The increasing complexity and sophistication of the
physical bridge taught us the mechanics of tension, compression, suspension,
balance and connection. Over time these physical laws and interactions have
evolved into increasingly abstract ideas, further transformed, expressed and
communicated through metaphor. The idea of a bridge exemplifies the search
for connectivity in both the physical and metaphysical worlds and through the
realm of our imagination. This exhibition containing video, sound and
electronic media art looks at the interplays between the physicality of a
familiar structure, its haunting sonic characteristics and a rich network of
metaphoric and symbolic connections.
Bill Fontana (US)
Acoustical Visions of the Golden Gate Bridge (2012)
Bill Fontana often focuses on architectural monuments and other engineering feats; in this case our understanding of an iconic bridge has been descontructed - San Francisco’s Golden Gate. Placing a camera accompanied by sophisticated, sound-capturing devices under the car deck of the Bridge, the artist extracts what he terms a “sound vision”. This installation of the work features a single-channel video installed in a long, tapering room. Horizontal light patterns pass along the underside of the bridge as cars pass over expansion joints: while the sound of the expansion joints and the haunting quality of fog horns in the bay creates a work of hypnotic power.
Image
Coming soon
Biography
Bill Fontana is known internationally for pioneering experiments, over 40 years, in sound art. His work is presented worldwide. Among other honours he is the recent recipient of the Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN prize. His practice is concerned with acoustic memory, the transformation of the visible by the invisible, the relationship of the speed of sound to the speed of light, and the deconstruction of our perception of time. He uses the urban environment as a living source of musical information.
Credits
Bill Fontana
Acoustical Visions of the Golden Gate Bridge
2012
Acoustical Visions of the Golden Gate Bridge
2012
Willie Doherty (NIR)
Drive
A two channel video installation situates the viewer between two opposing video screens in a confined, dark space. The viewer is first confronted with a man driving, eyes open. On the opposing screen the same man drives; eyes closed. The work is shot at night : red and green lights bathing his face are cinematic, conjuring night driving and perhaps connotations of ’stop’ and ‘go’. The audio is low and hypnotic; the sound of the driving car, and the iterative, dopler effect of passing objects. Doherty’s depictions of urban life share the distanced quality and colour palette found in the empty spaces of an Edward Hopper painting. Shot on a the West-Link twin bridges spanning 42 meters above the River Liffey, the bridge can perhaps be understood as a potential link between desperately divided communities.
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Coming soon
Biography
Willie Doherty first came to prominence in the 1980s with work that explored the complexities of living in a divided community. Much of his work reveals undercurrents of fear, oppression and uncertainty that for many was a daily experience of life in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Doherty has twice been shortlisted for the Turner Prize and represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale. His work is presented and collected worldwide.
Credits
Willie Doherty
Drive
2003)
Scott Billings (CA) / Josh Hite (USA)
Stairwell
Stairwell was shot inside a hidden stairwell located within the Burrard Bridge. The work documents a forgotten space, boarded up shortly after it opened in 1932. Shot on a vertical track running the height of the stairwell, the work now unravels its 62-foot helical architecture onto the horizontal plane of the gallery wall. The dollying camera moves back and forth across the length of the gallery, the projector pulls the image along with it. Drifting between surveillance and cinema, the camera inscribes a repetitive and revelatory process of examination and exploration; capturing fleeting moments of narrative left on the walls; revealing traces of those who left their marks after its permanent closure.
Image
Coming Soon
Biography
Based in Vancouver, Scott Billings + Josh Hite have presented their work in North America and internationally. Billlings focusses on issues of cinematic spectatorship + the unconscious and the ways in which the apparatus itself reveals the mechanisms of causality. Hite’s practice is concerned with tactics for documentation and human movement through urban spaces. Stairwell is the result of a multi-year project.
Credits
Scott Billings + Josh Hite
Stairwell
2016
Acknowledgements
The artists worked with:
Adam Carree
Alison Denham
Arash Khakpour
Aryo Khakpour
Bill O’Connell
Billy Marchenski
Brady Marks
Cathy Falkner
Colin Griffiths
Chris Mills
Dan Hepler
Dan Misri
Dave Eriksen
Dave Spaargaren
Dennis Rosenfeld
Dylan Cooper
Elissa Hanson
Eric Spika
Flick Harrison
Gerard McDonald
Iman Emadian
Ira Jordison
Ivana Horacek
J Kim
Jaime Keegan
Jerry Porter
Jess Wilkie
Jodie Martinson
Joyce Yee
Justine Chambers
Kristen Roos
Kristin Truman
Laura Avery
Leah Pires
Lexi Vajda
Lorna Porter
Marketa Van den Elzen
Matt Stacey
Matthew Richards
Molly Macdonald
Nancy Tam
Nick Lakowski
Peter Courtemanche
Peter Van den Elzen
Richard Truman
Riley Breen
Rik Rohee
Rob Symmers
Ryan Peter
Sean Arden Shen Lin
Simon Hammond
Teah Van den Elzen
Will Aballe
Zidra Hammond
Thank You
Fia Cooper
Gordon Price
M. Simon Levin
Arts Umbrella
Camera Rentals Vancouver
Flying Wedge Pizza
Mark Callow Insurance
Lynx Print
Vancouver Archives
Vancouver City Engineers - Peter Judd, Neal Carley, Dane Doleman, Marco Biagini, Enrico Santamaria
Vancouver Film School and Ted Jones
Vancouver Historical Society and Scott Anderson
Vancouver Public Art Program and Bryan Newson