No.4 Pump Station Public Art Project, City of Richmond, Canada
Brief – Sylvia was invited to work with City Engineers to design a sculptural façade to be incorporated as part of a water pump station complex at No. 4 Road.
She created four architectural-sculptural proposals with full fabrication and manufacturing costings for the City to review. Through design consultations with the City, the brief was extended to allow the artist time to develop a series of aluminum photo wall murals. This working strategy of photo-screening onto metal has now been adopted as a delivery format for other amenity sites owned by the City of Richmond.
Output Type: Permanent Public Artwork
Venue: City of Richmond, Canada – No 4 Pump Station and Public Dyke Park Walkway
Dates: Installed May 2011 | Number of pieces: 24 Photo Aluminum panels (1.2m x .8m)
Media: The No. 4 Road Drainage Pump Station won the Public Works Association of British Columbia (PWABC) 2011 Project of the Year award. The award acknowledges both the design of the building and the public artwork that was installed. Project also won Best Public Works Project for the Province of British ACEC Award of Excellence, Canada (April 2012)
Brief – Sylvia was invited to work with City Engineers to design a sculptural façade to be incorporated as part of a water pump station complex at No. 4 Road.
She created four architectural-sculptural proposals with full fabrication and manufacturing costings for the City to review. Through design consultations with the City, the brief was extended to allow the artist time to develop a series of aluminum photo wall murals. This working strategy of photo-screening onto metal has now been adopted as a delivery format for other amenity sites owned by the City of Richmond.
Output Type: Permanent Public Artwork
Venue: City of Richmond, Canada – No 4 Pump Station and Public Dyke Park Walkway
Dates: Installed May 2011 | Number of pieces: 24 Photo Aluminum panels (1.2m x .8m)
Media: The No. 4 Road Drainage Pump Station won the Public Works Association of British Columbia (PWABC) 2011 Project of the Year award. The award acknowledges both the design of the building and the public artwork that was installed. Project also won Best Public Works Project for the Province of British ACEC Award of Excellence, Canada (April 2012)
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Detailed description:
“Working River" is a large-scale photo-montage that wraps across a public amenity building. The montage occupies 2 wall spaces each approximately 5m x 6m. The piece offers viewers an opportunity to reflect on their relationship to the adjacent Fraser River and surrounding landscape. In particular, the views around the civic Pump Station are illustrated through an aerial survey map, and contextualised with early 20th century images of the region of those industries and activities that continue to be associated with the river.
To this day, the routine work of logging, fishing, dredging, damming and towing – and just leisurely boating or walking along the river’s banks – remain iconic activities. The historical images of the artwork reinforce the dynamic nature of the Fraser River, which has had long social histories with the local environment.
In the use of ‘field’ or ‘archival research’ to construct this work, I have envisioned a composition that plays with our notions of reality and time and how we can visually represent recent historical geographies. The aerial imagery and the juxtaposition with geographical location share similar configurations over the last 50 years. With the addition of the new housing project and development of a park system near the Pump Station, other viewpoints will emerge for other generations to experience and image.
“Working River" is a large-scale photo-montage that wraps across a public amenity building. The montage occupies 2 wall spaces each approximately 5m x 6m. The piece offers viewers an opportunity to reflect on their relationship to the adjacent Fraser River and surrounding landscape. In particular, the views around the civic Pump Station are illustrated through an aerial survey map, and contextualised with early 20th century images of the region of those industries and activities that continue to be associated with the river.
To this day, the routine work of logging, fishing, dredging, damming and towing – and just leisurely boating or walking along the river’s banks – remain iconic activities. The historical images of the artwork reinforce the dynamic nature of the Fraser River, which has had long social histories with the local environment.
In the use of ‘field’ or ‘archival research’ to construct this work, I have envisioned a composition that plays with our notions of reality and time and how we can visually represent recent historical geographies. The aerial imagery and the juxtaposition with geographical location share similar configurations over the last 50 years. With the addition of the new housing project and development of a park system near the Pump Station, other viewpoints will emerge for other generations to experience and image.
The project was documented in 2013 and can now be experienced as a walk-though Google Streetview tour.
For further details about this work held by the City of Richmond Public Art Office, please see http://www.richmond.ca/culture/publicart/collection/PublicArt.aspx?ID=121
