More Documentation from Jason

when security guards speak

On Georgia Street

When I asked one of the security guards what her thoughts on Park were, she said she was reluctant to speak about the event/work because she wasn’t an “art expert” and also hadn’t been able to take a close up look at the two sculptures. Her comment reminded me that for whatever reasons, people sometimes believe they are not authorized to speak about art, that such conversations are sanctioned for a reserved few .

Moments later, when a passerby asked what was going on in the HSBC building, the security guard responded that there was a special event taking place to support local artists, that Marko’s pieces would be sent out into the streets, and (interestingly!) that she would assume that part of Park’s purpose would be to see how the sculptures would affect the community.

Do pieces need an explanation?

This question came up in talking with Marko’s mother-in-law. We both agreed that the span of Ontario street captures a wide array of people, from the thoroughly residential, to the very transitory. She suggested that if people are curious enough about the pieces to stop and examine them, they will find an explanation for what the pieces are doing on Ontario street.

Her take on things was that if an art work arouses enough interest, its various meanings will reveal themselves. To others, it may simply seem like an out of place object causing confusion. But maybe confusion is okay, if it serves the purpose of provoking thought and having people re-examine their surroundings…

Here’s an interesting conversation thread on Edward Winkleman’s blog exploring the relationship between art and explanations: http://edwardwinkleman.blogspot.com/2006/08/does-explanation-destroy-art.html

Vancouver Sun article

Vancouver Sun writer Kevin Griffin’s article on Park…  “When a greenway becomes  a Parking-lot”…

Marko’s vehicles under the pendulum

By mthiessen

When I showed up at the Pendulum Gallery there were only a handful of people there setting up, but that changed after a short time. At first the space was quiet and empty, and I was able to sketch the vehicles undisturbed. Then at around four, Eva and Jason showed up, and we set up camp in a corner of the gallery.
We would chat for awhile until one of us would engage on a mission. Snapping photos, or sketching the crowd under the pendulum, with the steel vehicles remaining the focal point.
Eva spent a good deal of the evening going from person to person grabbing sound bites, whilst Jason and I took turns guarding the laptop and looking for a new way to capture the look of the event.
It seemed like every time I looked up from my sketch book, there were more and more people in the gallery and those people became more and more social. The wine may have helped.
Eventually the tow trucks arrived, and we all started leaking out onto the sidewalk to see the workmen chain up the cars and hoist them onto their trucks. Their life at Pendulum came to an end with Marko’s name being peeled off the window.
The next time I saw the vehicles it was at their new home on Ontario.

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