CITY OF VANCOUVER OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC PUBLIC ART PROGRAM
MAJOR SITES AND VENUES ARTISTS' BIOGRAPHIES
Gunda Förster Light sculpture at Vancouver City Hall
German artist Gunda Förster’s work incorporates light, space and movement in relation to architecture. She is particularly interested in the way art can shift people’s perceptions of public spaces. In her view, her works in urban environments or inside buildings do not exist without contact to their surroundings: they exist in a social, historical and local context. Förster lives and works in Berlin and is currently a guest professor at Leibniz University, Hannover. She has been the subject of a number of solo exhibitions, most recently Melancholie at Neue Nationalgalerie (2006), Berlin and Trial Balloons at MUSAC, León, Spain (2006). Her award-winning work has also been included in numerous group shows, including Sample #2 at the Kunstlerbund, Berlin (2009) and Kabinett #1 at Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig (2008). Her permanent public art pieces grace locations in a number of European cities, from Berlin to Nice, where she created a light-based work for two railway bridges as part of the L’Art dans la ville (Art in the City) project for the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français, the French National Railway. Her light sculpture for Vancouver City Hall marks her first North American permanent commission. Explore Förster’s works.
Major Sites and Venues – Artists’ Biographies
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Rodney Graham Sculptural installation at Georgia Street entrance to Stanley Park
Rodney Graham is one of Canada’s most respected artists working on the international contemporary scene. Born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, he now lives and works in Vancouver. Frequently dubbed a “Renaissance man”, he is equally at home in a variety of artistic mediums, spanning film, music, photography, painting and sculpture. He is celebrated internationally for his eccentric and playful engagement with the technologies of modernism and for continually inventing new devices to sharpen people’s perception of the world. Graham studied art and humanities at the University of British Columbia before exhibiting in North America and Europe in the early 1980s. In addition to participating in numerous group exhibitions, he was selected to represent Canada at the 1997 Venice Biennale. A mid-career retrospective was co-produced in 2004/05 by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver Art Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and subsequently toured to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. Major solo exhibitions include the Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal (2007); Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany (2006); and more recently, with contemporary artist Harun Farocki at the Jeu de Paume, Paris (2009); and the Museu d’art Contemporani de Barcelona (2010). Graham’s work can be found in the collections of some of the world’s most prestigious art institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate Gallery, London; and Vancouver Art Gallery. His sculptural installation for Stanley Park is his third public art commission in Vancouver. Explore Grahams’ works.
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Tania Ruiz Gutiérrez Sculptural light work under the Cambie Street Bridge, at West Second Avenue
Tania Ruiz Gutiérrez lives in Paris, where she has worked as an independent artist since 1999. Born in Chilé and raised in Bogota, Colombia, she directed several award-winning fiction and documentary films before turning to open-space video art installations in 1997. She has since gained considerable international recognition in the field. She received her PhD in art from the University Pantheon-Sorbonne in 2004 and continues to lecture extensively on film and art. Ruiz Gutiérrez was artist-in-residence in the International Artist Studio Program in Malmö, Sweden in 2004/05. In 2006, she was commissioned to create a monumental installation for the new Malmö ‘Citytunneln’ Central Station, the biggest permanent video art installation ever commissioned in Europe. She has also produced a number of temporary commissions as well as multi-media installations for exhibitions at the Centre for Contemporary Images, Geneva (2008) and the Fifth Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Seoul (2008). Her light-based permanent public art work for Vancouver’s Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program is her first North American commission. Explore Ruiz Gutiérrez’s works.
Photo by Y. Gousseau
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Adrian Göllner Cambie/Hamilton Street corridor decorative lighting
Canadian artist Adrian Göllner currently lives and works in Ottawa. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout North America, Europe, and New Zealand, and is held in a number of collections, including the Anglo-Irish Bank, Ottawa Art Gallery and the Canadian War Museum. Göllner received a BFA from Queen's University in 1987 and has worked with a number of artistrun centres and art service organizations over the years. Described as a site-specific satirist, Göllner employs a variety of mediums and techniques to adapt to the environments in which he exhibits. He freely combines Cold War imagery, graphing techniques and references to Modernism in artworks that critique consumer culture. Göllner has received 15 public art commissions to date, most notably the rooftop lighting designs for the 16 towers of the CityPlace Development in Toronto (2002); an integrated sculpture for the new Canadian Embassy in Berlin (2005); and a wind-responsive LED artwork for the Met Tower in Toronto (2007). His street lighting collaboration with Pierre Poussin is his first Vancouver installation. Explore Göllner’s works.
Photo by Gordon King
Major Sites and Venues – Artists’ Biographies
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Christian Kliegel Open-air installation at Vancouver Central Library – North Plaza
Vancouver artist Christian Kliegel received his BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2004 and is currently a graduate student of architecture at the University of British Columbia. His work explores the frameworks of architecture that determine how people function in space, resulting in projects that often recontextualize materials and forms. Kliegel has participated in both local and international exhibitions, including PPPPFFFFFHHHHHHHHHHHHGGG at the Helen Pitt Gallery, Vancouver (2008) and Production Postings at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2006). In 2009, his work was included in the Spite House at Lawrimore Projects, Seattle and How Soon is Now? at the Vancouver Art Gallery. He also designed a new multi-use flexible space for the Vancouver artist-run centre Artspeak. Kliegel’s open-air installation space for the Vancouver Central Library’s north plaza marks his first public art commission. Explore Kliegel’s works.
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Myfanwy MacLeod Sculpture at Southeast False Creek Olympic Plaza
Vancouver artist Myfanwy MacLeod is known for her wry sense of humour and ability to use her sculptures, photographs and installations to analyze, and even satirize, the relationships between individuals and the art-world. MacLeod received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in 1994. A recipient of a VIVA (Vancouver Institute of Visual Arts) Award in 1999, she has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad. She also represented Canada at the 1999 Melbourne Biennale in Australia. She has held teaching positions at the University of British Columbia and Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and University of Western Ontario in London. MacLeod’s work can found in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa as well as in a variety of other public and private collections. Upcoming exhibitions include a solo show at the Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver in November 2009. MacLeod’s artwork for Southeast False Creek Olympic Plaza will serve as a prominent part of this new community development and marks her first major public commission. Explore MacLeod’s works.
Photo by Bertrand Gadenne
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Pierre Poussin Cambie/Hamilton Street corridor decorative lighting
Toronto- based Canadian artist Pierre Poussin is a recent graduate of Sheridan College’s Crafts and Design Program. His graduate project, the Mitosis series of designs, won Best in Show in the graduate design awards, prompting The Globe and Mail’s style editor to recognize Poussin as a Canadian designer to watch for. Poussin finds his inspiration in nature, describing it as “design at its best, where everything is at once practical and supremely beautiful.” His work evokes movement, whether it be inviting user interaction or reflecting motion within the piece itself. He has received numerous furniture design and outdoor installation commissions to date, including the lobby of Harvard Medical School, Boston (2009); the courtyard and gardens for Ferris & Associates Inc. and Malibu Investments’ LTD Condominium, Toronto (2009); and the courtyard and entrance for Panorama, Concord CityPlace’s Lakeshore condominium complex (2009). He has also worked as a design consultant for Classic Displays, Mississauga; and Nienkamper, Toronto among others. His street lighting collaboration with Adrian Göllner is his first Vancouver installation. Explore Poussin’s works.
Photo by Ryan Calvello
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