If It’s Still There When You Go Looking
A 5.5″ square perfect bound book that serves as documentation for months of do-it-yourself public art practices crafting swing sets and benches, which were placed in urban settings. The swing sets and benches themselves are built from discarded lumber found around construction sites around the city, then painted using economical mistint paint, assembled and placed back into the city serving as gifts but also as objects critical of hyper development and the pervasive neoliberal policies so consistently encroaching on the public sphere. The project is intended to engage with spaces and to find, make, or adapt spaces that might be sites for generosity and criticality. The book reflects my time in Vancouver and a practice of reimagining city spaces, in a way a series of questions asked both in the texts and through the objects. The benches and swings might be gifts given to neighbourhoods, and just as likely they are more biting critical gestures, which serve to détourne billboards, advertising spaces, and anywhere with a bit of a view.
