GESAMTKUNSTWERK

Westbank has built a practice around long-term commitments to artistry, sustainability and city-building. These commitments underlie an orientation towards projects like Woodwards, Vancouver House, Mirvish Village, Telus Garden and Oakridge – catalysts for larger change that go beyond the borders of the projects themselves. We are here to create. To provoke. To ignite. We are the vehicle for a new movement of cultural expression.

As the practice matures, we have become more ambitious. With every new project reflecting our commitment to the philosophy behind Gesamkunstwerk, or in our recent work the Japanese philosophy behind layering, the net effect is that our work becomes much more complex and far-reaching.

The core of Westbank’s mission is to create a body of work with a high degree of artistry that helps foster more equitable and beautiful cities. Westbank is active across Canada and in the United States, with projects including luxury residential, Five Star hotels, retail, office, rental, district energy systems, affordable housing initiatives and public art. Established in 1992, we are one of North America’s leading developers, with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Seattle, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and over 25 billion dollars of projects completed or under development.

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Philosophy
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December 15, 2015

The Experience

Vancouver artist Elizabeth Zvonar conjures romantic sentiment and melancholic undertones in The Experience, a bleached-out collage and light installation boldly positioned in downtown Vancouver during the dreary winter months. Combining materials and strategies used in advertising, the site-specific public artwork draws tangential connections between thoughtful inquiry and advertorial amusement.

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OFFSITE: ELIZABETH ZVONAR | The Experience November 5, 2015 to April 17, 2016

A pair of sunglasses is placed in the foreground of a celestial landscape from Mars, creating a scene that reads like a postcard from the future. The 105-square-metre digital collage is accentuated with gel-filtered lighting and framed by a reflective pool of water and colour. In The Experience, Zvonar continues her practice of appropriating imagery from various sources and media, including advertising, contemporary fashion photography and counterculture. She amplifies the digital design of her hand-cut collage by dramatically increasing its scale and using theatrical lighting to produce an environment that shifts from a space of entertainment to one of examination.

In its totality, The Experience combines classic summer imagery with references to hippie ideals of the 1970s psychedelic music scene, forming a new hybrid that ultimately prompts viewers to reconsider the passage of time and the limits of temporal reality.

Organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Diana Freundl, Assistant Curator.

Generously Supported by:
Terrence and Lisa Turner

Visionary Partner for Offsite:
Michael O’Brian Family Foundation

Photo Credit:
Elizabeth Zvonar
The Experience, 2015
site-specific installation at Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite
Photo: Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery

Curator: Diana Freundl, Associate Curator, Asian Art, Vancouver Art Gallery
Artist Assistant: Charlotte Falk
Fabrication and installation: Multigraphics Ltd., TDH Signs
Lighting: Elia Kirby Productions Ltd., Great Northern Way Scene Shop

 

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