Public Artwork
Sliding Edge
Location:
Cascina/Denia residential towers, Coal Harbour, 500 Nicola Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada
See map: Google Maps
Artwork creator(s):
Metz, Jacqueline; Chew, Nancy
Text author(s):
Birney, Earle
Installation year:
2003
Remarks on location:
Two locations: one along the seawall and one along West Hastings Street
Description:
Along the seawall, a rough yet elegant waterfall made of black rundle stone is installed; the stacked, linear, irregular stone edges are abstractions of geological layers. Standing on top of the waterfall is an iconic, enigmatic human figure - Man in the landscape, poised between Earth and Sky. The text is an excerpt from a poem by Earle Birney, November Walk Near False Creek Mouth. There is another waterfall along Hastings Street, along with black stone benches that are scattered along the pool edge. Cast iron tree grates are shaped like saw blades to remind viewers of the historic use of the area.
Text of the artwork:
(Site 1: Under the waterfall)
in the
last of
warmth
and
the
fading
of
brightness
on the
sliding
edge
of the
beating
sea
on the sliding edge of the beating sea
Text theme:
Poem: Earle Birney, November Walk Near False Creek Mouth. Dusk, the tide
Artwork theme:
This work involves two streetscapes and refers to the site’s natural and industrial context: a waterfall of stacked stone, an abstraction of the coal cliffs of Coal Harbour, both organic and ordered; sawblade treegrates; long narrow custom concrete pavers and inset wild grasses echo the slip and slide of a waterfront edge. At the waterfall along the seawall is a figure looking North to the wilderness. Text is carved into the stone face, revealed through a moving film of water. At the urban street, an empty stone plinth projects into the pool, while steel text hovers in front of falling water. The text and the figure, both present and absent, revealed and concealed, reflect on a past landscape, or one that can still be found farther along the coast, and at the intersection of nature and culture.
Note(s):
Budget: Art Design, Fabrication and Installation $200,000
Artist's biography:
Muse Atelier
Author's biography:
Earle Birney
Owner(s):
City of Vancouver Document(s):
Syndicate
