Vanessa Kwan’s Public Art, Vancouver, and the Olympics
Now that the Olympics are over and the breathing room has returned, we have the opportunity to evaluate their actual affect on the arts community. Public artwork was one of the foremost areas supported by the Cultural Olympiad funding, and many artists benefited from that attention — among them was Vanessa Kwan. Throughout the Olympics, Kwan worked with her arts collective, Norma, as well as on a solo basis. To me, Kwan’s projects were great examples of an artist successfully engaging in a critical way with the public during the Games.
In her art, Kwan is often interested in the bigger picture, looking for ways of mass address which prompt a change in perception for her audience. This extends to her work as an adult programmer at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where she organizes interdisciplinary events (such as Fuse) that bring the public into the gallery’s spaces. Recently, Kwan organized a symposium on public art entitled “Making Space/ In the Gallery” — an exhibit which directly dealt with this idea.
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