The walkway under the south end of Cambie Bridge sports a high-impact, vinyl geometric mural encompassing the pathway, support pillars and ceiling. On its own, it’s an arresting sight. On a smartphone, it reveals another dimension.
Called Voxel Bridge, it’s the latest public art installation presented by the Vancouver Biennale and it’s like nothing else in the world. In fact, at 19,000 square feet, it’s the biggest blockchain-based augmented reality experience of its kind. It’s named for a voxel, a unit of value analogous to a pixel, with “vo” standing for volume instead of “pi” for picture. A voxel represents a single sample, or data point, on a regularly spaced, three-dimensional grid.
At Voxel Bridge, visitors use their smartphones to experience three realities simultaneously: the real world around them; the world of augmented reality; and the world of blockchain technology. Using the free, downloadable Vancouver Biennale app for iOS and Android devices, people walk through the Voxel Bridge mural and see it morph—through the complex relationship of art and technology—into a multi-dimensional sensory experience.
The installation uses advancements in augmented reality (AR) specially developed for Voxel Bridge by Spheroid Universe and supported by blockchain technology on the Kusama network. This collaboration came about chiefly because Brooklyn-based Colombian artist Jessica Angel has been a pioneer and leading advocate of the art and blockchain movement for years.
(What is blockchain? According to forbes.com: “At its core, blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that stores data of any kind. While any conventional database can store this sort of information, blockchain is unique in that it’s totally decentralized. Rather than being maintained in one location, by a centralized administrator…many identical copies of a blockchain database are held on multiple computers spread out across a network.”)
“Since I was 17, I’ve been connected with the blockchain community because my work has to do with bringing the concept of information to physical spaces through installation art,” she said. “I met a cryptographer who invited me to do a project, which led me to meet mathematicians, blockchain developers and countless others in this amazing, sharing community.”
Blockchain is open-source (non-proprietary) technology, thus Angel feels collaboration is the foundation on which the community was built. For Voxel Bridge, she collaborated closely with Spheroid Universe, the Kusama network and, of course, the team at the Vancouver Biennale.
The Vancouver Biennale is a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to creating open-air museums that celebrate art in Vancouver public space. It features both well-known and emerging international contemporary artists representing diverse cultural perspectives and artistic disciplines. As the definition of public space shifts more and more to virtual space—accelerated by the shifts we’ve experienced during the pandemic—the Biennale’s installations have come to include the most technically advanced examples of augmented and virtual reality (VR).
Jessica Angel knows Vancouver. She is an alumna of the Vancouver Biennale Artist Residency Program in 2018 and 2019, and through the Biennale also curated #ArtProject2020, a five-day virtual conference presented in the context of the bridge project, which brought together the leading minds in the NFT (non-fungible token) space.
Like all the Biennale’s public space art installations, the art may be bought by the city—as with Beijing artist Yue Minjun’s A-maze-ing Laughter, a legacy sculpture now installed in Morton Park in Vancouver’s West End, thanks to a donation from the Chip Wilson family—or sold off to interested collectors instead.
In the case of Voxel Bridge, elements of the art will be available for sale as NFTs which, because they are not physical, means the installation could be in place for years to come.
Delayed by COVID-19 complications, the installation is part of the 2018-2020 Open Air Museum exhibition, under the theme of re-IMAGE-n (reimagine) Public Space, intended to bring together artists from Canada and around the world to address some of the most prevailing issues of our times, one theme being digital technology.
Blockchain technology is a hot topic these days. Although an entire generation is now comfortable with smartphone AR, as used in Pokémon GO or the user-selected filters of Snapchat and Instagram, it’s still early days for blockchain technology. It’s something we all know about but don’t really understand or use, except for a few early adopters.
“This is a new underlying technology that lives on the Internet but it’s decentralized,” Angel said. “It offers new possibilities for cryptocurrencies, security and transparency, things of that nature.” Fittingly, cryptocurrency was used as payment for many of the collaborators on the project.
Her work uses art as the fulcrum to demonstrate the complex blockchain technology to a broad community.
“The design has boxy, block-inspired graphics, connected in the form of chains. Graphically, tapping on the VR links that appear shows the boxes are blocks in the Kusama network, which is just one blockchain of many. Tapping the links enables viewers to see data that lives on the Kusama network, so it’s as if you can dive into the blockchain space at Voxel Bridge.”
She added: “My goal when I created this installation was that people would at least ask questions,” she said. “What is this technology? Why is it important? How is it going to change the world?”
She likens blockchain technology today to the Internet in the ‘90s. “You’d think ‘oh, maybe I can send an email,’ but you wouldn’t see the potential of it until it developed. Something like that is happening right now.
“Blockchain is still really clunky. The mainstream doesn’t understand it so well. So I want to provide the first glimpse, and use art as a way to enter a world that tends to be technical and difficult to understand from an experiential perspective. It’s something I hope people will remember as a memory to cherish.”
Download the Vancouver Biennale app from the App Store, Google Play or www.vancouverbiennale.com and visit Voxel Bridge, located at the south end of Cambie Bridge. It’s best seen during the day, there’s no charge, and the installation has no set closing date as yet.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
