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Vancouverism and Its Cultural Amenities: the View from Here Peter Dickinson Vancouverism and Its Cultural Amenities: The View from Here Peter Dickinson Canadian Theatre Review, Volume 167, Summer 2016, pp. 40-47 (Article) Published by University of Toronto Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/629849 Access provided at 17 Aug 2019 01:00 GMT from Simon Fraser University FEATURES | Vancouverism and Its Cultural Amenities Vancouverism and Its Cultural Amenities: The View from Here by Peter Dickinson In this essay, I want to begin thinking through some of the very basic material (as in, bricks and mortar) links between real estate What is the relationship between the and the performing arts. What, I am asking, is the relationship between the lifestyle and design amenities we seek out as desirable lifestyle and design amenities we seek out selling features in high-priced urban condominium towers and the as desirable selling features in high-priced cultural amenities we all too easily overlook or take for granted in urban condominium towers and the cultural our cities? Let’s start by talking about chandeliers. And not just any chandeliers. Th e one I have in mind is a amenities we all too easily overlook or take giant 4 metre by 6 metre faux-crystal candelabra designed by cel- for granted in our cities? ebrated Vancouver artist Rodney Graham, which is to be installed as a public work of art underneath the Granville Street Bridge, just over Beach Avenue. Th e chandelier is meant to dangle halfway between the underside of the bridge’s northern viaduct and the street, gently rotating as it slowly ascends over the course of the day; then, at an appointed hour each day, the chandelier will sud- Howe Street, and marketed by the company as a “living sculpture” denly release, spinning rapidly as it descends to its starting point. (“Vancouver House”). Graham’s Torqued Chandelier is similarly Concept drawings for the artwork went on display as part of the described by Westbank in its press promotion as a work of “ki- Gesamtkunstwerk: Life as a Total Work of Art exhibition and pub- netic sculpture,” the public “centerpiece of multiple artworks set lic salon series that opened in March 2014 and ran until the end to transform the underbelly of the Granville bridge,” leaving an of May 2014. Th e exhibition was curated by local architectural “indelible” mark on “Vancouver’s civic landscape” (“Rodney Gra- critic Trevor Boddy and underwritten by Ian Gillespie’s Westbank ham”). But there is also a way in which this highly visual symbol Projects development corporation. According to Gillespie, in de- of gilded interior domesticity annexes the bridge as an extended scribing the evolution of his company’s building practices, the ex- private portico for the residents of Vancouver House. Th us, in hibition was meant to explore the intersection of art, architecture, addition to taking in Graham’s drawings for the chandelier and interior design, and urbanism through the philosophy of “the to- listening to a series of talks by local academics and urban planners, tal work of art” as applied to “enlightened city-building”—one in visitors to the Gesamtkunstwerk show could also get a sneak peek which complex, mixed-use developments, for example, place “an at the architectural specs for the condo units in Ingels’s tower— emphasis on the integration of public art” (Gillespie). which were released for sale in July 2014. 1 But the Gesamtkunstwerk show also doubled as a soft launch In opening with this confl uence of art and real estate, I do not of Westbank’s sales campaign for its latest and most ambitious wish to indict Graham, nor Boddy, as curator, for being at the residential building project in the city, Vancouver House, a $200 vanguard of the gentrifying creative class. Rather, accepting Gil- million-dollar, 52-story, curving glass tower designed by Dan- lespie at his word in wanting to align density with artistry in creat- ish architect Bjarke Ingels that will be erected near the Granville ing “opportunities to shape the entire build-out of the city” (Gil- Street Bridge, adjacent to the intersection of Beach Avenue and lespie), I am merely issuing a caution against the reifi cation of a 40 ctr 167 summer 2016 doi:10.3138/ctr.167.009 Concept image for Rodney Graham’s Torqued Chandelier. Photo courtesy Westbank Projects Corp. new kind of facadism in the ongoing performance of the model of rights for such buildings have on the interior outfi tting and finish- urban planning that has come to be known as Vancouverism. Th e ing of new creative spaces for diff erent performing arts organiza- tall, slim glass towers separated by low-rise buildings that maintain tions in the city. And, apropos of Graham’s chandelier, who pays view corridors in the city’s downtown, and that are surrounded to keep the lights on in these spaces? by accessible public walkways and plenty of green