Girl in The City (2011)
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 into 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 severed from the original location and moment of experience, in order to be collected, shared, or circulated. Girl In The City follows the character Girl as she encounters some noted Vancouver landmarks. In the animations, Girl interacts with these structures, approaches them, then picks them up, revealing them to be toys or miniatures. She then takes them away with her, to add them to her collection of objects. The animations are 30 seconds each, the approximate length of a single television ad, and are meant to be played interspersed between regular programming on a screen.
Girl in the City was commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program for Vancouver 125
To play the videos, please click on the first four images.
