Prominent 2010 Olympiad
Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, creator of the "Vectorial
Elevations" searchlight artwork in the Vancouver night sky, says BC arts
cuts are "9/11 for the arts."
Rafael
Lozano-Hemmer lives and works in Canada and Mexico. Born in Mexico, he is a
Canadian citizen. Now based in Montreal, he at one time lived in Vancouver.
His artwork Vectorial Elevations, a highly visible public work involving
searchlights in the Vancouver sky, is part of the Cultural Olympiad (the
arts component of the 2010 Winter Olympics) and has become one of the most
popular of the Olympiad artworks.
During
a Q&A after his keynote speech at CODE: Dialogues, a 2010 Cultural Olympiad
conference, Lozano-Hemmer told an audience that when he learned BC arts
funding was to be cut by 90% after the Olympics, he felt that in this
context his artwork was "obscene," and said he was dismayed by BC
politicians' lack of vision.
He
expressed a faint hope that the key and visible role of the arts in the
Olympics would induce politicians to change their minds. He also said he
hoped it would induce Vancouverites to ask themselves "what is it about
these [art] projects that are making this moment special?" He went on to ask
"And what if people get used to that and they demand that of their city, to
have that kind of vibrancy and cultural stimulation and so forth? What if
the politicans were to be [shown] that this is important not just
economically, because culture brings in a net worth, but also in terms of
quality of life?"
A
number of Olympiad artists have, despite contract clauses limiting free
speech, spoken out about the arts cuts, but not all of them have
Lozano-Hemmer's international stature. Lozano-Hemmer represented Mexico at
the 52nd Venice Biennale and his work is in the collection of NY MoMA and
the Tate Modern and many other key museums worldwide.
YouTube video and full
transcript of his remarks
are here:
Explanation of the “9-11″ remark in the video clip: Before Vectorial
Elevations was launched, its energy use wasn’t fully understood and the
piece was accused of being “an environmental 9-11.” In fact, for its entire
month-long run, the artwork uses the same amount of power as only 10 hockey
games.
For
more information please contact Lindsay at Stop BC Arts Cuts: (604) 313-7744
or email:
stopbcartscuts@paarc.ca