space, have be- My specifi c focus is the City of Vancouver’s Community come synonymous globally with an architectural signature that Amenities Contributions (CAC) program. First introduced in approaches “performance art”—to quote one Guardian critic on 1989 in connection with the City’s aggressive post-Expo residen- an earlier exhibition of Vancouver urban design curated by Boddy tial development of the neighbourhoods of North False Creek (see Boddy). However, in this essay, I am more concerned with the and Coal Harbour, the program is similar to the “density-for- knock-on eff ects (quite literally) that the granting of development benefi t agreements” (DBAs) negotiated by Toronto’s municipal doi:10.3138/ctr.167.009 ctr 167 summer 2016 41 FEATURES | Vancouverism and Its Cultural Amenities government under Section 37 of the Ontario Planning Act: in- 1st Avenue as a production and administrative hub, as well as a kind or cash contributions are provided by developers in exchange second stage, for the Vancouver Playhouse Th eatre Company. The for diff erent building project rezonings or exemptions (usually deal was initiated by a $7.6 million in-kind community amenity with respect to height). However, unlike the more systematic ap- contribution from the condo’s developer, Wall Financial Corpora- proach undertaken by many other large municipal jurisdictions in tion, which has helped to restore several other theatres in the city, North America, Vancouver and Toronto “negotiate the amount including the Stanley on Granville Street and the recently opened of density and value of benefi ts secured on a case-by-case basis” York on Commercial Drive (Lee). However, the deal very nearly (Moore 5). Moreover, whereas many cities trade density bonus- came to naught when, fi rst, Wall Financial proposed to turn the ing solely to create more aff ordable housing units (typically in buildings into rental properties following the 2008 global fi nan- the same building), Vancouver and Toronto apply the benefi ts cial downturn and then, again, when the Playhouse Th eatre Com- secured from developers to a far wider array of civic services, in- pany folded in early 2012. Th e demise of the Playhouse was has- cluding, in Vancouver’s case, the creation, expansion, or upgrade tened in part by Olympics-related cuts to arts funding initiated by of park space, library and childcare facilities, community centres the province in 2009, but the company’s fi nances had long been and neighbourhood houses, and various transportation services.2 imperilled by its complicated tenancy requirements at the civic CACs have also, through the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Com- theatre on Hamilton Street that bore its name, a situation that mittee, led to various important temporary and permanent public was only exacerbated by the apparently extortionate benchmarks art commissions, of which the collaboration between Graham and the City was suggesting to the Playhouse vis-à-vis operating and Westbank is exemplary. 3 Finally, CACs have helped to expand the maintenance costs per square foot at the West 1st Avenue location. number and range of available cultural facilities in the city, lead- During the summer of 2012, the City launched an open call to ing, for example, to successful new permanent spaces for the Con- arts organizations to tenant the vacant space. Th e call attracted the temporary Art Gallery, the Vancouver International Film Festival, interest of several companies, including Ballet BC and the Goh and the Vancouver Symphony’s School of Music. Ballet Academy. But the nod eventually went to the Arts Club At the same time, the most recent Cultural Facilities Priority Th eatre Company and Bard on the Beach, in part because their Plan , adopted by the City of Vancouver in June 2008, recognizes application proposed to make use of the entire space and, just as that, in addition to a need for more small-to-midsize performance crucially, because they were seen as capable of assuming the space’s spaces in the city, as well as more artist live-work spaces, the de- signifi cant operating costs (see Heatherington). velopment of “co-location facilities that integrate multiple orga- Under the terms of the agreement, the theatre companies nizational functions in one location (e.g. rehearsal/ production/ have been given separate 60-year leases at a nominal rent of $10/ administration activity)” should be maximized (City of Vancouver year. Th e City also approved additional capital funding of up 4). Such tenancy partnerships are increasingly sought after by local to $7 million to help outfi t the interior space, which includes arts organizations, and these shared spaces will theoretically lead four rehearsal halls, costume and prop shops, administrative of- to exciting creative exchanges among companies working across fi ces, and a new 250-seat theatre that replaces the Arts Club’s disciplines.
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