Performance on Carrall Street this Tuesday
This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.
Art on Carrall – literally about Carrall Street. This is the kind of thing I’ve been thinking about for years, and now it looks like Althea Thauberger is making art about this street and its complexities.
Can’t wait to walk out my door and see what she has put together.
ARTSPEAK | CARRALL STREET | ALTHEA THAUBERGER | SEP 30
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CARRALL STREET | ALTHEA THAUBERGER
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
8-11pm in the 200 block of Carrall Street, Vancouver
Carrall Street Public Forum
Thursday, October 2, 2008
7pm at 33 West Cordova Street
Althea Thauberger’s one-night performance, Carrall Street, will present the
street (brightly lit like a film set at nighttime) as a stage, or zone of
illumination where the roles of performer and spectator blur. The
interweaving of organized performers, passers-by and audience members will
allow for unforeseen interactions to take place that reveal something of
the street’s history, its current issues, as well as its future. Carrall
Street is planned in collaboration with local directors, performers and
community members.
Carrall Street is one of the oldest streets in Vancouver. It can be argued
that the entire history (and pre-history) of the city can be mapped along
its six blocks. Caught between urban gentrification and decay, the street
marks transitions from the most touristic parts of the city to what is
often described as the poorest neighbourhood in Canada. In ways that are
both unique and similar to other inner cities, it has been affected by
development, public policy neglect and polarized politics.
A publication accompanying the project will be available in 2009.
Althea Thauberger is an artist based in Vancouver. Her work involves
research and collaboration that result in performances, films, photographs,
audio recordings and books.
The performance and forum are free and open to the public.
This project has been supported by Arts Partners in Creative Development,
The Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Vancouver and the Portland
Hotel Society.
City Strike Grinds On
This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.
Carrall Street has been kept relatively clean by volunteers, the United We Can folks, and as a result the whole place doesn’t look too bad, or seem too terribly unhealthy, despite the city strike.
However, the Carrall Street Greenway has been very affected by the strike, and no work has been done on the whole thing for much of the summer. Tall grass and weeds are growing in the square areas that had been left for tree planting on the one area that had been constructed so far. The whole schedule for this improvement has been suspended, and this could have serious repercussions in the timeline. Hopefully there will be a resolution to the strike soon.
Meanwhile, September brings new exhibitions in the galleries, ACCESS, ArtSpeak, InterUrban and Centre A.
The New York Times Style Magazine this Sunday featured the designer at Richard Kidd, and positive mention of Carrall Street’s Irish Heather and Hunt and Gather.
Now equinox is past, we will see earlier nights, and that also means colder nights for the homeless. People are seriously nested in under the awning on Cordova Street just west of the old Pig and Whistle, and also in any nook to be found in doorways of the old Ranier Hotel. That place has been increasingly covered in graffiti through the summer, with more coming along through the month of August and early September. Almost every brick in the doorway to the former chicken place has a tag of some kind.
That’s the September wrap-up for this street of high contrast!
Burnt Out Restaurant? Sure Fooled Me!
This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.
Driving on the new Greenway part of Carrall Street I was shocked to see a group of people milling around this old burnt out restaurant. How could it have flash burned so fast, and why hadn’t I even noticed it before? Well, the truth is this is a set for a movie, Lionsgate Films, The Eye. That’s why I hadn’t seen it before. It was purpose built in the Jack Chow Insurance parking area, and was removed as quickly as it appeared.
Creative Reworking of the Old Telus Box
This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.
This Telus box near the bus stop on Carrall and Cordova has been a real eyesore and a problem in the area, as in the past it was a place where dealers and users would congregate. All kinds of things went on between that box and the building behind it. The people at the new Irezumi Tattoo shop had the idea to make this box less of a graffiti-covered eyesore, and arranged with Telus permission to cover the box with a graphic of their own design. It’s totally in keeping with the feel of the street so how could it invite graffiti? Fantastic! Kudos to Irezumi Tattoo!
August Weekends: Events on Carrall
This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.
August weekends featured festivals and events on Carrall Street.
