It’s been an auspicious beginning for the Vancouver Biennale.

As the August temperatures remain high and the summer sun drenches the city with its warmth a debate is beginning to bubble up around art in public spaces.

It began last week with this article on the cbc.ca featuring interviews and opinions with Vancouver Biennale President, Barrie Mowatt, and Vancouver Park Board commissioner, Aaron Jasper.

Finding locations for some of the sculptures soon to be installed as part of the Biennale has proved difficult for many reasons.  One issue is the huge influence that the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics holds over the city’s open spaces and park land. This has meant that some great art will be installed in public places within our neighboring City of Richmond.  Something that had not happened before.

The article has generated some great debate among readers as you can see in the comments section at the very end.  Much of the debate focused on the controversial work, Device to Root Out Evil by American artist Dennis Oppenheim.  The piece is also referred to as the Upside Down Church.  The piece had caused so much concern among members of the public that it was eventually moved to Calgary.

There are passionate opinions on both side of the issue.

(Photo credit: © 2009 Barry Duncan)

The debate has gathered some steam this week on Frances Bula’s State of Vancouver blog where readers engage in furious debate over Michael Zheng’s installation, The STOP, located simultaneously in Vanier Park and Charleston Park along False Creek.

If you’re passionate about art please take a look at these two links that I have posted and lend your voice to the debate.

This is what art – specifically art in public places – can do: inspire people to share and debate their ideas, to open up a passionate public discourse on art in our city.

Please join the conversation.

Michael Zheng‘s The STOP has been installed in two locations in Vancouver to kick off the 2009-2011 edition of the Vancouver Biennale!  These arresting and thought-provoking pieces can be found in Charleston Park and Vanier Park and have already attracted lots of photographers and commentary from people passing by.

Michael Zheng was on-hand for the installs to ensure that they projected his vision and worked with the landscape to maximum effect.  Michael is a globetrotting artist who splits his time between San Francisco and Beijing.  He has exhibited internationally including the The Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Spain, the ERNST Museum in Budapest, Hungary, the F2 Gallery in Beijing, China, Walter and McBean Galleries of San Francisco Art Institute, Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf, Germany, and the International Video-Performance Festival, Tallinn, Estonia to name just a few.

Michael and all of us at the Vancouver Biennale would like to acknowledge the generous support of Rob Slarks and everyone at Ocean Concrete for their generous donation of the concrete for both of the installations.  Their kind sponsorship goes a long way to helping Vancouver residents and tourists enjoy and experience public art in our beautiful city.

We look forward to publishing an interview with Michael soon and look forward to hearing and seeing the public responses to Michael’s work in the coming weeks.

Thanks Michael!  What a great way to start/STOP the Vancouver Biennale.

Top photo by Michael Zheng.  All others by Dan Fairchild Photography.

It’s finally upon us!  Giant container ships are approaching the city from distant ports carrying sculptures of great artists from all over the world that will soon adorn the public spaces, parks, beaches and transit vehicles of Vancouver.

It’s an exciting time.

The first two installations will happen on Thursday July 30th and Friday July 31st and I will be there to take pictures and hopefully get an early sampling of public reaction to these works of art.

The San Francisco based Chinese/American artist Michael Zheng will be the first to have his work installed in Vancouver. Zheng creates situations through his playful installation work that challenges established positions, allowing new perspectives to become visible. His work often involves conventional or everyday objects placed in the environment in unexpected ways.

Zheng has exhibited his work internationally, in prestigious institutions such as The Instituteo Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia (2008); Vierwände Kunst (4 Walls Art Festival), Düsseldorf, (2007); GenArt, San Francisco, (2006); Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Portland, Maine (2005); ‘9th Baltic Triennial of International Art‘, London (2005). He makes his Canadian debut with two conceptual based installations titled Stop in the 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale.

On Friday, revered sculptor, photographer and social activist, Vladas Vildžiūnas will have his work, Barbora, installed in the city.  He has created some of the most influential and important monumental works in Lithuania to date.   Titled Honored Artist of Lithuania in 1982, his work has since been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London and many major cities around Europe.  The 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale will be his first foray in Canada.

Stay tuned for times and locations in the next few days.