Posts Tagged ‘Media’
The Achievement Square Fridge Magnet Game
In the middle of the night, early in the third week of UBC classes, Fall 2014, a strange installation appeared in the new square that’s being completed out front of the University Bookstore and across the way from the soon-to-be-completed new SUB. It looked like a billboard. But it wasn’t advertising anything. Instead, it depicted…
Read MoreThe Nomad and the Refugee: a trip home in 70,000 kilometers, 18 years and 217 days
My mother passed away Mar 31, 2006, almost exactly seven years ago at the time of writing. Memories of her are still with me powerfully. And the story of how she met my father is one of those genesis-legends that I now understand to have shaped me crucially: my love of Vancouver, my affinity for…
Read MoreThe Way Things Are: Fred Herzog’s Art of Observation
First published in Canadian Art Winter 2013 By Timothy Taylor At 82 years of age, photographer Fred Herzog doesn’t move quite as quickly as he used to. But then, few people ever did. In his younger days, Herzog was the kind of guy who’d jump on his Norton motorcycle after lunch and ride back roads…
Read MoreThey’re Everywhere
Holy stickers Batman. These things have hit Toronto, New York, Halifax… everywhere. Now they’ve reportedly crossed the pond. They’re going up in the UK now. Move over Banksy. Or whatever. I have no idea what this means.
Read MoreNegative Empathy
Should writers of fiction review the work of colleagues? I avoid it personally, and my rational for doing is the basis for my side of a debate that was part of the CBC Literary Smackdown series recently. The other side of the issue was taken by esteemed Victoria-based novelist and nonfiction writer Robert Weirsma, who also writes a lot of fine reviews.…
Read MoreCBC “cultural secrets”: Byron Cameraman
I’ve written several times in these pages about my friend Byron Dauncey, who is also the street artist known as Cameraman. I’m happy to do so again, as Byron was included in the CBC show “Cultural Secrets”, for which the CBC asked a whole range of people for suggestions. When they approached me, I took…
Read MoreV-TARP: The Vancouver Transit Adspace Reappropriation Project
So Banksy declares street art dead and apparently nobody was listening. JermIX certainly wasn’t. Working with UK import Vegas – a stencil artist of remarkable skill – Jerm has launched what many consider his most aggressive campaign ever. VTARP, it’s called. Vancouver Transit Adspace Reappropriation Project. Which sounds like a black line item in the…
Read MoreOlympics at street level, Diyah Pera photographs
I went out with Diyah Pera, a photographer friend of mine, on Friday to watch the protests. She took some great pictures. I like the one above in particular. There’s hope and determination in the face. There’s another quality I’ll inadequately describe as “realness”. Experience, life lived. I don’t know about you, but I want to hear what this person…
Read MoreLearning to live with the Suicide Machine
It’s hard not to twin the phenomenon of the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, as reported in Time this week, and the release of Jaron Lanier’s new manifesto against Internet hive think You Are Not a Gadget. On the one hand, you have long time technology analyst describing the ensnaring culture of the Internet hive-mind. On the other hand,…
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