1200 Alberni Street (at Bute)
Palisades Apartments
Private development
1994
Site-integrated work
In place
City of Vancouver
Coal Harbour/West End Quadrant
Description of work
A series of upper pools, waterfall, and lower pool with overlapping black slate. A large glacial boulder sits in the upper pool and an identical cast bronze replica sits in the lower pool. Inscription cast in concrete beside the waterfall.
Artist statement
The intent of this project is to connect the present use of the site with its past, employing water as a metaphor. The concept is based upon the mythical river Lethe, the river as a repository of memories. Once, only a stone's throw from this site, an ancient stream flowed down through a forest. It carried into the "well" of the sea the memories from earliest times. I am proposing a symbolic reclamation of the past and recognition of change. ... there will be three elements within this flowing river. From the "source" at the upper waters a 10 ton erratic glacial boulder will be positioned ... at the pool below will be its mirror image, in bronze altered by chemical reaction and time. Language is the third bridging element, for words to convey a sense of a river's journey I have used the following quote by Leonardo da Vinci: "In rivers, the water you touch is the last of what has passed, and the first of that which comes; so with time present."
Send us your feedback. Please tell us about your experience or wrong or missing information.