Public Artwork
Out Of Thin Air
Artwork creator(s):
Storey, Alan
Text author(s):
Storey, Alan
Remarks on location:
2 panels inside, 3 outside, all at either of the two entrances
Description:
Out of Thin Air is a set of five interactive copper panels that respond to changes in time and passers-by. It is a highly imaginative, almost futuristic piece that employs, in part, a refrigeration unit to spell out words in frost on its surface. The word “dream” on one panel appears in many languages including Punjabi, Hindi, Coastal Salish, English and French. Another panel features phrases associated with our five senses. Of the panels at the two entrances, one reveals images related to Bear Creek, while the other set references the building’s architectural profiles.
Text of the artwork:
[In various languages: French, Punjabi, Hindu, Coastal Salish, English]
DREAM
---
SCENT
Text theme:
The five senses; dreaming
Artwork theme:
Architecture of the Surrey Art Gallery; Bear Creek; the five senses; dreaming Note(s):
The installation was designed in cooperation with members of the Surrey Arts Centre’s Architectural Consulting Team during the Centre’s redevelopment. Alan Storey has become widely known for “site-sensitive” public art projects. He uses new technologies and materials in innovative ways that depend to a great extent on the interactions of people passing by. His exhibition-based work has included a drawing machine that inscribed words as it navigated the walls of Vancouver’s Or Gallery (1984); a small vehicle dragging five pens across a stretched canvas at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (1989); an early website through which visitors could guide a drawing machine in Indiana (1995); and publicly located works of art using objects like elevator cars, a pendulum, a boardwalk and a bicycle. One of the first recipients of the Artist-in-Residence in Research fellowship (a joint program of Canada Council of the Arts and the National Research Council), Storey is currently working on a number of public art projects, including Bellevue’s City Hall, Richmond’s Francis Road Pump Station, North Vancouver’s Capilano Community Centre, and is serving as a consultant for the Vancouver General Hospital’s boiler plant project.
City of Surrey (2008). Public Art Program. Public & Community Art Projects & Locations
Artist's biography:
Storey, Alan
Owner(s):
City of Surrey Public and Community Art Collection Document(s):
Syndicate
