Vancouver’s Granville Island, an urban oasis for tourists and residents alike, presents two uses for the same space.
The contrast is hard to overstate.
One such use is Art Smash 2018, where hundreds of people celebrate lovely new murals and have a fun time.
The other use is a cold, sterile parking lot — providing a lot of space for a few tens of people to store their vehicles.
This reversion to a hostile space for people creates an unpleasant reaction to the simple fact of being there; a glower from behind the steering wheel, the behind-the-scalp rumble of a steadily approaching vehicle.
It’s not a place for people to check out and appreciate the murals. It’s not a place for you or me.
As usual, click any photo to get a large-size slide show of them all.
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- Art Smash 2018 2
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- Art Smash 2018 4
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- Parking Lot & Granville Island Murals
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- Art Smash 2018 1
Yup… Highly disappointed when I saw where all the murals were painted. Just more evidence of our car-centric society.
Ever notice all the street banners that line many bridges and streets? They’re always facing the driver.
It’s a parking structure decorated with murals, not an art gallery filled with cars. It is an environment used by people to park cars while shopping and it is a welcome renaissance of an otherwise dreary space. It is a relief to find these murals inside a building rather than plastered everywhere in the public realm as beautiful as they are. Maybe we could have more murals inside parking structures.
With half of Vancouver’s commuters not driving cars any more, I’d suggest we need more dedicated space everywhere for humans, not cars, and have them filled with art.
I speculate that most parking structures are still filled with cars, regardless of the stats on driving.
Then, there is of course the “Art Car” which appears at times in both the parking garage and inside the art gallery not to mention many other places including the Burning Man Festival in Death Valley.
The “art car” is the antithesis of “car” as it is regarded in our culture.
Black Rock Desert, Nevada. Not Death Valley.
Thanks. I stand corrected, as I see you are up to speed on the Burning Man thing…………..