Girl in the City, a public art project by Diyan Achjadi, premiers on the screens at Robson and Granville

The City of Vancouver Public Art Program announces a new video animation by Vancouver artist Diyan Achjadi, currently screening on the double outdoor screens, operated by CoreVision, at the NE corner of Robson and Granville Streets.  The four segments of the video narrative are interspersed with advertising content on the screens.

In these animations, Achjadi’s avatar “Girl” encounters the landmarks of Vancouver and interacts with them. As she picks them up, they become a miniature collection of objects. After landing in Vancouver, Girl visits the Harbour Centre Tower, the Gastown Steam Clock, Gassy Jack’s statue and Science World.

“I am interested in how certain human-made structures can function as stand-ins for a city. As icons, they become emblematic of a place. They appear and reappear in personal photographs, are reproduced as small plastic objects sold in tourist gift-shops and are pictured in mass-produced postcards. These items become souvenirs, tokens of remembrance – in this case of an experience of a place — that are meant to be removed from the original location and moment of experience, in order to be collected, shared, or circulated.”

Diyan Achjadi is an associate professor in the Faculty of Visual art + Material Practices at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She received a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art (1993) and an MFA in Print Media from Concordia University (2002). Recent exhibitions include Sugar Bombs with Brendan Tang at the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, traveling to Kamloops Art Gallery and Centre MAI, Montreal, and solo exhibitions at Oboro Gallery, Montreal, Richmond Art Gallery and The Window Project Victoria. Achjadi has a forthcoming public art project at Aberdeen Station in Richmond.

Girl in the City (2011) is commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program with support of Vancouver 125 and the participation of the Government of Canada.

Three other 2-dimensional public artworks currently in the downtown core are:

• Contingent Matters, six banners by Raymond Boisjoly at the Central Branch of Vancouver Public Library
• Lines in architecture and art, a photomural by Arabella Campbell at the Canada Line Vancouver City Centre Station.
• News of the Whole World by Holly Ward on THE WALL at the CBC plaza, Hamilton Street.

These projects are part a growing number of platforms for public art supported by Vancouver’s Public Art Program. Details about the program can be found at vancouver.ca/publicart. The Public Art Program has facilitated over a hundred projects in the past ten years, spanning large-scale permanent installations, design-team collaborations and artist-initiated artworks.

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Vancouver Sun (Culture Seen): Public Art: New Diyan Achjadi VIdeo at Robson and Granville