First announced back in 2014, a massive spinning ornate chandelier is finally in the process of being installed under the Granville Bridge at Beach Avenue.
The large four-by-six-metre kinetic sculpture is the work of Abbotsford-born artist Rodney Graham. It’s sponsored by Westbank, and is affiliated with Vancouver House, the architecturally eye-catching development that made bold proclamations about its role in Vancouver long before ground was even broken.
Vancouver House was designed by Bjarke Ingels, and the project overall was posited as being “Gesamtkunstwerk” or a “living sculpture.” To that end, Graham’s epic public art piece is meant to adorn the cathedral-like space of the bridge’s northern viaduct — much like welcoming people into a dazzling grand foyer that is being established in our urban landscape.
The chandelier will slowly rotate and rise over the course of 24 hours, then once a day release and dynamically spin back to its starting point. The design “extends from his 2005 film loop installation Torqued Chandelier Release in which a crystal chandelier whirls rapidly as its supporting cable is unwound,” and its real-life iteration is a replica of what appears on film.
“[O]ur projects are not buildings, but rather they are the physical embodiment of culture,” says Westbank. Of “Spinning Chandelier,” the high profile developer says this reproduction 200-year-old French “chandelier will quickly become an urban landmark, turning a dark under-bridge into a civic event and a focal point, providing an additional layer of depth to the streetscape and the community.”
Approved by Vancouver city council in December 2015, installation for the $4.8 million chandelier was expected to happen in 2017 or 2018.
However, installation finally began this month and is expected to take another couple of weeks before it is complete.
Read the original article here.
This story has been updated since first published.