In early August the canopies covered the intersection of Carrall and Hastings for the Insite event at Pigeon Park, with bands headlined by the venerable DOA.
Then the next weekend was the Chinatown festival, and people were walking along carrying their clay pots on cardboard squares, or lining up to go to the gambling booths and kiosks. Spilling over from the regular Night Market set up, people walked through Sun Yat Sen Park and out the alley by the Garden entrance, into Carrall.
Then this past weekend in Gastown saw the Motorcycle Show and Shine. Weather cooperated as again the street was filled with parked motorcycles all on display.
And coming up we will see the annual Gastown Concours D’elegance, Saturday September 1st.
Motorcycles lined up on display along Carrall
Nude Cyclers Protest Ride on Carrall Street
This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.
Anti-Oil protesters rode through Carrall Street on Sunday to a shouting and cheering crowd. Hearing the commotion, I barely had time to get out my camera before they were gone. Quite a different atmosphere from the Tour de Gastown group of cyclists a short time ago!
Bus passengers, motorists and tourists on the street check out the cyclists in their peaceful protest ride.
Just a Guy in a Shopping Cart
This post is a duplicate of a post in my Carrall Street Journal.
Did someone push this guy and leave him here in front of the methadone pharmacy or did he decide to just take a rest in the cart?
Electro-Acoustic at ACCESS on Carrall Tonight
Check out the electro-acoustic improv tonight, (Thursday July 26th) at ACCESS artist run centre on 206 Carrall Street. featuring
ATTN: DIAMOND SHOPPERS (Rachael Wadham & Lee Hutzulak) and GLASS PLATES (Chandan Narayan on prepared autoharp, Jeff Allport on snare and floor tom, Robert Pedersen on valve trombone and cassette decks)
Tonight’s show starts at 8, by donation, drinks served.
(They say “late night swim after” hmmm)
And at 7pm just before that, drop by the gaff gallery at 684 e. hastings to the opening of BIG BLOOD, an exhibition of big murals and small drawings by: Marc Bell, Madoka Hara, Lee Hutzulak, Kieth Jones, Jonny Petersen, & Aarron Rossner,
with a special gramophone dj experience by Lee from across the courtyard!
5 Reasons Why I’m Back
This blog reflects the nature of the street, and just like the street has many facets of history, evolution and devolution. For the past little while it has been as abandoned as the old Ranier Hotel on Carrall and Cordova. As soon as the last reincarnation of the Brickyard closed – that’s not exactly fair, it was a Whiskey bar (I now hear the Doors doing their version of Kurt Weill, singing Oh show me the way to the next whiskey bar…..) – as soon as it closed, the whole building was vacated completely. Graffiti came in a wide swath, and there were some folks camped out on the sidewalk. Lately I’ve heard a power machine making sounds and a radio playing inside. I saw a face in one of the abandoned hotel windows – something may be stirring.
And in reflection, I’m back, chronicling the street again. Here are 5 reasons why I’m back:
1. The new little Moroccan café at Maple Tree square is a ray of hope: mint tea!
2. A restaurant is open now in the Boulder Hotel building on the corner of Carrall and Cordova: Upscale and solid, Boneta just might make it past the curse that took down the One restaurant, and don’t even mention the Video Monster.
3. The first block of greenway paving and street work is finally done! It may have seemed to take months, and look like a flat je ne sais quoi, but it’s the start of the transformation of the street. I see the promise of the square spaces where the trees will be planted. Can’t wait for more traffic detours!
4. The Tour de Gastown is coming up this week: speaking of traffic detours. But it’s always exciting – they put out the hay bales, and then those guys speed around the corner of Carrall and Cordova at unbelievable angles, watched by the clusters of people.
5. It’s summer and the street looks great in the sunlight.
So there seems to be turnover and commitment to Carrall Street, and after a longish hiatus, I’m back with the Carrall Street Journal. Day after day it can seem like nothing is happening or nothing is changing. But when I look more closely, I can see that there have been many incremental shifts, changes worth documenting here in the journal, maybe while sipping some of that Moroccan mint tea.
