Those used to seeing traditional sculptures as part of temporary Vancouver Biennnale artworks might just get a more down-to-earth permanent version for the upcoming display in Richmond.
Renowned theorist, landscape architect and designer Charles Jencks is being considered to design a land-based public art project in Alexandra Neighbourhood Park for the 2013-2015 Vancouver Biennale.
Local artists, landscape architects and the community will also be invited to participate in the design process.
According to a city staff report, land-based artworks are site-specific environmentally low-impact artworks using earth mounds, water and plants.
And by involving local artists and landscape architects on the design team, it would provide an opportunity to develop a unique made-in-Richmond project.
The report states that in particular, the team would need to consider local plant species, soils and drainage conditions, programming for the park, maintenance costs and concerns, and a design that would be of interest to the local community.
The Vancouver Biennale will pay the costs to bring Jencks and his daughter, landscape architect Lily Jencks, based in Scotland, to Richmond to participate in a park design workshop.
The concept park design will be presented to city council for approval by fall 2013.
Among the projects Jencks has designed is the landform at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh in 2002.
He was also behind the Wu Chi, Olympic Forest Park in Beijing in 2008.
Funding for the public art project in Richmond would come from public art contributions collected from developers that have been held in the Public Art Reserve.
The estimated city contributed cost for the project is $200,000.
The Vancouver Biennale is a high-profile outdoor public art exhibition designed to illicit community engagement, increase public awareness for art, promote cultural tourism and to provide leadership in public art programming.
In the past, the Biennale has displayed locally some works that have sparked controversy such as the Gao Brothers Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenins Head.
Displayed at the corner of Elmbridge and Alderbridge Way, the large scale sculpture featured two iconic figures in shiny polished stainless steel a diminutive Miss Mao delicately balancing on the head of Vladimir Lenin, the Russian revolutionary whose monumental ideas profoundly influenced Chinese political history.
