The B.C. Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry revealed the artists who have been chosen to create art installations that will appear at four forthcoming SkyTrain stations.
An open call for proposals from artists and teams in Canada began in 2020, asking for art projects to be shown at four SkyTrain stations—Great Northern Way-Emily Carr, Mount Pleasant, Broadway-City Hall, and South Granville stations—that are part of the Broadway Subway, which is under construction. The Broadway Subway will extend the Millennium Line from VCC-Clark Station to Broadway and Arbutus, and will add six new stations to the line. The line is anticipated to be in service in 2025.
The selection panel consisted of visual art professionals, with representatives from the B.C. government, the City of Vancouver, and TransLink.
Meanwhile, the provincial government is working with the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, and Tsleil-Waututh Nation on a separate process for Indigenous art to be shown as part of the Broadway Subway Project.
The Cultural Recognition Program includes art at six stations, with Indigenous art planned for Arbutus, Oak-VGH, and Great Northern Way-Emily Carr stations.
The concepts for all artwork will be revealed at a future date.
Here are the three artists and one team that will be working on art installations that will appear at SkyTrain stations:
Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station: Lou Sheppard is a Canadian artist working in interdisciplinary audio, performance, and installation-based practice. He often looks to what is missing or can no longer be experienced in a particular place, creating art that memorializes characteristics that once existed in the area surrounding the installation. Sheppard will engage Emily Carr University of Art and Design students in conceptual development and/or artwork production.
Mount Pleasant Station: Sylvan Hamburger grew up in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood and was always surrounded by actors and artists. At age seven, one of his drawings was used as a poster for a theatre, sparking an interest in drawing, printing, and creating that has lasted to this day. He works primarily with printmaking techniques, salvaged materials, textiles, and installations.
Broadway-City Hall Station: The artist team is Theatre Replacement (James Long and Maiko Yamamoto), in collaboration with Vanessa Kwan, Remy Siu, and Cindy Mochizuki. Specializing in interactive media, animation, video, live performance and installation, the Broadway Subject Project marks the first time this team of five artists has collaborated on a project.
South Granville Station: Vancouver-born Derek Root is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design and has exhibited across Canada and internationally. His commissioned work uses the language of geometric abstraction and vibrant colour to alter viewers’ readings of architecture and space.
In other recent local public art news, the City of Vancouver revealed the six art projects chosen for the Artist-Initiated Projects to be completed by the end of 2023.