain.
“Over the course of my residency, my ‘Squamish Working Papers’ project turned into one with several parts: a sound art performance, a book of micro-essays, a children’s workshop at the Squamish Public Library, and donating some books on art and music to the Squamish Public Library,” he said. “All the works I created directly referenced my observations of Squamish and my stay here. The central idea has been based on my initial journal entries on my relationship with Squamish and its environs.”
Crawlers then strolled on to the little purple house at Second Avenue and Vancouver Street for the outdoor unveiling of Shweta Bhattad’s I Have A Dream global art farming peace project – a world-wide initiative VB launched in Squamish.
Bhattad, from Nagpur, India was inspired by the residency program’s vision of Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech. For her project, she invited artists around the globe to collaborate with local farmers to grow grains or vegetables that spell out, on a massive scale, the words “I Have a Dream” in their native tongues.
Coming from a farming family, Bhattad has intimate knowledge of the daily challenges farmers in India face: 700 suicides by farmers per year; a daily need for doctors and police; and the fact that although farmers grow enormous amounts of food, their families are often starving. Bhattad hopes that by sharing these experiences, the resulting dialogue will give a voice and hopefully solutions to farmers.
The stories from each of the 26 countries and 60-plus farmers will be individually showcased via small video screens mounted on a 30ft long, free-standing sculpture spelling out I Have A Dream at Masa’s Woodwork Studio at Vancouver Street and Second Avenue.
The third and last stop of the evening was at the Cattermole Slough dike next to the public binoculars. Biennale residency artist Sumakshi Singh, also from India, projected her visual poem Breath Symphony upon an ephemeral cloud-like form. The poem itself was a collaboration with 108 residents of Squamish, from children to seniors, to record the sound of each individual breath cycle. Sumakshi has composed a “breath symphony” created with these sounds. Participants also provided a word associated with breath, which the artist incorporated into a poem to accompany the symphony.
“Everyone knows that Squamish is geographically beautiful. What I discovered is that it also has a treasure trove of people with big hearts and generous spirits always ready to help out. It was very special sharing the opening night with so many people who had participated in the project donating their time, energy, words and breath to it. I felt like it was a big collaboration that I learnt so much from,” Sumakshi’s said.
Many thanks to the District of Squamish, the Vancouver Biennale and the numerous sponsors who cross all sectors from logging, construction, health, education, hospitality, real estate, and many others who understand and support efforts that promote our participation in cultural exchange between nations and across artistic disciplines. We are better for it.
