Vancouver artists pay tribute to the beauty of a construction site
City Fabric will involve hundreds of feet of construction netting
In a quickly developing metropolis like Vancouver, the abundance of construction sites is a tiresome sight, as well as an unavoidable one. But two local artists are taking the aesthetics of construction outside the realm of banality with an upcoming installation that will span the pillars of the city's Burrard Bridge.
City Fabric, produced in partnership between Burrard Arts Foundation and 221A Artist Run Centre, will see 800 feet of otherwise utilitarian construction netting crosshatched along the underside of the bridge. This type of netting – typically used on construction sites to protect passersby from potential hazards – is a common sight around Vancouver, but this time it will look like a vibrant tapestry from the future (and a little like The Gates by Christo and Jeanne-Claude).
The project is the first collaboration between Rebecca Bayer (an artist and teacher at Emily Carr University of Art and Design) and Matthew Soules (an architect and assistant professor at the University of British Columbia). Three years in the making, the installation is intended to highlight the beauty in "profoundly normal" material, kind of like cherishing the whirls of a plastic bag dancing in the wind.
The art piece is currently under construction, and it will be on display from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30.