Monday, June 03, 2013

Dan Rutley at the VAG

I remember some time ago when I was listening to CBC Radio when a man, a well regarded Vancouver author, playwright and musician who at the time was part of the Canada Council admitted to not having been to the Vancouver Art Gallery since the time of Luke Rombout.

I have a well grounded, intelligent and articulate friend who has never been to the Museum of Vancouver.

If the Museum of Vancouver which also houses the Vancouver Space Centre (planetarium and we do have a reason to be confused here!) were to be magically transferred to our waterfront by a Star Trek type of transporter we would have a “world class” structure that might in a small way rival the Sydney Opera.

The Sydney Opera is now forgotten because we have been made aware of Frank Gehry’s Bilbao Guggenheim Museum.

Much has been written about the Bilbao Effect and how a comparable structure in Vancouver would perhaps do the same for our Vancouver Art Gallery.

I hasten to point out, right off the bat that the Bilbao Museum happens to be a Guggenheim. Our VAG is not. I would also hasten to point out that the Guggenheim probably does not have one single Emily Carr. I am not sure if that is an advantage or a disadvantage.

My main rebuttal to the so-called positive repercussions of the Bilbao Effect is that Europe is a much more compact geographical location. Bilbao is not all that far from Paris or London or other places that even if you cannot drive to it because of he high price of gasoline it is easily reachable by rail or air.

Who would come to see our Bilbao Type Vancouver Art Gallery? Would they come from New York, London or Paris? Or would it be more likely from 100 Mile House, Coquitlam and even Surrey?

Smoke & Mirrors at the VAG